Thomson. — Geology of Middle Clarence and U re V alley ><. 321 



rock (on the north-east bank of the river only), underlie the Amuri lime- 

 stone."" These upper beds of volcanic rock I did not observe. 



Quail Flat. — The Quail Flat fault runs from the mouth of the Herring 

 River for some distance along the bed of the Clarence River, then enters 

 the southern bank to pass though Quail Flat, crosses the river again at 

 the southern end, passes through two southerly projections of the north 

 bank, and finally again enters the north bank to run behind Red Hill, 

 where its presence was inferred by McKay. The base of the Notocene 

 rocks must be considerably folded longitudinally along this line, since at 

 Quail Flat and farther north-east only lower Clarentian rocks are involved 

 at approximatelv the same height as that at which the Weka Pass stone 

 occurs only two miles to the south-west. 



The Clarentian rocks are exposed on the southern bank of the Clarence 

 River near the upper and lower ends of Quail Flat, the intervening spaces 

 on the bank being occupied by pre-Notocene rocks. At the upper end 

 of the terrace the pre-Notocene rocks for some hundreds of yards are 

 greywackes and thin-bedded argillites striking N. 30° W. and dipping 

 nearly vertically. Farther up the river conglomerates appear, the line 

 of junction striking N. 65° E.. and dipping apparently vertically. The 

 conglomerates consist mainly of rather decomposed, well-rounded basalt 

 pebbles, with a greasy matrix recalling the fossiliferous tuft' of Limestone 

 Creek, Awatere Valley. They contain pieces of carbonized fossil wood. 

 Up the river these are succeeded by coal-measures striking north-east, 

 dipping 58° to the north-west, and consisting of thin-bedded mudstones, 

 carbonaceous shales, and sandstones, with elliptical masses of ferruginous 

 sandstone. These rocks strike south-west into a projection of the terrace- 

 bank, and the continuation of the succession is then obscured for about 

 100 yards. At the end of the projection a volcanic rock appears, and this 

 is followed by a succession of greasy conglomerates and coal-measures 

 similar to the last. It seems probable that the junction between the first- 

 desc rilled conglomerate and the pre-Notocene rocks is a fault. 



McKay's description of this outcrop is more detailed, and he mentions 

 no break in the succession. The first-mentioned exposure of coal-measures 

 he describes as followed by thick beds of volcanic rock, divided by tufas, 

 conglomerates, and shales, the highest stream of volcanic rock being 

 followed by conglomerates, grits, sandstones, &c. From the beds between 

 the first and second volcanic rocks he obtained leaf-fossils and fresh-water 

 shells, and underneath the higher stream some very fine specimens of 

 dicotyledonous leaves. 



At the lower (down-stream) end of Quail Flat the pre-Notocene rocks 

 are concretionary (" cannon-ball ") sandstones with thin argillite bands, 

 striking N. 20° E., and dipping 40" to the east-south-east at the lower 

 junction with the Clarentian rocks. The latter series commences with 

 mudstones and lignite seams, striking N. 20° E., and dipping 60° to the 

 west-north-west. The higher beds, exposed up-stream, are sandstones, 

 followed by more lignites. Higher up the succession is obscured by slips, 

 but pre-Notocene rocks appear in cliffs 200 yards farther up the river, so 

 that presumably the fault-line closing the sequence here enters the river- 

 terrace. 



This exposure was evidently much clearer at the time of McKay's visit, 



for he describes a number of beds I did not observe. " At the eastern end 



of the section the lowest bed is a soft greensandstone, which is followed 



by grey sandstones, with irregular beds of coaly shale. These latter bed?-' 



11— Trans. 



