Appendix 1A – SCHEDULE OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL FEATURES APPENDIX 1A: SCHEDULE OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL FEATURES (Reference: Part 3 District Wide Provisions, Section 12.1 Landscapes and Natural Features and Resource Maps) The Council is required under the Act to protect outstanding natural features and landscapes from inappropriate subdivision, use and development. There are a wide variety of human activities that may threaten the natural character, or continued existence, of important natural features within the District. In order to retain the scientific, educational and amenity values of sites of outstanding natural and geological significance, the Council has identified such sites in this Schedule and on the Resource Maps. The major source of information has been the “Inventory (and maps) of Important Geological Sites and Landforms in the Northland Region”, Geological Society of New Zealand unpublished report 95/2, edited by J Kenny and B Hayward (1995). This Inventory lists the best examples of the wide diversity of physical features and processes that together characterise New Zealand’s long and complex geological history, the formation of its landforms and evolution of its unique biota. It was compiled using the combined knowledge and advice of a large sector of the geological, geomorphological, speleological and soil science community of New Zealand. The Schedule below gives each site’s name, a brief description, the site’s significance and rating, a grid reference and map number. The rating signifies the site’s importance and vulnerability. Sites are listed in the Schedule under three levels (A-C) of significance: A International Site of international scientific importance B National Site of national scientific, educational or aesthetic importance C Regional Site of regional scientific, educational or aesthetic importance. Each site has been given a vulnerability classification (1 - 4) depending on its perceived vulnerability to human activities: 1 highly vulnerable to complete destruction or major modification by humans; 2 moderately vulnerable to modification by humans; 3 unlikely to be damaged by humans; 4 could be improved by human activity. Eighty (80) natural landforms have been identified in the Far North District and are listed in this Schedule for their scientific, educational or scenic values. Three (3) sites have been assessed to be of international importance: Motukokako (Piercy) Island scarn with babingtonite and ilvaite; Camp Bay mylonite; and Marble Bay Permian fusulines and corals. A further twenty nine (29) sites have been assessed to be of national importance. Three (3) sites have been assessed as highly vulnerable to human damage or destruction: Hokianga sand dunes, Te Paki sand dunes and Runaruna mud volcano. In addition, nineteen (19) sites are considered to be very fragile and should therefore receive maximum protection. These have been marked with a (^) in the Table below. A number of sites listed are too small to show the exact extent of them on the Resource Maps. These sites, marked with a (*) on the Table below, have been shown as a single “point” feature on the Maps rather than as a defined area. For more detailed information on the outstanding natural features listed in the Schedule, readers are directed to the Inventory published by the Geological Society of New Zealand (referred to above). This Inventory does not form part of the Plan. Far North District Plan Appendix 1A Page 1 Appendix 1A – SCHEDULE OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL FEATURES Site Site Name Site Description/Significance Rating Grid Ref. Map 3 Aurere Beach- Sequence of pillow basalts intruded by C3 O04511908 14 Otengi Bay irregular bodies of gabbro to dolerite sills - igneous section well exposed section 4 Aurere Beach One of the best exposed sequences showing B3 O04506907 15 sediments and relationships within the Northland Allochthon nappes, Taipa 5 * Camp Bay mylonite Coastal section of schistose sheeted dike A3 P04753916 16 and schistose complex and other igneous rocks - well Tangihuas exposed area of schistose Tangihuas (<100m across) 6 Cave Stream Occurs within a large allochthonous block - C3 P05792567 34 sediments, Waihou thick well exposed sequence of mid Tertiary Valley facies. 