22 E. C. ANDREWS. 
librium. The deep dissection of the present plateaus has. 
been accomplished mainly during the Pleistocene. 
A continental shelf of variable width encircles the whole 
of Australia with the exception of the Queensland coastal 
area where its place is taken by the Great Barrier Reef of 
Australia. 
No “‘soapstone’”’ beds of Tertiary Age occur in elevated 
positions within Australia, neither are coral reefs of Pleis- 
tocene Age found elevated more than a few feet above sea 
level within this great land block. 
The axis of elevation in Kastern Australia during Ter- 
tiary time appears to have moved to the east slightly as. 
successive waves, or undulations. The continent has been 
stable during the Pleistocene Period itself. 
ag New Zealand.—This complex land block consists of a 
series of syntactic arcs of mountainous nature associated 
with tectonic valleys. The Pleistocene volcanoes of the 
western half appear to be quiescent, but active intermittent 
types lie somewhat to the east of a line passing to the 
east of Taupo and thence to the east of the Bay of Plenty 
and towards Tonga. Arcs through New Guinea and Tonga. 
appear to become confluent in New Zealand. Cotton* has 
described this area as a series of fault blocks. 
It is possible that the late Tertiary and early Pleistocene 
gravels of the deeper tectonic valleys will be found to be 
warped and faulted along their margins, a phenomenon to. 
be expected by reason of the uplift and creep of the undu- 
lating land crests which form the high plateaus. 
az New Caledonia.—This island has its larger axis. 
arranged subparallel to the Australian coast in the vicinity. 
A large Barrier Reef surrounds the island. No elevated 

* Cotton C. A. The Structure and Later Geological mst of New 
Zealand, Geol. Mag. 1916, p. 243. . 

