Thomson. — The Hawera Series. 417 



in the Hawera series, and probably a large part of the sands, owe their origin 

 to the material brought down by rivers from Mount Egmont. A cessation 

 of cliff-recession followed, either from elevation or because the supply of 

 waste became sufficient to produce a prograded coast similar to that of 

 Marlborough, and a low-lying coastal strip in which lagoons and ponds 

 could form gave rise to the ferruginous cement in the upper layers of the 

 series. Finally deposition was brought to an end by elevation of consider- 

 able amount. 



My own observations do not permit me to state how far inland the 

 Hawera series extends from the present coast-line, but between Wanganui 

 and Hawera Park's map does not show it more than six miles inland. From 

 the top of the large sand-dunes seaward of the railway-station at Okehu 

 one sees in a north-east direction two distinct terraces, one with cliffs facing 

 the present beach, the other with cliffs parallel to the former series and 

 facing the lower terrace. These latter cliffs cross the Okehu and Kai Iwi 

 Streams transversely, and thus have no immediate relationship to the 

 present drainage. They must be either fault-scarps or old sea-cliffs, and 

 their general parallelism to the present sea-cliffs makes it probable that 

 the latter explanation is correct, and that they mark the limit of inland 

 extension of the Hawera series. The lower terraces will in that case be 

 typical coastal plains. Farther inland towards the headwaters of the 

 Okehu and the Waitotara there is a still higher terrace, much more dissected, 

 and with wooded tops. It is possible that there are a number of older 

 Notopleistocene series, similar in mode of occurrence and formation to the 

 Hawera series, resting on the inland terraces. 



The fossils obtained from the Hawera series at Hawera comprise the 

 following species : Pecten triphooki (derived fossil), Ancilla australis, 

 Anomia walteri, Area decussata, Calyptraea maculata, Calliostoma punctidatum, 

 Cardita calyculata, Chamostrea albida, Chione crassa, Chione stutchburyi, 

 Corbula zelandica, Crepidula costata, Diplodonta globularis, Dosinia subrosea, 

 Euthria linea, Glycymeris modesta, Glycymeris laticostata, Leptomya lintea, 

 Mactra scalpellum, Mesodesma subtriangulatum, Mesodesma australe, Modiolus 

 australis, Mytilus magellanicus, Natica zelandica, Nucula hartvigiana, Ostrea 

 angasi, Pecten zelandiae, Siphonalia nodosa, Subemarginula intermedia, 

 Trochus chathamensis, Trochus viridis, Trochus tiaratus, Trivia zealandica, 

 Turritella rosea, Venerwpis refiexa, Venericardia difficilis, Hemithyris nigricans, 

 Terebratella rubicunda, Terebratella sanguinea, Evechinus chloroticus. All 

 these fossils, with the exception of the rounded, worn, and obviously 

 derived fragments of Pecten triphooki, belong to Recent species. It does 

 not seem probable that the raised beaches of different heights which are 

 known in various parts of New Zealand will ever be correlated or 

 distinguished satisfactorily by their marine faunas, but where vegetable 

 fossils are found in the Notopleistocene rocks it is quite possible that owing 

 to climatic changes a succession of floras may be distinguished on which 

 an age classification may be established. 



The study of such Notopleistocene deposits as the Hawera series is 

 exceedingly important from an economic point of view, for most of the 

 richer soils of th.e Dominion lie on such deposits. The famous dairy-farming 

 land around Hawera is floored by the Hawera series, and not directly by the 

 Wanganuian papas. This paper does not profess to treat of the subject 

 exhaustively, but it is hoped that it will cause this series to receive more 

 attention than it has attracted during the last thirty years. 



My thanks are due to Miss M. Mestayer for assistance with the determina- 

 tions of the fossils. 



14— Trans. 