8*^ Haruru Falls basalt Lava flow following the Waitangi River - C3 P05064575 36 lava flow excellent window into the inside of a 5km long columnar jointed basalt flow (<100m across) 9* Hihi Beach, Non-marine conglomerate, sandstone and C3 O05597915 15 Manganui Lignite lignite beds - best exposure of Manganui Beds Lignite Beds (<100m across) 10*^ Hokianga Miocene Contains largest known forminifera in New C2 O06445296 44 “Orbitolite” bed Zealand (2.5cm diameter) 11 Hokianga sand Large area of active sand dunes reaching B1 O06437323 38 & dunes heights of 200m - high scientific, educational 44 and scenic value 12*^ Jellicoe Cave 50m long, 1-2m wide, 3.8m high “keyhole” C3 P04800887 16 cave - unusual navigable sea cave that passes right through small point 13* Kaikohe scoria 30m high scoria cone with a 5m deep crater - C2 P05818431 40 cone 2 well preserved, sub-parallel collapse channels can be observed (both <100m across) 15* Karaui Pt dacite 200m diameter intrusional neck of dome - C3 P04753938 16 dome good exposures of small eroded flow-banded dacite dome 21 Lake Ohia South east fringe of Lake, often partly C2 O04454916 14 Pleistocene fossil submerged - well preserved and now partly forest exhumed buried Quaternary kauri forest (30,000 years old) 23 Lake Omapere Lake formed by a lava flow damming valley - B3 P05826504 34 scientific, educational and scenic value 24* Lodore Road Prehistoric obsidian source - unique dacitic C3 P05884594 28 obsidian source obsidian utilised in prehistoric times (<100m across) 25* Mangonui Miocene Best preserved fossil coconuts in New B2 O04581901 15 coconut beds Zealand - of historic and paleoclimatic importance (site is <100m across) 26^ Marble Bay Complicated melange association - exposed A3 P04836886 16 Permian fusulines, in the coastal rocks from Te Anina Pt, corals, spillite and between Tauranga Bay and Marble Bay, melange south of Whangaroa - of national importance in paleogeographic reconstruction’s - one of only three known New Zealand localities 27 Matai Bay beaches 2km by 1km bay with narrow entrance to the C2 O03490080 9 & open sea - extremely well defined landform of 11 scientific, educational and scenic value Appendix 1A Page 2 Far North District Plan Appendix 1A – SCHEDULE OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL FEATURES Site Site Name Site Description/Significance Rating Grid Ref. Map 29 Maungakawakawa Complex elongate scoria cone 60m high C2 P05872494 35 scoria cone (Hariru (340m ASL) - very good example of breached Pa) scoria cone 31*^ Motukawanui pillow 50m thick sequence of pillow lavas C3 P04975884 17 lava, Cavalli conformably within sequence - possibly best Islands preserved pillow lava in Waipapa basement 32^ Motukokako Large crystals of babingtonite in Pb/Zn skarn A2 Q05328697 30 (Piercy) Island in Tertiary limestone - well exposed example scarn with of Pb/Zn skarn - New Zealand’s best ilvaite babingtonite and exposure ilvaite 33^ Motukokako Very good example of a sea arch - well C3 Q05329695 30 (Piercy) Island sea defined landform of scientific, educational arch and scenic value 34 Mt Camel terrane Well exposed thin bedded flysch - C3 N03254125 8 volcaniclastics demonstration of contemporaneity of Mt Camel Volcanics and associated flysch 35 Ngahuha scoria Small 62m high cone standing above C2 P05990465 35, 41 cone surrounding basalt plateau - associated flow & 42 follows the Werowero Valley 36* Ngawha Springs Number of hot and cold springs, sinter B2 P05887434 41 hydrothermal field deposits, fumaroles, stagnant acidic pools, mercury deposits, cinnabar (individual springs are <100m across) 37 North Cape Only ultramafic/gabbro ophilite complex in B3 N02120550 2 ultramafic/ gabbro north New Zealand complex 39* Opononi limestone, Thick argillaceous limestone - best exposure C3 O06463330 44 Hokianga in the Hokianga area of a small sequence through deep water Oligocene limestone with redeposited sandstone beds (<100m across) 40*^ Otangaroa Caves Small stream cave about 100m long - C3 O04627700 26 contains fossil bone deposits, moa bones, site of discovery of extinct giant skink 42 Parengarenga Semi-continuous, early Miocene sequence B3 N02065444 2 & 4 (north shore) rich in macro and microfossils - most Miocene fauna complete early Miocene sequence in the north half of North Island 43 Parengarenga- Dipping fossiliferous siltstones and fine B3 N02053441 2 & 4 Paratoetoe sandstones of shelf origin - best exposed Miocene sequence sequence through most of the upper Parengarenga Group 44 Parengarenga Sand very high in silica - largest unvegetated B3 N02090400 4 silica sand/ Kokota spit in New Zealand, most extensive and (The Sandspit) highest grade silica sand deposit in New Zealand 45 Perforated Point A good example of the deformation within the C3 N03261125 8 overturned fold Mt Camel terrane 47 Pouerua (Pakaraka Scoria cone, 750m in diameter, 135m high B2 P05953471 35 & Mountain) scoria (275m ASL) with associated flows - 41 cone and lava distinctive volcanic centre with well preserved fields crater and volcanic form, surrounded by the best preserved lava flow field in Northland 49 Puketutu A group of cones and mounds overlying a C2 P05995553 35 (Puketona) more massive flow - now largely quarried volcanic cones Far North District Plan Appendix 1A Page 3 Appendix 1A – SCHEDULE OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL FEATURES Site Site Name