BY FRITZ NOETLING, M.A., Ph.D., ETC. i6t 



The character of this boulder clay is that of the 

 glacial drift, so well known in Northern Europe and 

 Northern America (see PI. X. and XL). More or less, 

 rounded sub-angular blocks of rocks, many of which are 

 striated, are irregularly embedded in an argillaceous 

 matrix. This feature is particularly well seen from 

 Freestone BlufT towards the Inglis River, but on turn- 

 ing round the corner of the blufif it loses its character 

 as a boulder clay ; the boulders are alr^ost absent, and,. 

 what is more, the clay becomes stratified, strangely con- 

 trasting in appearance with its former characteristic de- 

 velopment. The boulders appear agr ' i further towards 

 west, and this certainly proves that the character of the 

 moraine locally changes considerably. Further investi- 

 gations of this point are very desirable. 



Unfortunately my time was too short to make a com- 

 plete collection of the dififerent kinds of rocks occurring, 

 but I noticed that crystalline rocks form far the ma- 

 jority. Sedimentary rocks are very scarce ; I found a 

 boulder of greyish limestone without fossils, and though 

 I searched very carefully I did not find any trace of 

 permian fossiliferous rocks. On this point apparently all 

 observers agree ; neither Mr. Stephens, nor Mr. Kitson, 

 nor myself found boulders of rocks of permian age. 

 Kitson enumerates quite a number of dififerent kinds of 

 rocks, and I have no doubt that if a systematic collec- 

 tion is made, and the rocks correctly determined, we 

 will be able with great certainty to fix the geological 

 features of the country whence they came, and thus 

 probably locate their origin. 



Most of these boulders are strongly striated and 

 scratched. On the whole these ice-worn boulders are 

 not very common, but I succeeded in finding two perfect 

 specimens of considerable size. 



There is another feature connected with these 

 boulders which, if I am not mistaken, was first noticed 

 by Kitson. Almost all the boulders are intersected by 

 a number of parallel cracks running approximately 

 north-south. These cracks are indicative of a great 

 lateral pressure, which did not affect the softer matrix, 

 but broke the more rigid boulders (PI. XII.). It is very 

 probable that these cracks or joints indicating a pres- 

 sure from north are the result of the subsidence of the 

 earth's surface when Bass Straits was formed. 



