21.3 



Briefly, the section may be described thus : — Blue clay from 

 80 to 90 feet thick, highly fossiliferous ; yellowish clay 20 to 30 

 feet ; and above this about 40 feet of recent calcareous sandstone 

 of seolian origin. The upper part of the blue clay is turned 

 yellow in places by drippings from above. 



The easiest method of getting fossils in the blue clay is to 

 look closely for those that have weathered out, either wholly or 

 partially, from the face. Occasionally, the cliffs have weathered 

 down so much that mounds of clay only are left ; on the surface 

 of these, small shells are abundant. It requires very hard work 

 and great patience to unearth fossils with the pick, though some- 

 times line specimens are thus obtained. On our first visit we 

 made a large collection without much trouble, the shells weathered 

 out on the cliffs and clay-mounds for many years evidently fall- 

 ing to us. On returning a year later, we were unable to increase 

 our stock much, the interval being too short for another crop to 

 weather out. 



The amount of dip in the strata is, according to the Survey, 

 5° ; we made it 4°, which is not a w^ide divergence in this kind 

 of rock. But in regard to the directioii of the dip, there is a 

 marked disagreement betwen the observations, not only here, but 

 also at another special section to the eastward. As certain con- 

 clusions formed concerning the tertiary deposits of this area 

 depend in a great measure upon the direction in which the strata 

 incline, it will be necessary to enter into details. 



Speaking of the section just described, the Survey Report 

 says : — -" The section is taken nearly at the apex of an anti- 

 clinal curve of the strata, which now dip N.W. at 5° for nearly 



a mile, when they become nearly horizontal From 



here the strata gently undulate until within a short distance of 

 Curdie's Inlet, when they dip to the west and disappear at sea 



level At Port Campbell the cliffs .... dip 



S.W. at 5° ; they contain very few fossils. They exhibit numer- 

 ous faults in the cliff section ; in the short distance of a mile I 

 observed five or six of them." 



The dip here given is approximately in the direction of the 

 «oast line, and, if correct, the beds would of course fall to sea- 

 level, and pass out of sight ; to account, therefore, for their 

 repeated reappearance on the coast further west, as near the 

 Sherbrook River and other places, there must either be faults in 

 the strata or a series of anticlines and synclines. Instead of the 

 dip at this section being north-west, we make it W. 12° S., i.e., 

 almost to seaward. At the other section referred to, a similar 

 dip was observed, both in direction and amount, though, accord- 

 ing to the survey, it changes to the east. When the real direc- 

 tion of the dip, viz., wt^st by south, is recognised, there is no 



