Altered Formation Near to Gisborne

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 February 1931, Page 3

Altered Formation Near to Gisborne

TREE STUMPS SEEN BEFORE THE QUAKE GISBORNE,. Last Night. New light was thrown to-day on the Sponge Bay upheaval near Gisborne, where the foreshore has been raised eight to ten feet. The spot is rather a lonely one and seldom visited except by picnickers. For some years, however, Air. S. W. S. Strong, geologist of the Taranaki oilfields, hag made periodical visits, and he stated to-day that he looked upon the small geysers or springs as a safety valve and considered there were similar ones in Poverty Bay, and that they may have beneficially affected Gisborne during the big quake on Tuesday week. Regarding the tree stumps being heaved up from the depths of tbe ocean bed through the upheaval, Mr. Strong said that could not be correct for he had seen the tree stumps in the same place on the day previous to the quake, and four months ago had taken photos of them and written a paper on the subject. The trees had probably been there hundreds of years and probably grew on land near the sea, which gradually eroded and fell into the sea. The recent quake may have pushed them up a bit further, but even on that point, he was not satisfied. The only great change Mr. Strong could see as a result of the upheaval was the appearance ?of the new boulder bank near the shore.