20 
The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 
[Mar. 
two seams of coal, the upper 2 ft. and the lower 4 ft. thick, separated by 
about 20 ft. of sandstone and conglomerate, represent the shale bands. 
Down Flower Creek the rocks, in upward sequence, consist of grits and 
sandstones. Five chains from the coal is a band of carbonaceous shale 
6 ft. thick, overlain by massive quartz-conglomerate. This is probably 
to be correlated with the 5 ft. seam worked on the south side of Boatman 
Creek. Farther down Flower Creek the coal-measures are concealed by 
gravel, and the same condition continues to the southward as far as the 
Waitahu River. Here two seams have been worked for a number of years, 
and a third, of workable thickness, has recently been found. The mine- 
workings are at present standing against a fault which probably strikes 
a little south of east. The structure is complicated by the occurrence of a 
small transverse upthrow fault which was encountered at about the same 
time as the main downthrow fault. At the time of the writer’s visit a 
bore, on the other side of the fault, was being drilled from a point about 
15 chains north-east of the workings. This bore passed through 80 ft. 
of gravel and sand, forming the top of the high-level terrace north of the 
Waitahu, and penetrated a seam 8 ft. thick at a depth of 586 ft.—that is, 
about 60 ft. below the level of the mine adit. It was continued through 
two seams of dirty coa,l, the first 3 ft., the second 2 ft. thick, respectively 
50 ft. and 144 ft. below the 8 ft. seam. At a depth of 725 ft. the strata 
(shales) were vertical, and a few feet lower the drill entered crushed 
country, at which point the work stopped. 
In this locality the massive grits exposed at the bridge across the 
Waitahu are underlain by dark calcareous micaceous mudstone 300 ft. 
thick. This is followed by about 100 ft. of sandstone, sandy shale, and 
micaceous mudstone. Next come the coal-bearing beds, 500 ft. thick, 
consisting chiefly of quartz-conglomerate, grit, brown sandstone, sandy 
shale, and mudstone. Individual beds of conglomerate and grit are nearly 
all from 20 ft. to 50 ft. thick, but the beds of finer material are usually 
not more than 6 ft. thick. The coal-seams observed were a thick seam 
(at least 13 ft.) about 10 ft. from the basal slate, a 2 ft. seam 100 ft. above 
the thick seam, a 5 ft. seam 80 ft. higher, a 16 ft. seam 60 ft. higher, and a 
2 ft. seam 50 ft. above the 16 ft. seam. The 16 ft. and 5 ft. seams are 
being worked, and the former is thought to be the 8 ft. seam penetrated 
bv the bore. The 2 ft. seam below the 5 ft. seam has been followed to 
*j 
the rise, and there shows about 6 ft. of coal. Half a mile above the bridge 
250 ft. of strata are exposed at the top of the high terrace north of the 
river. The beds consist of alternations of coarse sandstone and finer 
material, but contain only a few streaks of coal. Three bands of shale, 
which some years ago were on fire, are exposed in this section, and consist 
of white finely laminated clay stained with iron and, when freshly broken, 
emitting the acrid smell of burnt oil-shale. 
A chain above the bridge on the northern side of the river micaceous 
mudstone is exposed at water-level. It contains calcareous concretions 
and numerous shells, of which the following forms have been identified :— 
*Ancilla australis (Sow.). 
Anomia sp. 
Cardium n. sp. 
Chione chiloensis truncata Sut. 
Cucullaea fonderosa Hutt. 
* Loupes concinna Hutt. 
Pecten huttoni (Park). 
Polinices sp. 
Ostrea wuellerstorfi Zitt. 
*Siphonalia nodosa (Mart.). 
*Tellina glabrella Desh. 
*Turritella pagoda (?) Reeve. 
Turritella patagonica Sow. 
* Species marked with an asterisk are still living. 
