528 



Transactions. — Geology. 



which contain what he affirms is a Pareora fauna, overlie the 

 Waihao or Waitaki Stone unconformably. But the strati- 

 graphical evidence, as pointed out by Mr. McKay, :: is entirely 

 opposed to this view. The beds containing a Pareora fauna 

 nowhere overlie the Waitaki Stone, but, on the contrary, always 

 occur below or at a lower level than the calcareous sandstone 

 forming that horizon. And along the course of the Waihao 

 and in the small streams which join that river the greensands 

 and bluish-green sandy beds follow the contours of the escarp- 

 ments in such a way as to everywhere preserve the same rela- 

 tive position with respect to the Waitaki Stone. Captain Hut- 

 ton attempts to explain this by suggesting that his Oamaru 

 series of Oligocene age was deposited, elevated, sculptured 

 into narrow valleys and channels, and again submerged so as 

 to permit the accumulation of his Pareora bedsf in the newly 

 eroded channels. This view supposes that no denudation or 

 erosion of the Waitaki Stone has taken place since the deposi- 

 tion of the supposed Pareoras — that is, since Lower Miocene 

 times — a requirement which it will be difficult to maintain, for 

 physical reasons. 



The stratigraphy is not obscure nor the sectious involved ; 

 and I fully concur with Mr. McKay's interpretation, which 

 is, moreover, borne out by the sections at Black Point, Whare- 

 kuri, and Kakahu. 



o 



N 



liy/Z. 



Section at Waihao Forks across Main Branch. 



A. Road. B. Waihao River. C. Railway-line. 1. River-gravels. 2. Ter- 

 race gravels. 3. Calcareous sandstones, current-bedded ; Waitaki 

 Stone. 4. Glauconitic sands and sandstone, Mount Brown beds. 

 5. Bluish-green sandy clays and sandstones, Waihao sandstone. 



* McKay, " The Waihao Greensands, and their Relation to 

 Ototara Stone" (loc. cit., p. 434). 



t Reports of Geol. Expls., 1873-74, p. 37. 



the 



