EGMONT NATIONAL PARK

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 125, 18 May 1908, Page 3

EGMONT NATIONAL PARK

UEUUR..KAL Ktroia. 'IIUi (jL'AlilZ .'dr. .\. D. Cochrane, 1'.1...N.. I N ,, „,,„. muted his geological report uji the I'atua Ranges, Eginont .National i'ark. Ili> conclusions are:-- • living due consideration to the variuis facts bearing on the subject—the cliiiacter of the country rock and reels, their alteration, bilicilicalioii. mincralisafi u. position, mode of occurrence, (ho toriiier iiitenw hydro-tliernial action, and the probable considerable luctasomaiic replacement of tlie veins in depth —1 am of opinion, although the caps of the lodes may at places be poor-looking, and the results of the assays and analyses not encouraging for surface projecting, there are reasonable ground, lor expecting that adequate prospecting at sulliciem depth would give better result-, and might disclose payable ore-bodies.

THE CRATERS. With reference to .Mount Eginont and the volcanic ii<*ks, no instance of the latter was Observed, nor. from the nature of the surlace, are such likely to be easily found. The horseshoe formed by the I'atua liange round tlit- upper brai)chc ri of the Ahu-Aliu Creek presents the appearance of a large but minor crater, with part of the western side destroyed by one of the later volcanic paroxysms, and one or more of the peaks within the amphitheatre, or on the crater-like rim. would conform to tin- volcanic cone or neck.

i)f i his we may be certain, however, say- Mr. Cochrane, that minor craters (to the great one of which the cone of .Mount Eginont forms a part, or from which it has been built up) have existed in the curved line of volcanic action represented by Mount Eginont, the Poakai Kange, the I'atua Range, and Pan tulu at .New 'Plymouth. Though probably of Miocene, or perhaps Pliocene age, it is ipiite clear, from the removal of the hill's and the deeply incised nude--iie in the creek beds, that great denudation has taken place. This must also have all'ected the civets of the ranges, and from the more severe conditions and the loose scoriaceons material, to a great extent, Mount Eginont itself, which consei|iiently must have greatly exceeded in height its prc- ! isenl cone.