Dune sands with four different stages of soil development cover 330 square miles in the coastal Manawatu district. The oldest—the Koputaroa Phase—is restricted to small areas at the north and south; the other three phases—the Foxton, Motuiti, and Waitarere—form belts parallel to the coast, the oldest belt being the furthest inland. The Koputaroa Phase is considered to be Late Pleistocene or early Holocene and 20,000 to 10,000 years old. The Foxton Phase is older than the eruption of the Taupo Shower and about 4,000 to 2,000 years old. Sands of the Motuiti Phase overlie traces of Maori occupation and a stump that is about 750 years old, and are about 1,000 to 500 years old. The Waitarere Phase started about 100 years ago and is still accumulating.