cliff-bases. Along this outer coast the shore-line of the depressed 

 area is, or, rather, was before a small uplift which accompanied the 

 earthquake of 1855, in an early mature stage of development, 

 considerable modification of the initial embayed outline having 

 resulted in part from the cutting-back of points and in part from 

 bay-filling. A sand isthmus, which ties Miramar Peninsula, a former 

 island, to the mainland, effects a decided smoothing of the initial 

 outline (fig. 3). 



Port Nicholson has a smooth floor, with a maximum depth of 

 100 ft. in the middle. This indicates that a large accumulation of 



FIG. 3. Diagram showing Miramar Peninsula as a land-tied island. Above 

 is the initial form ; below, cliffing and modification of the outer 

 coast of the depressed area are shown. 



FIG. 4. Diagram-sketch of the southern end of the tilted area east of Port 

 Nicholson. From left (north-west) to right (south-east) the coastal 

 features shown are : Pencarrow Head, Lake Koangapiripiri, Lake 

 Koangatera, Fitzroy Bay, Baring Head, Wainui-o-mata River, 

 Orongorongo River, Cape Turakirae. 



sediment has taken place, the material burying the submerged mature 

 land-surface. 



Though its .north-western boundary is a fault-scarp (fig. 5), the 

 depression is not simply a small fault-bounded tectonic block. The 

 absence of- companion fault-scarps, no less than the positive 

 physiographic evidence, indicates that faulting must be regarded 

 as merely an incident in the formation of the depression. The 

 principal event appears to have been the sharp downwarping of a 



