DRY LAND WHERE WATER FLOWED

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11449, 25 February 1931, Page 6

DRY LAND WHERE WATER FLOWED

RAISED BEACHES SPEAK OF - GREAT' UPLIFT.

The writer of the Book of Wisdom commented on the fact that where water stood dry land has_ appeared (writes Mr. J. Druimnond, F.L.S., F.Z:S., ill the “Christchurch Times”) and instead of the violent stream a green field. ITo was an observer of iiatural plienonieiut. hut .his field oi observation ’ tmd his range of knowledgo in this respect were limited. Wider observations and wider knowledge show that, in many parts of the world, the relative positions of land and water are changing, even vast seas and great continents giving and tufting, sometimes amazinglv. Strata that eontifn senshells form masses of dry land hmv hundreds of thousands of feet above sealevel. These shelly beds once were •the floors of seas. They, and seashells in the rocks of the Swiss Alps, of the Himalayas, and of other mountain ranges, speak of stupendous uplifts that made the sea dry laud in remote ages. I

NEVER AT REST. Raised beaches . conspicuous <n many New Zealand coasts, are evidence of recent .successes by tho land. They show that in these times, as in the past, the land is never completely at rest for long periods. Hi sori'o parts, it is rising liovy at the rate of two or three ieet in a century. It is not alwavs rising. If it is not rising, in any particular place, it probably is sinking. as slowly, surely, and imperceptibly. Some continents and islands are rising on one side and sinking on the other. Evidence of rising is more obvious than evidence of sinking, which mostlv is found beneath the surface of the sea. Amongst this evidence are submerged coal-seams, formed of land-plants. submerged forests, as in C'urio Bay. AVaikawa. Southland, and in parts of the North Island, and even submerged buildings that stood near former coasts.

SEA PLATFORM MANY FEET HIGH. South of Cape TerawliiU. the most, westerly ’mint of the south const of the North Island, there 1 is a very < r ood (illustration of recent rising of the land. It is a platform cut hv the sea, and is now 125 feet above the sea level As described by Mr. L. O. Kiim. of A ictoria College, Wellington. who has spent ins time uscf it! 1 v examining raised beaches q» that rugged, desolate coastline, this platform has a smooth surface, except. for a few stacks of rock about six- feet high, rapidly disappearing under erosion. Its rear edge is covered in part hv aprons of fragments of rock, tumbled down from steep slopes, wTroll rise sharply to a height of 159 feet.

SURFACE SAVERT CLEAN. It lias only a thin coat of gravel. Air. King explains this by the theory that, as strong swells and currents. which cause the Terawdiiti tide-rip. pass through Cook Strait now, so, when the sea cut the platform. a strong tidal or ocean current swept into deep water most of the debris that rested on the plattoym, and kept the rocky surface fairly clean. The. platform mostly is only a feW feet wide; it is nowhere more .than UK) yards wide: but from the .sea it is one of the nio-t prominent coastal leatures. At intervals a few small streams have cut gorges across it (wontv yards wide. It was not raised to a uniform height. I* rom 125 feet at Capo Terawdiiti it drops tn 119 feet at Die head of Oterengu Bav, several miles west ot the cape, and then rises abruptly _to 145. feet, and, further west, to 279 led.

SE) ADVANCING ON SHEER STATION.

From the north-east corner ol Palliser Bay to the AYaitarangi sheep station, most of the shore is unprotected bv sea beach deposits Ibe sea is taking advantage of the land s defenceless condition there to advance upon it and secure compensation for lost territory. Helped by the wind, which sends foreeiul SouthWesterly gales, and using as ammunition handv stores of hard grey-wacke-rock detritus, the sea maintains an incessant barrage against Die clilfs, which are retreating rapidly. The sea’s-success-is measurable at the Waitarangi woolshed. In the past six years the sea has advanced tventv-five ieet. When the woodshed was' built, many years ago, it was seme distance from the sea. U new is in danger ot being engultecl. Some of the mustering yards already arc disappearing fast. The same process is in force in England. On the coast of Yorkshire, between Spurn Point and Fhnmborough Dead. a large tract of land, with, its parishes, farms, villages »nd sea ports, lias been claimed, at the rate ol about six feel a year. It is believed that since the Roman occupation ot England a strip of land there between two and three miles bread has disappeared.

IN destructive mood. 11l these operations, the sea, in its battcrv of gravel and loose blocks ol hard stone, is using its most eiiective Aveapuns, and is aiscjosing jts most destructive mood. Sir Arciiibald Geikie, th e Scottish geologist, has shown how the loose materials are caught up by the advancing breakers and thrown with great force at the feet of cliffs, and dragged back in the recoil, only to be lifted ao-ain and swung forward. In this ItHid turmoil, ho states, Uio loose stones arc reduced in size and are ground smooth bv friction aga-nst one another and on the solid cliffs. Rounded and polished gravel on storm-beaten shores testify to the furv of the waves All -along tie base of a cliff within reach of the waves rocks are smoothed utid polished bv the shingle, and, m places, arches,‘tunnels, pillars and caves evidence the sea’s steady advance and tlio demolition of the hind.