GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 342, 19 June 1858, Page 5

GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN NEW ZEALAND.

To the Editor of the Otago Witness. Sir, — The following particulars of some recent discoveries in Geology, although in the neighbouring Province of Canterbmy, may perhaps inteiest some of your readers. Passing from the mouth of the river Waipara neiily in a north-west by west diiection over Mount Brown, and ascending the bed of the stream to the foot of Mount Grey, are the following strata overlaying each other in the order given, with their approximate thickness : — X" Tickn&ss of Strata. Names of Strata, Fossil Remains. 40 Fept . . Gravel or Shingle 200 „ ..New Sandstone ( Marine Shclls'of ( the present date 500 „ . . Chalk 200 „ ..Blue Clay ('Small bivalve (Shells Fos-.il bones and feathers of the Moa Beds of oysters and mussel shells 3 „ ..Shale , ) „ .. L, , 2 Coal \ ■ Fo9sl ' vegetable 5 J,' '.'. Clay Slate... ." j remains Unattainable. .Mountain Limestone Above Mount Brown the Waipara runs in a deep thickly wooded gorge, the old Sandstone cliffs rhinj/ perpendicularly 300 feet on either side. Near the top of tiiese cliffs large nodes are seen projecting out, composed of harder Sandstone than the rest. Some of these masses, eight feet in diameter, have fallen into the bed of the torrent, and aie rich in fos-sil remain 5 ! of the Moa biid. On the surface of many are distinctly to be traced the impressions of the feathers of the bird, and on breaking into one, we exposed nearly the whole of the bones, forming the pelvis and thorax of the Moa, with many of the cervical veitebice and proximal ends of the Femusand Humerus. Amongst these bones were many feathers, irregularly disposed, of various 3izes. The largest, which I believe to have been wing feathers, measured five- eighths of an inch in diameter at the quill, and four incites across the blade. Fiom the ease with which the Sandstone breaks in all diiections, it was impossible to obtain a perfect specimen, but some were more than two feet in length. Together with these Moa remains are numerous small bivalve shells, and towaids the lower portion of the Sandstone stratum are beds a foot thick of fossil oyster and mussel shells. Taking into consideration the number and thickness of the superincumbent strata, there is every reason to suppose that the Moa existed in these islands at least 3000 years ago, at which period were extensive tidal sand-flats, abounding in shells fish, on which I think it piobable the Moa fed — itlong and powerful legs adapting it to wade and dig up the sand. I see no foundation for the notion that New Zealand has been formed at a later period than the rest of the globe ; indeed, as far as I have hitherto had an opportunity of examining, the strata correspond with those found in Britain. I am. Sir, yours obediently, Henry Nelson, M.D. Dunedin, June 15, ISSS.