180 
The N.Z. Journal op Science and Technology. 
[May 
THE LIMESTONES OF CANTERBURY CONSIDERED 
AS A POSSIBLE SOURCE OF PHOSPHATE.* 
By L. J. Wild, M.A., B.Sc., F.G.S., Lecturer on Chemistry, Canterbury 
Agricultural College, Lincoln ; and R. Speight, M.A., M.Sc., F.G.S., 
Fellow of the Geological Society of America; Lecturer on Geology, 
Canterbury College ; Curator, Canterbury Museum. 
Contents. 
General Results—Negative as regards High-grade Phosphates. 
Geological Descriptions of Limestones. 
North Canterbury. 
South Canterbury. 
Glauconitic Sandstones. 
Chemical Results. 
Reasons for the Low-grade Character of the Limestones. 
Possibilities of utilizing in Agriculture the Limestones and Associated Rocks. 
General Results—Negative as regards High-grade Phosphates. 
Considering our work from the purely commercial standpoint the general 
result may be set down as nil, in so far as no deposit sufficiently rich and 
sufficiently extensive to be payable has been located. This statement, 
however, is subject to the limitations appertaining to negative reports : 
it does not negative the possibility of a discovery. We have, however, 
considerably reduced the field of search, and we have some confidence 
in stating that good fortune will be as important a factor as scientific 
method in any discovery that may be made. From the purely scientific 
point of view our work has been by no means barren of results, as we have 
accumulated a considerable amount of information regarding the physical 
and chemical nature and the mode of deposition of the limestones and 
associated sedimentary rocks of this province.*!* Some of this information 
is also of practical value, since it throws light on the possibility of the 
direct utilization in agriculture of several kinds of material that occur 
abundantly in places easy of access—a matter that is discussed more fully 
in another section of this report. 
Geological Description of the Limestones. 
As phosphate deposits are in the great majority of cases associated 
with calcareous rocks, the consideration of the possible sources of supply 
of phosphate is intimately associated with the conditions of deposit and 
other geological features of our limestones ; therefore a preliminary account 
of these should be given in order that the problem may be approached in 
a proper manner. 
Although rocks of a pre-Tertiary age are well developed in the mountain 
region of the Canterbury Province, limestones are very poorly represented, 
* A report to the New Zealand Institute on a research carried out with the aid of a 
Government Research Grant (slightly abridged). Published by permission of the New 
Zealand Institute. 
f A paper on the relationship of the Amuri limestone to the Weka Pass stone 
(Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 50, pp. 65-93, 1918) is the direct outcome of our work in this 
connection. 
