earth science

Tahora Formation

Tahora Formation is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tahora Formation rather than just read about it. In short: The Tahora Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation that outcrops in northeastern New Zealand near Napier. It is Haumurian in age according to the New Zealand geologic time scale (mainly Campanian, but ranging from Santonian to lower Maastrichtian).

Key takeaways

Tahora Formation belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tahora Formation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tahora Formation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Tahora Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation that outcrops in northeastern New Zealand near Napier. It is Haumurian in age according to the New Zealand geologic time scale (mainly Campanian, but ranging from Santonian to lower Maastrichtian). It forms part of the Upper Cretaceous to Teurian (Danian) (lower Paleocene) Tinui Group. It unconformably overlies the Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Urewera Group or the Upper Cretaceous Matawai Group. It is conformably overlain by the Haumurian to Teurian Whangai Formation. It consist of three members, the Maungataniwha Sandstone Member, the Mutuera Member and the Houpapa Member. It is named for Tahora Station, south of Matawai in the Gisborne Region. The aptly named Maungataniwha (Māori for "mountain of monsters") Sandstone Member is known for its rich reptile fossil remains, first investigated by amateur palaeontologist Joan Wiffen.

Depositional environment The whole of the Tinui Group is interpreted to be an upper Cretaceous transgressive sequence. The Maungataniwha Sandstone Member was deposited in a very shallow water to beach environment. The siltstones of the time-equivalent Mutuera Member are thought to have been deposited in a mid to outer shelf environment. The Houpapa Member is interpreted to be the fill of local channels cut into the underlying strata.

Fossil content

Vertebrates Indeterminate dinosaur remains have been recovered from the formation, including indeterminate theropod, sauropod, and ornithischian remains. Other fossils found in the Tahora Formation include plesiosaurs and pterosaurs. Because of a lack of material, the exact taxonomic placement of the theropod from the Tahora Formation is uncertain, although its discoverer Joan Wiffen considered it possibly a megalosaurid, at the time a poorly defined group of unspecialized large carnivorous dinosaurs. The vertebra was described by Molnar (1981), and was considered an indeterminate theropod by Agnolin et al. (2010).

Reptiles

Plesiosaurs

Mosasaurs

Pterosaurs

Dinosaurs

Invertebrates Invertebrates found in the formation include beetles, ammonites, annelids, belemnites, bivalves, brachiopods, crinoids, crustaceans, gastropods, nautiloids and scaphopods.

See also List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils Geology of the Raukumara region Stratigraphy of New Zealand South Polar region of the Cretaceous

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tahora Formation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tahora Formation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tahora Formation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tahora Formation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tahora Formation

In research: Tahora Formation appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tahora Formation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tahora Formation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Campanian Stage, Conglomerate formations, Cretaceous System of Oceania, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tahora Formation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tahora Formation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tahora Formation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tahora Formation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tahora Formation in simple terms?

Why does Tahora Formation matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tahora Formation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tahora Formation.