Speight and Wild. — Weka Pass Stone and Amuri /limestone. 73 



concerning the proper interpretation of the beds as detailed by Hector, but 

 the record of cup-shaped Bryozoa as occuri ing in (4) evidently points to what 

 is called the grey marl in the Waipara section, and the beds with flints to 

 the Amuri limestone, and the grey marly sandstone to the Weka Pass stone. 

 It is evident, therefore, that Hector did not recognize an unconformity 

 within the beds indicated above. 



Haast evidently considered the two beds of limestone as quite conform- 

 able. He says (1879, p. 297), " In some localities a break seems to occur 

 between the upper and lower calcareous series, as, for instance, in the Weka 

 Pass ranges, where the lower, more calcareous strata are sometimes separated 

 from the glauconitic massive upper beds by a small band of greensand con- 

 taining concretions of a more calcareous nature. However, in many other 

 localities this small bed does not occur, and the boundary between the two 

 series is either gradual or sharpy defined. Moreover, the upper beds are 

 found to be always conformable upon the lower where the latter exists, 

 being, in fact, a continuation of the same series, and, owing to the sinking 

 of the land, of greater horizontal extent than the more calcareous beds 

 underlying them." We have quoted this description in full as it appears 

 to us to explain concisely the whole case. 



Hutton (1877, 1885, 1888) always maintained the unconformable relation- 

 ship between the Amuri limestone and the Weka Pass stone, urging that 

 the contact was a normal erosion-surface, and in none of his writings cited 

 in the bibliography does he depart in the slightest from this position. 



McKay (1881, 1886, 1887) considered the sequence conformable. 



Thus it is that, among the older geologists of this country who have 

 reported on this matter, three agree that the sequence is conformable, while 

 one maintains the contrary. 



We come now to the opinions of those of a more modern date. The 

 first to be considered is that of Professor Park, who forms a kind of link 

 with the older geologists. His views are by no means certain, and exhibit 

 considerable evolutionary development. In his report published in 1888 he 

 says, "As a result of the examination of many of the magnificent sections 

 between the Weka Pass and the Waipara, I am strongly of the opinion that 

 a complete sequence of beds exists from the base of the Cretaceo-Tertiary 

 to the close of the Pareora formation, although the varying character of 

 the deposits and their fossil remains show that the sea-bottom on which 

 they were deposited was subject to frequent oscillation." Again (1905, 

 p. 546), he says, " Captain Hutton contends that there is an unconformity 

 between the Weka Pass stone and the Amuri limestone. I have carefully 

 examined the line of contact of the two rocks, but was unable to find any 

 evidence of unconformity ; and on this point my view coincides with that 

 of Sir James Hector, Sir Julius von Haast, and Mr. McKay." In his 

 Geology of New Zealand (1910) Park evidently regards the two limestones as 

 conformable, a position which he maintained in 1911 (p. 546). Next year, 

 however, as a result of the finding of Pecten huttoni in the Weka Pass stone, 

 he moved his unconformity to the base of the Weka Pass stone, which he 

 then stated lay conformably under the Mount Brown limestone, although 

 he had in 1888 demonstrated on stratigraphical grounds the existence of 

 an unconformity between them. His position, therefore, seems somewhat 

 obscure. 



Marshall (1911, 1912) has always maintained the physical conformity 

 between the beds of this series, and in this he has been supported by Cotton 

 and Speight, both in conjunction with him (1911) and independently (1912). 



