THE GEOLOGY OF BTELSOX. 
103 
attains a thickness of from 1,200 to 1,500 feet. So that the 
tertiary formation comes to the surface only just at the foot of 
tne ranges, or where the rivers have cut through the diluvium 
and exposed the tertiary marls beneath. 
I have before mentioned the fossiliferous marls, sandstones 
and the coal-seams of the Wangapeka district; in the hills 
between the Buller River and the Rotorua Rake the same fossi¬ 
liferous marls are met with. On the eastern side, near Nelson, 
the marine strata of the tertiary formation form the cliffs from 
(xreen Point to the "Wairnea Plains ; and in a line between the 
town and the village of Richmond the brown-coal formation 
extends, opened up at Mr Jenkins’ coal-mine. 
The first excursion which I made after visiting Nelson was 
by the cliffs to this coal mine, and it was with great surprise 
that I saw the extraordinary disturbances which must have 
taken place in the stratification. The dip of the strata is 
towards the east, at an angle of about sixty degrees. .As it is 
geologically impossible that a newer tertiary stratum can 
underlie the older slate formations of the ranges, it follows that 
the strata about Mr. Jenkins’ coal-mine, by an immense force 
from the eastward, must have been completely turned over; 
and in the mine itself there is abundant proof of this. The 
strata there show unmistakable evidences that they have been 
rubbed and pressed together. Tinder these circumstances it is 
very doubtful whether a mine in that particular place could be 
successfully worked. To Mr. Jenkins the people of Nelson 
are indebted for proving to them that they have coal in the 
immediate vicinity of the town, and I think it not improbable 
that in the same line of stratification between Nelson and 
Richmond, a place may be found where, perhaps, at a greater 
depth, the coal seams lie in their natural position, and workings 
may be carried on with success. 
The diluvial formation, which constitutes what is commonly 
known as the Moutere and Wai-iti hills, extending over an 
immense track of country towards the south, so far as to the 
Rotorua Lake, is nothing else than the detritus of the eastern 
and western ranges accumulated during a long period. It is 
not surprising, therefore, seeing that a portion comes from the 
aurifeious locks of the western ranges, that prospecting parties 
of diggers should have found gold at various spots between 
