A lower Cretaceous unconformity in eastern Wairarapa

Recent mapping in the Tinui-Awatoitoi district has revealed a major unconformity in what was previously considered to be a continuous Cretaceous sequence. The rocks below the unconformity, mapped as the Torlesse Supergroup, are strongly folded, indurated greywacke and argillite, locally containing Upper Jurassic (Upper Tithonian) fossils. Overlying the unconformity are less indurated gently folded sediments of Clarence and Raukumara Series (Albian-Campanian) age mapped as the Mangapurupuru Group. The occurrence of an unconformity at a comparable stratigraphic position elsewhere on the east coast of New Zealand is discussed.