316 Dr. P. Marshall — Totinger Rock Series of New Zealand. 



further statements and explanations that will refute much of the 

 ciiticism tliat appeared in the article referred to. 



The history of the various clas^^itications of these strata appears 

 to me to be beside the point, and I shall not refer to it. I should wish 

 to reproduce the two diagrams {see mite, Fig. 1, p. 3 14, and Fig. 2, p.315), 

 for no objections have been offered to them, and they appear to me 

 to give a correct diagrammatic view of the various opinions that 

 have been and still are held in regard to the strati graphical position 

 of these beds, and to the correlation of the members as developed 

 in different parts of the country. If these diagrams produce no other 

 impression, they will at least show clearly enough that a great 

 variety of widely divei'ging views has been expressed in regard to 

 tliem. Anyone who has not seen the strata in the field will naturally 

 conclude that their arrangement must be highly involved and complex. 

 This, however, is not the case in the most typical localities, for, as 

 Professor Park has said in the most empliatic manner of the typical 

 h)cality in the Waipara, " The sequence of the beds as just enumerated 

 is the most complete to be found in any part of jSTew Zealand. The 

 stratigraphy is plain and simple, being free from obscurities and 

 offering i'ew points of possible disagreement." Again, "The strata 

 at the Waipara wliere the complete sequence is exposed are quite 

 undisturbed, following one another uniformly througliout all parts 

 of the district. ... I am strongly of the opinion that a complete 

 sequence of beds exists from the base of the Cretaceo-Tertiary " — now 

 the base of his Cretaceous — " to the close of the Pareora formation." ' 



Notwithstanding this opinion, with which we cordially agree, 

 unconformities have been described by nearly all observers as occurring 

 in various places in this series. The exact places at which these 

 were described as distinct were visited by us, and the complete 

 evidence of absolute conformity in every case appeared to us to be 

 oveiwhelming. It is woithy of remark in passing thatthougli Hector, 

 Hutton, Haast, and Park have visited and described the same sections, 

 thej' have in nearly everj- case stated that the unconformities described 

 by the others are not present. 



The authors of the paper criticized in your article visited the 

 district in companj", and in the paper describing our observations gave 

 reasons for believing that the whole series was conformable. In 

 particular, we showed that Professor Park had misread the structure 

 on which his unconformity above the Weka Pass IStone was based, 

 and also that upon which his separation of the Mount Brown and 

 Motanau Beds was based. As regards the latter he at first asserted : 

 "The section exposed in this cutting is of great importance, as here 

 the Motanau Beds are seen to rest unc-onformably upon the Mount 

 Brown Beds. The section is so clear that no doubt can be entertained 

 as to the l^n conform able relations of the two formations." * In the 

 Geology of New Zealand lie states : " In the Waipara district the 

 Greta Beds of the Av\atere Series ai'e resting unconformably on a 

 highly denuded surface of the Oamaruian." ^ Apparently, however, 



' Eep. Geol. Explor., 1887, pp. 28, 33. 



-' Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxvii, p. 538, 1904. 



^ Geology of New Zealand, 1910, p. 158. 



