part 3] jurassic rocks of new Zealand. 247 



Jurassic rocks at Waikawa occur at the extreme south-eastern 

 corner of the South Island, and near the northern extremity of 

 the North Island at Cape Maria van Diemen and Spirits Bay 

 Mr. A. McKay has recorded rocks similar in lithological characters 

 to the Jurassic and Trias of .Nelson and Southland. 1 



(d) The general lithic characters, while on the whole similar, 

 differ somewhat in detail from those of the Trias. There is the 

 same ahsence of contemporaneous igneous rocks that one finds in 

 the Trias, 2 hut a greater development, especially perhaps in the 

 Lias, of soft felspathic, glauconitic, and sometimes oolitic heds. 

 The condition of the sediments often causes the fossils to be un- 

 satisfactorily preserved. Beds of rounded granitic conglomerates 

 frequently occur as they do in the Trias, and the nature of the 

 included fragments seems to be very similar. Plant-bearing strata 

 are frequent, especially in the higher beds, although I have seen 

 drifted wood also in the lowest beds with marine fossils. At 

 Waikawa the stumps of a fossil forest are preserved in situ. 

 I In his commentary on the report of the Geological Survey 

 -'•during 1877-78 of the Hokonui Hills, 3 where the lithological 

 characters of the Triassic and Jurassic rocks were worked out in 

 greater detail perhaps than in any other region, Sir James Hector 

 gives the following summary of the formations represented there: — 







Thickness 



European equivalent. 



Series. 



in feet. 



Upper Oolite. 



Mataura. 



3500 



Middle Oolite. 



Putataka. 



850 



Lower Oolite. 



Plag Hill. 



800 



Lias. 



Bastion. 



2200 



Upper Trias (Rhjetic). 



Otapiri. 



1600 



Middle Trias. 



Wairoa. 



3000 



Lower Trias. 



Oreti. 



3400 



Permian. 



Kaihiku. 



6150 



He continues with a description of the beds, of which the 

 following is a condensed account, and includes lists of names of 

 the fossil mollusca and plants which were collected. The Mataura 

 Series appears to eonsist largely of estuarine beds, marine fossils 

 being absent or rare. It comprises dark marls and fine-grained 

 sandstones, and contains the remains of a number of plants. The 

 strata agree closely in mineral character with the plant-beds at 

 Waikato Heads, 35 miles south of Auckland, in the North Island, 

 and contain similar remains of fossil vegetation. Proceeding, he 

 says that the Mataura Series which overlies the Putataka Series,. 

 closes the old Secondary sequence at Kawhia, in the Auckland 

 district, and the same plants are found in the Clent Hills plant- 

 beds. The Clent Hills are in Canterbury Province, some 70 miles 



1 Rep. Geol. Explor. 1892, p. 90. 



2 Prof. P. Marshall mentions what may be an exception to this rule, 

 in his ' Geology of New Zealand ' 1912, p. 187. 



3 Rep. Geol. Explor. 1878, Introduction, p. vii. 



Q. J. G. S, No. 315. t 



