Field Work For Mt. Cook Map Well Advanced

Press, Volume C, Issue 29674, 18 November 1961, Page 13

Field Work For Mt. Cook Map Well Advanced

Field work for the Mount Cook sheet of the four-miles-to-the-inch New Zealand geological map series had been started recently, and with the prolonged warm weather was progressing fast, the district geologist of the Geological Survey, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (Mr H. S. Gair) said yesterday.

The sheet was the last of the four-mile series In the Christchurch district. The others were either published or at advanced stages of preparation, said Mr Gair. Because snow was disappearing much earlier than usual from the mountains, the geologists would have an earlier opportunity of examining the rock formations on the peaks. Even so, work in the high Southern Alps would be left to February or March when the minimum snow cover could be expected. The Mount Cook map involved more work than most of the series, because the

area covered was greater. It extended from Timaru across the diagonal of the map to Bruce Bay in South Westland, with the other diagonal running from the Mount Somers district to the area immediately east of Lake Hawea.

Much general work had already been done in connexion with the sheet. A map of the Geraldine district had been published at one mile to the inch. The schist portion of the Alps had been mapped last year by a Wellington geologist, Mr G. W. Grindley. Nevertheless, there was still a great deal to do in a fairly short time, as it was hoped to complete the field work by the end of the summer. Joint Planning

Mr Gair and Mr L. E. Oborn, of his division, were planning the work jointly. Three other geologists and several other staff members were doing field work.

One area of importance was the Mackenzie lake country, with its big power schemes. There were also several items of great geological interest, including the volcanic rocks of the Mount Somers district, the schist inliers in the greywackes and argillites of the areas east of the Alps, The volcanics were known to continue south of the Rangitata, and this year's work should show how far they went, while the interest, in the schist was to discover further inliers. The Alps were world famous in geological circles as a region where it was possible to study greywackes and agrillites side by side with schists, which were believed to be metamorphosed forms of the same types of rocks. Schist inliers had so far been discovered in several areas. including Mount Misery and the Brothers Range west of Timaru. the Kakahu district, and Little and Burke’s passes in the Mackenzie Country,