III.— GEOLOGY. 



Akt. XXXVIII. — Notes on an Artesian-well System at the 



Base of the Port Hills. 



By S. Page, with Analyses by E. B. B. Prideaux, B.A. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 27th February, 



1901.] 



Last year it came to my knowledge through Mr. T. E. Cutler, 

 of Gebbie's Valley School, that flowing artesian wells of con- 

 siderable depth had been obtained inside Lyttelton Harbour, 

 at and near Teddington ; also that similar flowing wells, all 

 more or less warm, existed on the other side of Gebbie's Pass. 



The wells vary in depth from about 70 ft. to 290 ft.; 

 in temperature from 65° to 84° Fahr. One or more rise 

 as much as 20 ft. above the surface, and they extend in one 

 direction as far as the ocean-beach and in the other from the 

 north side of Gebbie's Valley round the foot-hills as far as 

 Little Biver. 



Seeing that the wells extended over such a considerable 

 area, it was at first thought possible that the supply might be 

 connected with the artesian system of the plains. If that was 

 so, however, the presence of the wells at Teddington would 

 tend to show that the alluvial system of the plains extended 

 under the hills. 



To test the point, samples were obtained from six repre- 

 sentative wells, through the kindness of Mr. T. E. Cutler, and 

 analyses of these by Mr. E. B. B. Prideaux are appended. 



From Mr. Miller, of Gebbie's Valley, who sunk the greater 

 part, if not all, of these wells, I learn that inside Lyttelton 

 Harbour the wells pass through clay, freestone rock, sand, 

 and in one case rubble, but no shingle. On the other side of 

 the hills, in addition to sand and clay, waterworn shingle was 

 constantly met with, in beds as much as 50 ft. in thickness. 

 In one well, on the spit between Lake Ellesmere and the sea, 

 no clay was found ; sand and shingle only. In this case water 

 was met with at 50 ft. and the flow did not improve to the 

 •extreme depth reached — 212 ft. In other cases, where beds of 

 -clay were interposed, the flow increased with the depth. 



