462 



PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



exireinely probable, as we find in certain localities loose trravels 

 which have been covered by basalt converted into feriuginous 

 cemented j^ravels during; the decomposition of the latter. A 

 number of localities, where sections showing the relation of these 

 silicious Tertiary drifts have been observed, have been described by 

 Mr. Murray,*' while I have observed similar beds at Frenchman's 

 Gully, Neerim, Eaglehawk Creek, and other places along the 

 northern watershed of the Latrobe, in the Narracan Creek and 

 Little Morewell valleys, and on the Tara and Albert. In some 

 localities the beds have evidently suffered erosion before the 

 basaltic flows took place, and upon them, or in the hollows eroded 

 through and upon them, younger auriferous gravels and the lignite 

 beds were deposited. Thus it seems to me that instead of one 

 contemporaneous deposit underlying the older basalts of South 

 Gippsland, there are two ; that if the basalt and the younger 

 underlying gravels and lignite beds are Miocene, the silicious con- 

 glomerates are probably older, and may be either the eqiiivalents 

 of the marine oligoclase beds of Victoria or Older Eocene. I have 

 nowhere observed a greater thickness than 200ft. of these sub- 

 basaltic Tertiaries. In most cases they are considerably under 

 loOft.. and in some instances are only a few feet in thickness. 

 They occur from SOOft. to 800ft. above sea level along the flanks 

 of the Strzelecki Range, and at Mirboo. and have been extensively 

 lowered by faultings during later Tertiary times. The brown coal 

 beds at Thorpdale, Calignee, and Carrajung contain a higher per- 

 centage of carbon than the larger and younger deposits at Morewell 

 and other portions of the Latrobe. The following analyses have 

 been made : — 



Thorpdale 

 Calignee . . 

 Car raj ung 



Or an average of 



14-50 

 19-00 

 25-09 



19-53 



Hydro. 



31-87 

 28-70 

 26-34 



21-97 



46-30 

 48-20 

 45-37 



6-36 

 "-10 

 3-72 



4-76 



MiOCKNE. 



To the east of the Strzelecki Range, in the Merriman's Creek, 

 between Merton and Stradbroke, are marine beds consisting of 

 hard yellowish limestone, with soft intermediate layers, which are 

 believed to be continuous with the Boggy Creek deposits near Sale, 

 and which have been classed by Prof. McCoy as Miocene, from the 

 assemblage of fossils examined by him. The relation of the 



Geological survey, South-western Gippsland, by 

 Surv., Vict., vol. in. 



R. A. T 

 p. 148. 



Murray. Prog. Kept.. Geol. 



