271 



Pleistocene. 



Beds of this age are widely distributed over the south-wes^ 

 tern portion of Yorke Peninsula. In general they consist 

 mainly of calciferous sandstones, which, however, vary con- 

 siderably both in texture and composition passing from a 

 slightly calcareous sandstone to an almost pure granular lime- 

 stone containing only a small percentage of silica. These 

 first appear at Point Souttar as cliffs varying from 50 to 60 ft. 

 in height, which continue to form the most characteristic fea- 

 ture of the coast as far round as Ca,pe Spencer, where they 

 attain a height of 300 ft. In many cases, notaibly at Cape 

 Spencer, they are intercalated with lenticular beds of clay of 

 from 1 to 2 ft. in thickness, and exhibit current bedding to a 

 remarkable degree, which facts would seem to indicate that 

 they were laid down in shallow water probably as an estuarine 

 deposit. 



On examination of various wells in the vicinity of Point 

 Souttar, Corney Point, Jones' Sandhills, &c., showed these beds^ 

 to overlie the glacial clay, which in its turn rests directly ou 

 the metamorphic rocks. At and in the neighborhood of Cape 

 Spencer the glacial clay has either been completely eroded 

 away or never existed, as the Pleistocene sands rest directly 

 on the metamorphic rocks. 



As yet there is but little direct evidence to show that these 

 deposits are of Pleistocene age. Professor Tate has coTrelated 

 them with the Pleistocene of Robe and Beachport, to which 

 they bear a marked resemblance, both in their physical charac- 

 teristics and in that, like the cliffs at Robe, they contain nume- 

 rous root-like structures. Unlike the cliffs of Robe, they are 

 apparently unfossiliferous, and contain no evidences of life, 

 with the exceiption of certain foraminifera, wkich, however, do 

 not definitely determine the age. At Corney Point they rest 

 uncoriformably on the Eocene, whence it is evident that thev 

 are at any rate post-Eocene. 



Miocene. 



It has long been known that there is a deposit of Miocene 

 age resting unconformably on the eroded surface of the Eocene, 

 extending from a point 1|- miles south of Edithburg to Wool 

 Bay, a distance of about 4 miles in a straight line. Until 

 lately no attempt had been made to determine its extent in- 

 land. Its occurrence was then noted in a well two miles 

 to th-e west of Edithburg by M. H. Basedow (Trans. Roy. Soc, 

 1901). 



