EXPLANATIONS. DR. BELL'S OPINIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 141, 15 June 1906, Page 5

EXPLANATIONS. DR. BELL'S OPINIONS.

Dr. B*U, director of the Geological Survey, knows the Buller country very well. .Referring this morning io the configuration of the Buller basin, he said th»t the 'river flowed in a deep, narrow valley, often gorged for short distances. Naturally, if slides occurred, the- slips would make a very solid dam, with the water backing op behind, and if the barrier suddenly gave way tho country lower. down would be inundated* However, as the river was flanked by rocky slopes, there was no chance of a change in its course. The damage done by a rush of water would be only temporary, though serious at the time, bub would not be. permanent. ■Alluding rd thd cause of the slip, Ho stated that the rocks along the Bttilc? wcro granites and slatfes. The' rainfall was exceedingly heavy, and this abuh dSrit water tended to cause the elates to very rapidly decay. Their Ihen most frequently passed into a plastic' slippery sort of clay. Therefore) when a. slide Was cooe started nothing would stop It till it reached a position of equilibrium. These slips might always be <?xpcoted in elate country In the present instance, the slide might havo taken place along the Ibe of Contact of the slate with the granito, but he could not say definitely, at . this distance from, the scene. The slide might have occurred where' surface debris had Accumulated, removed by the action of "raitf. Roughly, says Dr. Bell, a parallel case was recorded at Quebec a few years ago, in the -spring, the rainy season. A < portion of "th* slaty cliff above the old quarter of the town came down, and blotted ft out. Another great slip Altered the features of the landscape ill the Lake Kanieri district. •Mount Brown was resDonsible. This upland contained decayed rooks, phyllites and mica schists. These slipJed, filled the valley, and the outlet from the lake was reversed. Formerly ifc went .to the River Browning, but now.it flowed in tho opposite direction, to the sell.