GSNZ Auckland branch meeting
Geology of Kuripapango area and history of Ruahine Range, by Dr Greg Browne, Senior Engineering Geologist, Davis Ogilvie and former principal scientist and programme leader at GNS Science.
Driving past the Kaimanawa, Kaweka, Ruahine and Tararua ranges one gets the impression they form a near continuous set of mountains interrupted only by the Manawatu Gorge. Sedimentary rocks deposited adjacent to, and on top of the ranges, as well as their geomorphology however point to differing ages and rates of uplift for each of the ranges. Marine straits once connected the east and west coasts of the North Island as the Ruahine and Kaweka ranges began to form. Kuripapango located between the Kaweka and Ruahine ranges has an extensive sedimentary record of this uplift history extending back to the Late Miocene.