324 » Transactions. 



Lower Waipara district,* between the township of Waipara and the sea, 

 in both of which localities similar developments of Notocene rocks occur. 

 These locality distinctions have already been made by McKay. The Middle 

 Waipara and Weka Pass areas form a continuous district, but as they have 

 separate access by road, and as there is no road traversing and connecting 

 them, they are often treated of as separate districts. It should be noted 

 that in the earlier literature the term " Waipara " was generally used for 

 the Middle Waipara area alone, but that the term is now generally used 

 colloquially by geologists for the whole of the Middle Waipara and Weka 

 Pass district. In old reports the part of the Middle Waipara district 

 between Boby's Creek and the Waipara River is sometimes termed " the 

 Ram Paddock," a self-explanatory name referring to its use when part of 

 the Glenmark Station. 



In the history of Notocene geology the district of the Middle Waipara 

 and Weka Pass has attracted more attention than any other in New Zea- 

 land, and the Notocene sequence there displayed was made by Hector, 

 Hutton, and von Haast the basis of their various schemes of classification 

 of the Notocene ; but, although the district is perhaps the most often 

 quoted in our geological literature, no comprehensive account of the whole 

 Notocene stratigraphy has been attempted since that of Park in 1888. 

 Since that date many new observations have been made, a great deal more 

 is known of the fossils from the various beds, and, moreover, new view- 

 points have been found, so that a new account has become desirable. In 

 attempting it I can lay no claim to exhaustive treatment, as there are many 

 outcrops which I have not traversed, and every fresh visit to the district 

 brings to light new fossil forms from the old localities, and new fossil- 

 localities. There is abundant scope for further exploration, and the detailed 

 survey of parts of the area may be suggested as useful theses for students. 

 Still, the major outlines both of stratigraphy and of palaeontology can now 

 be stated, and their bearing on the systems of classification of the younger 

 rocks of New Zealand needs pointing out at the present time. 



The map accompanying this paper (fig. 1) does not claim to be more 

 than a sketch-map, and is in large part based on previous maps^ 



Although the attached bibliography includes a very large number of 

 papers, a minority contain descriptive matter relating directly to the strati- 

 graphy or palaeontology of the district, and the majority deal mainly with 

 the correlation of the various beds and their place in general classifications 

 of the younger rocks of New Zealand. These latter papers are concerned 

 mainly with the validity or otherwise of the Cretaceo-Tertiary formation of 

 Hector, a formation based, first, on the conformity of the Amuri limestone, 

 Weka Pass stone, and " grey marls " within the district, and, secondly, 

 on certain correlations believed to exist between the various rocks of the 

 sequence and those of the Oamaru and West Coast areas. It will make 

 for^clearness if these matters are treated in separate sections of this paper. 



PART I.— DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY.. 

 GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE DISTRICT. 



The subjoined table, showing the dates of the principal visits of geologists 

 who have written on the district, will give some idea of the interest it has 

 created amongst New Zealand geologists. The list does not include many 

 other visits by those who have not published their observations. 



* Also known as " Double Corner." 



