458 Transactions. — Geology. 



shape it would seem that a large portion of the limestones 

 had been denuded, and their place occupied by deposits made 

 up sometimes of pumice and shingle, and sometimes, with 

 pumice, shingle and lignites or clays. All these beds are 

 largely developed in the vicinity of the Euahine and Kaweka 

 Mountains, and they are found covering the country, at an 

 elevation of 2,000ft. or more, down to sea-level. The eleva- 

 tion of the Euahine and other associated ranges produced im- 

 portant changes in the physical features of this district. From 

 the appearance of the Pleistocene deposits, which certainly 

 had been completed before the elevation of these mountains, it 

 would appear that the places where the deposition took place 

 were large trough-like areas, which acted as catchments for 

 the material brought down from the volcanic district. At 

 that time the whole of what is now sea, extending from the 

 Kidnappers to Te Mahia, was partly covered with limestone 

 and partly with shingle and pumice-beds of the Kidnappers 

 type. 



This large area which had been elevated during the Plio- 

 cene period, and had been partly denuded and covered by 

 newer deposits, was again submerged during the elevation of 

 the Euahine Eanges. At the same time, what is now the 

 Euataniwha Plain was depressed several hundreds of feet, the 

 elevation of the one area being in a measure balanced by the 

 depressions within the areas named. It is not possible to say 

 w r hether the Euahine, Kaweka, and associated mountains were 

 raised to a much greater height than they now are. Judging 

 by the material distributed over this district, and which has 

 come from these ranges, it would seem that the height has 

 not been much greater than at present. Denudation has 

 undoubtedly been very great in those mountains, as the 

 filling-up of the Euataniwha and other areas amply testifies ; 

 but there is little evidence on the mountains themselves to 

 show that they have been subjected to ice-action, or that 

 glaciers have had possession for any length of time. 



I have already quoted Sir Julius von Haast on the probable 

 lowering of the snow-line by 1,000ft. by some cause not readily 

 apparent. But, if we assume that the Euahine and Kaweka 

 Mountains were under similar conditions, and that the snow- 

 line was lowered for this Island by 1,000ft., it would then be 

 impossible under present physical conditions for glaciers to 

 exist on those mountains. In the latitude of Napier the 

 snow-line is about 8,000ft. above sea-level, this being the 

 height of the snow-line on Euapehu. The highest peaks of 

 the Euahine reach a little above 6,000ft., and there is one 

 peak on the Kaweka within a few feet of 6,000ft. ; so that if 

 we assume the same conditions to have existed in the North 

 Island as in the South during the latter part of the Pleistocene 



