Clay composition and particle size of the Canterbury Drifts - climatic, oceanic and tectonic change in the SW Pacific

Abstract

This thesis focuses on Neogene-Pleistocene drift deposits in the Canterbury Basin, also known as the Canterbury Drifts, SE New Zealand. The Canterbury Drifts are recognised as important paleoclimate and paleoceanographic archives of the SW Pacific because they record intrinsic signals of variability in South Island climatic conditions (glacial erosion), of tectonic uplift of the Southern Alps (western South Island), and of the flow of intermediate depth water masses and associated currents that originate from Antarctica (i.e. Sub-Antarctic Mode Water, Antarctic Intermediate Water, Antarctic Circumpolar Current).