relief is fully 1,000 ft., and several ridges rise to more than 1,500 ft. 

 above the sea ; while to the east the ridges are successively higher 

 until, at a distance of seven miles, the Rimutaka Range (3,000 ft.) 

 is reached. The smaller valleys are insequent, but there is a 

 distinct longitudinal, and occasionally trellised, drainage system 

 developed on strongly folded (nearly vertical) sedimentary strata 

 with occasional crushed zones, or shatter-belts, parallel to the 

 general north-north-east strike. The mature ridges of the depressed 

 block show a similar parallel arrangement. As a result of depression 

 of the maturely dissected surface these ridges (Miramar Peninsula 

 and the Kilbirnie Hills) and their spurs are separated by drowned 

 valleys, and their highest peaks now reach only 400 ft. to 600 ft. 

 above sea-level, while an almost complete absence of islands from 



FIG. 2. Eastern shore-line of Port Nicholson. 



the northern portion of the harbour suggests that subsidence was 

 there much greater than farther south. 



The north-western boundary of the depression is a well-preserved 

 fault-scarp (see p. 8), but the remaining boundaries are embayed 

 by submergence. The embayed eastern shore-line is traced along 

 the half-submerged side of a prominent and steep-sided longitudinal 

 ridge (fig. 2). It has been cliff ed by marine erosion, and still later 

 prograded, with the formation of a cuspate foreland. 



Along all the shore-lines initiated by the subsidence there are 

 wave-cut cliffs of varying height according to the exposure. On 

 the exposed outer (southward-facing) coast cliff-recession has taken 

 place to a very considerable extent, truncating the ends of the 

 half-submerged ridges, and large areas of cut platforms lie at the 



