OCEAN CONTOURS, S.W. PACIFIC. 445 



really the basis upon which theories should rest, and a consideration 

 of them leads the authors to opinions quite different from those here 

 summarised. 



The classification of coast lines as Pacific and Atlantic in type is 

 not yet accepted by many authorities. Thus there is no mention of 

 it by Davis, Chamberlain, and Salisbury, Chamberlain's Physio- 

 graphy, Lapparent Geographie Physique. If the classification ex- 

 pressed a terrestrial truth, it should be not only a broad generalisation, 

 but should apply equally to details. All the authorities quoted appear 

 tc- regard New Zealand as a part of the old Australasian shore line. It 

 should then be typically Pacific in structure. This is true of the west 

 coast of the South Island, which is generally admitted to be the outer 

 portion of a great fold. 



If the east coast is considered, it must naturally be regarded as 

 the inner side of the same fold, and therefore Atlantic in type. 

 Further, the fold in Otago bends south-east, and is cut off by the coast 

 line — again an Atlantic character. The shore line of Cook Strait is 

 a rias coast, and the same feature is repeated from the Thames to the 

 North Cape. Thus, if judged by its features, the greater part of the 

 New Zealand coast line is Atlantic in character. 



If the distribution of volcanic rocks is examined, the association 

 of alkaline rocks with the Atlantic type of coast holds at Dunedin. At 

 Cook Straits the towering andesitic cone of Egmont dominates the 

 rias coast of the South Island. The coast from East Cape, where the 

 mountain range is truncated, to North Cape is associated throughout 

 with andesite rocks ; that is, the Atlantic coast type is here found with 

 the volcanic rocks said to be characteristic of the Pacific coast type. 

 It is difficult to agree with Gregory that the coastal features of the 

 South owe their regularity to the recent date of the north-east south- 

 vv^est movements. In the earlier part of this paper it was stated that 

 movements had taken place before the Miocene period of such a 

 character as to fold the Jurassic rocks into mountain ranges, and 

 these folds had been worn down before the Miocene rocks were 

 deposited. At the close of the Mesozoic the trend of the coast line 

 had been clearly defined. If the coasts were defined by faults, 

 fjvidence of this should be found between the Miocene and the Jurassic 

 sediments, where the coast line was originally formed in the Miocene 

 period. No such faults, however, have been found, though the depres- 

 sion of the coast line was so profound. In many places Miocene sedi- 

 ments I'est with a clear unconformity on Jurassic sediments. On the 

 other hand, the Miocene rocks form low cliffs on the sea front, and 

 for the greater part shallow water extends some distance seaward — 

 these features do not indicate dislocations of a recent nature. 



The evenness of the coast line is believed by the author to be due 

 to the recent movement of elevation, of which evidence was given 

 earlier. This has been aided by the powerful drift along the coast 

 which has blocked up many of the valleys eroded after the late or 

 post-Miocene elevation, though in all places where high and hard land 

 allowed of the formation of deep valleys during the elevation partially 

 blocked marine inlets are now found. Jensen's statement in regard to 

 the volcanic rocks on the west coast of New Zealand and the sharp 

 faulted coast is opposed to actual facts. Whether the origin of alkaline 



