Ill 



the vegetable kingdom is concerned, yet their sterility in that 

 respect is wonderfully modified when we consider the great 

 redeeming feature they present, viz., a vast storage of Avater 

 for summer supply to the adjoining neighbourhood. 



Origin. No Fossil Remains as yet Discovered in Munno 

 Para. — The origin of this formation, so widely distributed over 

 the country, is at present one of deep interest to the geologist. 

 In the early days of my geological aspirations I was of opinion 

 that the "Upland Tertiaries of Munno Para were of subaerial 

 origin. But since my intimate acquaintance with our esteemed 

 President — my own observations, in the meantime, having also 

 extended beyond the limits of the Munno Para beds — I have 

 relinquished that hypothesis as being one inadequate to meet 

 the requirements of the case. Professor Tate is of opinion 

 (see President's address to the Society, 1878-9, page 59) that 

 the formation is of " fresh water origin," and considers it to 

 be " contemporaneous with the youngest members of the 

 Miocene marine strata." In the absence of further discovery 

 of fossil remains, arguments both for and against these views 

 might be raised. I presume the reasons which led the Pro- 

 fessor to that statement were that the formation has hitherto 

 yielded no remains of marine life, and that silicified wood, 

 which is a common representative of lacustrine or fluviatile 

 deposits, has been frequently found associated with it. It 

 might be advanced with equal propriety that because of the 

 wide- spread extent of the formation over hill and dale facing 

 the present seaboard from an elevation at Gawler of something 

 less than 300 feet to that of 1,000 elsewhere, the fresh water 

 deposits could not be going on simultaneously with any 

 member of the marine, unless a natural barrier then existed 

 very near a considerable portion of the present eastern coast- 

 line of Gulf St. Vincent to impound the fresh water from the 

 salt. Having no positive evidence to that effect, I think that 

 the age of the Upland Tertiaries, if they be of fresh water 

 origin, most likely preceded the marine Miocene. 



Mr. O. Tepper, of Ardrossan, has probably shed more light 

 on this subject than any other inquirer in the field of South Aus- 

 tralian geology (see Proceedings of this Society, 1878-9, "Cliffs 

 and Eocks of Ardrossan, Torke's Peninsula," by O. Tepper, 

 page 75). By this discovery I regard Mr. Tepper as having so 

 far at least traced a stratigraphical connection between the 

 fossiliferous beds near Muloowurtie Point and the unfossili- 

 ferous beds of Tanunda and other inland tracts. Therefore, 

 Mr. Tepper's discoveries only await further corroborative 

 evidence to establish the opinion I have for some time enter- 

 tained, viz., that the patches of Upland Miocene are merely 

 remnants of marine bottom beds. 



