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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, with the exception of a few inland basins, skirts only the foot of the Southern Alps on both sides. On the eastern side it is most largely developed south of the Hurunui. It forms part of the higher coast ranges stretching from the River Blyth to the Waipara; more inland it reaches from near the sources of the Glenmark Creek several miles across the middle Waipara to the northern foot of Mount Grey, and in the upper course of that river it is also well developed. It also occurs at the foot of the ranges where the Okuku and Gari rivers (tributaries of the Ashiey) enter (the plains. page 293Another important zone forms the eastern portion of the Malvern Hills, in which more to the west a few isolated basins belonging to it have been preserved, for instance, in the upper course of the Wekaepa, or Selwyn proper, and on the bants of the Kowai, a tributary of the Waimakariri river. Important isolated basins are situated north-west of the Thirteen-Mile Bush range, at the head of Macfarlane's stream, and north-west of Mount Torlesse in the Broken River basin. Although there are a few localities south of the gorge of the Rakaia which, judging from the impression of leaves, might be referred to this formation, (as, for instance, some beds of shales on the southern banks of the upper Kakahu and some small outliers with seams of brown coal between the Opihi and Opuha), I have thought it more convenient not to separate these outliers from the next formation, by which they appear to be overlaid conformably. On the West Coast we can include the Grey Coal Measures as far as the Cobden limestone, and a portion of which crosses into Westland, with the Waipara formation. There is also a small outlier at the Kanieri, containing seams of coal of inconsiderable thickness, which has to be classed with it.For a great distance along the coast all rocks belonging to this formation are hidden below morainic accumulations till we approach the Paringa river, where several miles north of its estuary it is again largely developed, forming a strip several miles broad, and reaching to the Waita river. After a considerable interval we meet it again at Jackson's Bay, whence we can follow it to the southern boundary of the Province, always exhibiting the characteristic feature of littoral deposits.