Wanganui Basin

[1][2][3] The Wanganui Basin is located on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, within the Manawatū-Whanganui and Taranaki regions.

A little under half of the basin is onshore, extending inland around the lower reaches of the Whanganui and Rangitikei Rivers before terminating at the foot of the North Island Volcanic Plateau.

The Wanganui Basin is "one of the most complete late Neogene marine stratigraphic records in the world,"[1] and is an important region for geological and palaeontological research.

[2][3] The basin provides the basis for the eponymous Wanganui epoch in the New Zealand geologic time scale, which covers the Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene over the last 5.33 million years.

[1][4] The series was first described in depth and compared to glacial cycles by Charles Fleming,[3][5] which has had a lasting impact upon subsequent stratigraphic, palaeontological and palaeoecological research.