Late Miocene to early Pliocene stratigraphic record in northern Taranaki Basin: Condensed sedimentation ahead of Northern Graben extension and progradation of the modern continental margin

The middle Pliocene-Pleistocene progradation of the Giant Foresets Formation in Taranaki Basin built up the modern continental margin offshore from western North Island. The late Miocene to early Pliocene interval preceding this progradation was characterised in northern Taranaki Basin by the accumulation of hemipelagic mudstone (Manganui Formation), volcaniclastic sediments (Mohakatino Formation), and marl (Ariki Formation), all at bathyal depths. The Manganui Formation has generally featureless wireline log signatures and moderate to low amplitude seismic reflection characteristics. Mohakatino Formation is characterised by a sharp decrease in the GR log value at its base, a blocky GR log motif reflecting sandstone packets, and erratic resistivity logs. Seismic profiles show bold laterally continuous reflectors. The Ariki Formation has a distinctive barrel-shaped to blocky GR log motif. This signature is mirrored by the SP log and often by an increase in resistivity values through this interval. The Ariki Formation comprises (calcareous) marl made up of abundant planktic foraminifera, is 109 m thick in Ariki-1, and accumulated over parts of the Western Stable Platform and beneath the fill of the Northern Graben. It indicates condensed sedimentation reflecting the distance of the northern region from the contemporary continental margin to the south

PaCTS 1.0: a crowdsourced reporting standard for paleoclimate data

The progress of science is tied to the standardization of measurements, instruments, and data. This is especially true in the Big Data age, where analyzing large data volumes critically hinges on the data being standardized. Accordingly, the lack of community-sanctioned data standards in paleoclimatology has largely precluded the benefits of Big Data advances in the field. Building upon recent efforts to standardize the format and terminology of paleoclimate data, this article describes the Paleoclimate Community reporTing Standard (PaCTS), a crowdsourced reporting standard for such data. PaCTS captures which information should be included when reporting paleoclimate data, with the goal of maximizing the reuse value of paleoclimate datasets, particularly for synthesis work and comparison to climate model simulations. Initiated by the LinkedEarth project, the process to elicit a reporting standard involved an international workshop in 2016, various forms of digital community engagement over the next few years, and grassroots working groups. Participants in this process identified important properties across paleoclimate archives, in addition to the reporting of uncertainties and chronologies; they also identified archive-specific properties and distinguished reporting standards for new vs. legacy datasets. This work shows that at least 135 respondents overwhelmingly support a drastic increase in the amount of metadata accompanying paleoclimate datasets. Since such goals are at odds with present practices, we discuss a transparent path towards implementing or revising these recommendations in the near future, using both bottom-up and top-down approaches