Wellington Provincial Gazette – 1861 – No. 35

Page 241

✨ Geological Report



The Trachyte of the Upoko Ngaruru I believe to be the first igneous rock yet discovered in the Province of Wellington, exclusive of those rocks of the Taupo Country, whose pebbles are brought down the Wanganui and adjacent rivers.

Having added the above mentioned rocks to our series, I will now give a table of the rocks from Wellington to the East Coast, premising that it must be open to amendment or addition as the progress of observation and discovery proceeds:—

TABULAR VIEW OF STRATA FROM WELLINGTON TO THE EAST COAST

IN A DESCENDING SERIES.

  1. Travertin— | Found at Te Pura Pura, Hautotara and
    other points on the Eastern side of
    the Wairarapa Valley. Extending round the Coast. This we
    may venture to call “recent,” sub- | Recent.
    ject to future correction.

  2. Raised Beach—

  3. Fossiliferous
    Limestone | Found on Maungaraki Range, at Hautotara
    | and other parts of the Eastern Coast Range.

  4. Coarse Crystalline
    Sandstone Gravel,
    unfossiliferous. | Largely developed in the Wairarapa and on the Western slopes of the East Coast Ranges.

  5. Fine Red Gravel— | Seen at Wangamoana, Hautotara, &c.

  6. Argillaceous indurated shale, fossiliferous.—Perhaps the name should be shortened into “clay or better expressed as ‘tertiary shale’?” | Exposed at Wangamoana and very extensively found in the East Coast Ranges—contains the Cetacean of Upoko Ngaruru, Marine Shells, imbedded trees, &c. | Tertiary.

  7. Series of stratified rocks of the East Coast; | Found highly inclined on the East Coast | Possibly Secondary or Palaeozoic.

  8. Metamorphic or altered rocks. | These rocks form the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges, including all the mountainous country round Wellington, rocks extending Northward from Cape Palliser, &c. | Probably Silurian.

  9. Trachyte— | Found in the bed of the Upoko Ngaruru, one of the sources of the Pahau. | Plutonic.

To sum up—The metamorphic rocks fill a large area at the base of the series. They compose the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges with all their spurs and offshoots as far as is yet known; they appear again cropping out on the hills on Mr. Bidwell’s run, where there is probably a line of fault; they are seen between Wangamoana and Te Kopi underlying the Tertiary shale, and to the Eastward of Mr. Pharazyn’s homestead they rise into mountains, presenting their hard surface at Cape Palliser as a buttress against the sea, and apparently there forming the mass of the mountains for a considerable distance to the Northward. Whatever metals may be found in this part of the country will doubtless belong to the metamorphic rocks (except perhaps iron sand). As specimens of native copper appear to have been found in the East Coast ranges, a search for ores of copper in any of the metamorphic rocks may prove successful. The rocks of Cape Palliser appear to be identical with those of the main range; herefore if gold is found in one range it may be expected in the other.



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VUW Te Waharoa — PDF Wellington Provincial Gazette 1861, No 35




✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🌾 Publication of Geological Report on Wairarapa and East Coast (continued from previous page)

🌾 Primary Industries & Resources
25 October 1861
Geological report, Mineral resources, Wairarapa, East Coast, Rocks
  • Bidwell, Run mentioned in geological report
  • Pharazyn, Homestead mentioned in geological report