594 GREAT SERPENTINE BELT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, ii., 



Newcastle(24), and Delungra Peak, near Warialda(27), which it 

 strongly resembles in appearance. 



Some peculiar chloritised dolerites, with large purple augites, 

 occurring in the basalt-range east of Mount Ephraim, are probably 

 sills related to these alkaline rocks. They have not yet been inves- 

 tigated. 



(10). Pleistocene and Recent Alluvial Deposits. 



Two series of alluvial deposits occur along the Peel River and 

 Duncan's Creek. The higher deposits are frequently auriferous, 

 and have been worked on the Peel River, south of Bowling Alley 

 Point, and at Bowling Alley Point itself. A well marked terrace, 

 about 50 feet high, occurs on the east bank of the Peel River, one 

 mile north of Nundle. 



Recent alluvial deposits occur all along the river and its larger 

 tributaries, and form an area of over a square mile in extent at the 

 township of Woolomin. They are often auriferous, but rarely very 

 deep. The streams entering the Peel River, on the western side, 

 usually break up into distributaries, and soak through wide marshy 

 tracts into the main river. Hyde's Creek and Cope's Creek are 

 conspicuous examples of this. 



Economic Notes. 



Gold was first found in this district in 1852, and, since then, 

 about £900,000 worth has been obtained.* It occurs in many 

 ways : — 



(a) In quartz- veins near the boundaries of the dolerite, which 

 have generally suffered much faulting. 



( b ) In quartz-veins in the slate, away from the dolerite. 



(c)As impregnations in pyritous, carbonated serpentine. 



(d)As pyritous impregnations in claystone, spilite, etc., in wide, 

 low-grade channels with rich quartz-stringers. These are the 



* A very remarkable theory of the origin of this gold, was put forward 

 by the Rev. W. B. Clarke in 1853(2), in a lengthy report on the subject. 

 It was considered to be deposited under a shallow sea in the vicinity of 

 volcanic eruptions. 



