While also using the internationalgeologic time scale, many nations–especially those with isolated and therefore non-standard prehistories–use their own systems of dividing geologic time into epochs and faunal stages. In New Zealand, these epochs and stages use localplace names back to the Permian. Prior to this time, names mostly align to those in the Australian geologic time scale, and are not divided into epochs. In practice, these earlier terms are rarely used, as most New Zealand geology is of a more recent origin. In all cases, New Zealand uses the same periods as those used internationally; the renaming only applies to subdivisions of these periods. Very few epochs and stages cross international period boundaries, and the exceptions are almost all within the Cenozoic Era. Although the New Zealand geologic time scale has not been formally adopted, it has been widely used by earth scientists, geologists and palaeontologists in New Zealand since J. S. Crampton proposed it in 1995. A standard abbreviation is used for these epochs and stages. These are usually in the form Xx, where the first letter is the initial letter of the epoch and the second letter is the initial letter of the stage. These are noted beside the stage names in the list below. Currently, we are in the Haweran stage of the Wanganui epoch. The Haweran, which started some 340,000 years ago, is named after the North Island town of Hawera.
List of New Zealand geologic time epochs and stages
Times given indicate the start of the respective stages and epochs. Several of these stages are further divided into upper and lower or upper, middle, and lower, although this has not been noted below unless unique names have been given to these sub-stages. As with the international geologic scale, these epochs and stages are largely named for locales where rock dating from these time periods is in evidence, with stage names predominantly but not always named for locales close to their epoch's namesake site. Where known, these places are also linked in the list below.
This stage is sometimes further divided into Mangaoran and Waikatoan. These are named after Mangaora Inlet and the Waikato River.
This stage is sometimes further divided into Kiriteherean and Marokopan. These are named after the Marokopa River and the nearby Kiritehere Stream.
Until the late 1960s, the Flettian and Barettian stages were together known as the Braxtonian stage. This was named for Braxton Burn, a stream near Mossburn.
