THE PHYSICAL UTSTOKY OF THE FJORDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 159 



deposited at some distance up the present valleys, thus 

 proving the prior existence of the latter. Durino- the 

 Pliocene period a depression of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet below 

 the present level took place, resulting in the deposition of 

 the Pareora beds. In Pliocene times, since no deposits 

 referable to this age are found in the South Island, we must 

 assume a period of elevation. It could not, however, have 

 been of long duration, for in the North Island we find both 

 Upper and Lower Pliocene beds — the Wanganui and Kai- 

 iwi Series respectively. A depression in Pleistocene times 

 is indicated by the deposits at Cape Wanbrow, Oamaru, and 

 by the silt deposits of the Southland Plains. The major 

 oscillations of the land surface during the Tertiary period 

 may be graphically represented as follows : — 



a. — Elevation during which present valley system originated. 

 h. — Elevation during Glacier Period. 



11. Elevation of land during the Pliocene Period. — As sliO"\\ai 

 in the above diagram, the elevation of the land which led to 

 the great Glacier Period (not Glacial, for New Zealand was 

 never in Cainozolc time, at least, overwhelmed by an ice-cap) 

 took place during the Pliocene Age, but whether in Early or 

 Late Pliocene there is no evidence to show. Certain it is, how- 

 ever, that the glaciers covered then a very greatly extended 

 area compared witli that which they now occupy. In some 

 places their moraines have been found within a few miles of 

 the eastern seaboard, from which the present glaciers are 

 now distant quite ninety miles. This glacier extension, with 

 all its attendant phenomena, including the occupation and 

 possible erosion of the fjord beds, is amply accounted for by 

 the assumption of a greater elevation of the land of only 

 some 3,000 to 5,000 feet — if indeed as much be required. 

 For even at the present time, in lat. 44° S. (or equivalent to 

 that of Bordeaux), the Pox Glacier, on the west coast, comes 

 to within 700 feet of the sea level. Indeed, no other theorv 



