THE GEOLOGY OF AUCKLAND. 
13 
1. Primary formations or periods 
2. Secondary „ „ 
3. Tertiary „ „ 
4. Quartary „ „ 
In reference to the word “ quartary” I may explain that? 
although it is not an English word, I take the liberty to use it 
in the sense of “ post tertiary,” as following the analogy of the 
other terms. 
Each of those formations is again divided into numerous 
minor systems, on which I have no time to enter. 
The fourth and last great divisions of rocks are the volcanic 
—as Trachyte, Basalt, Breccia, and Tuff—all produced by 
supramarine or submarine volcanic eruption. It is ascertained 
that the earliest true volcanic eruptions have occurred subse¬ 
quently to the Secondary period, commencing in the Tertiary, 
and continuing to the present time; and there is a marked dif¬ 
ference between the older and the more recent eruptions. 
I have prepared a diagram which will serve to impress these 
first principles upon your memory, and so enable you to follow 
me in the account I have to give :—- 
Origin. 
Plutonic and 
Metamorphic rocks 
Aqueous . 
Y olcanic 
{ 
} 
s 
} 
Organic Remains. 
No fossils. 
DIAGRAM. 
Age. 
Primitive 
formation. 
Primary. 
Secondary. 
Tertiary. 
Quartary. 
Tr achy tic. 
Basaltic. 
'With these preliminary remarks, I now proceed to the main 
subject of my lecture. 
Fossilferous. 
No fossils. 
GEOLOGY OF THE PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND. 
The first striking characteristic of the Geology of this Pro¬ 
vince — an d probably of the whole of the Northern Island of New 
Zealand—is the absence of . the primitive platonic and metamor¬ 
phic formations, as granite, gneiss, mica-slate, and the like. I 
