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Geology of the Provinces of Canterbury and Westland, New Zealand : a report comprising the results of official explorations

Extent

Extent.

This formation, as before observed, covers more than half of the Province of Canterbury; near the Hurunui, as well as at the Waimate, some of its outliers reach almost to the sea coast and from the northern boundary, it stretches to several miles west of the junction of the Otira with the Taramakau. From the Hurunui it recedes in a south-west direction inland, and forms all the higher ranges skirting the Canterbury plains and their southern continuation as far as the Waitaki. Rocks belonging to this series form, from the banks of the Taramakau for a considerable distance, the summits, and for several thousand feet the western slopes, of the Southern Alps, till we reach the northern sources of the Rakaia, where they retreat several miles to the east of the main divide. More to the south they again build up several of the highest peaks of the Southern Alps, as, for instance, Mount Haidinger and Mount Cook, of which we obtain clear evidence from the moraines covering the glaciers descending on both sides. From the gigantic ancient moraines along the West Coast, we can collect, in most localities, numbers of blocks derived on this formation, which is an indication of its presence in many in-page 279accessible peaks. South of Mount Cook, the Mount Torlesse rocks strike more towards the interior, the boundary between them and the Waihao formation passing near the sources of the Ahuriri river to the neighbourhood of the Lindis Pass. They are here separated from the large outlier occurring on both banks of the Hunter river by a small zone of the Waihao formation, which crowns the ranges east of the Hunter river. Another outlier is situated not far from the West Coast, south of Jackson's Bay.