Boulders in the so-called Mesozoic Conr/loraerate. 45 



In New South Wales, what appears to be the same 

 conglomerate, is described by Mr. C. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., 

 Government Geologist, and allusion is made to the great 

 angular masses found in it, and a glacial origin also 

 surmised, but no direct evidence was attained of stri- 

 ations. 



Quite recently, while examining the conglomerate at 

 Wooragee, I detected distinct striations on the boulders and 

 pebbles, and also observed flat surfaces, and the peculiar 

 fractures of the pebbles, so characteristic of conglomerates 

 that have been formed through glacial action. 



In South Africa, what appears to be the exact counterpart 

 of this conglomerate, exists. It is known there as the 

 Dwyka conglomerate, and it forms the base of a great 

 system of fresh water strata. The lowest division of these 

 beds is known as the Ecca beds or Lower Karroo beds. 

 They are probably carbonaceous in the lower portion, and 

 are characterised by an abundance of fossil wood (silicified), 

 and by a Glossopteris that appears to be identical with the 

 Glossopteris Browniana of New South Wales ; also small 

 sauroid remains. The second division is known as the 

 Karroo beds, and best known for its richness in sauroid and 

 other remains that have been so wonderfully worked out by 

 Sir R Owen. The third and newest division is known as 

 the Stormberg beds, in the lower portion of which are 

 the coal measures, and workable seams of coal. Associated 

 with the coal seams, are shales thickly studded with fern 

 impressions, among which Sphenopteris Elongata, Pecopteris 

 Odontopteroides, Cyclopteris Cuneata, Taeniopteris Daintreei, 

 &c., abound. 



The glaciated nature of the conglomerate was established 

 in South Africa in 1872, by the writer finding numerous 

 examples of striated, grooved, and otherwise glaciated stones 

 on the banks of the Orange River, but the full extent and 

 the relations of this conglomerate to the Karroo beds was 

 not fully worked out until last year, when my report on 

 it was published by the Cape Government.- 



Sir R. Owen after having all the available fossil evidence 

 before him, inclines to the view that the Karroo beds belong- 

 to the carboniferous period ; if such is the case, the glacial 

 conglomerate in South Africa must, at any rate, be palaeozoic 

 in age, and enquiry is suggested as to whether the Victorian 

 conglomerate is not older than mesozoic. 



