THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE 



NEW SERIES. DECADE VI. VOL. IV. 



No. VI.— JUNE, 1917 



OZRIG-ITSr.A.IIl, ARTIC 



I. — The Glacial Controversy in Ne 



By C. T. Tkechmann, M.Sc, P.G.S. 



f HHE controversy which has arisen, in recent years in New Zealand 

 J_ regarding the problem of the Pleistocene glaciation of that 

 country resolves itself into the two following main questions : — 



1. Was there any glaciation in the North Island? 



2. Was there an ice-sheet covering the South Island ? 



The discussion reached a culminating stage in the year 1909, when 

 papers by Professors P. Marshall 1 and J. Park 2 appeared setting 

 forth the two opposing views. These views have been further 

 summarized more recently in general works dealing with the geology 

 of New Zealand. 



Prof essor Park 3 states that New Zealand was glaciated as far north 

 as latitude 39°, an area which includes the southern half of the 

 North Island and the whole of the South Island, where, he says, 

 the ice reached not only the west coast but also the existing strand 

 of the east coast. 



Professor Marshall 4 declines to admit any evidence of glaciation 

 in the North Island. He holds to the view that there was nothing 

 in the nature of an ice-sheet in New Zealand, and that the glaciation 

 of the South Island was a phenomenon confined to certain areas, in 

 fact essentially an extension of the very restricted glaciers which 

 exist at the present day. He speaks, 5 however, of the Taieri schistose 

 conglomerate on the east coast of Otago, on which the supposed 

 evidence of an ice-sheet largely rests, as a glacial moraine, though his 

 remarks make it clear that he is in some doubt as to its true age and 

 mode of occurrence. 



Totally independent evidence from the botanical point of view 

 against New Zealand having experienced in recent times an ice-sheet 

 similar to that which covered parts of the northern hemisphere is 

 published by Geo. M. Thomson. 6 The botanical evidence certainly 



1 "The Glaciation of New Zealand": Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xlii, 

 pp. 334-48, 1909. 



2 "The Great Ice Age of New Zealand": Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xlii, 

 pp. 589-612 and 575-588, 1909. 



3 Geology of Neiu Zealand, 1910, p. 182. 



4 Ibid., 1912, p. 202. 



5 Ibid., 1912, p. 203. 



6 "Botanical Evidence against Recent Glaciation of New Zealand": 

 Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xlii, pp. 348-53, 1909. 



DECADE VI. — VOL. IV. — NO. VI. 16 



