George Leslie Adkin diary entry Wednesday 5 February 1919

Wed. Feb. 5

At 9.30 walked to Canterbury College to attend

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meeting of the geol.[ogy] section. Dr.s[Doctors] Cotton, Thomson + Benson + Messers Wild, Lomas, Speight, H Hill PG Morgan + a few others present. Mr Speight read a paper on " The Older Gravels of North Canterbury" (the "Kowhai Series" of Upper Pliocene age + best developed in the Mt.[Mount] Grey district south of Waipara.) + Dr. Thomson one on fossils from eastern Palliser Bay. He mentioned a fault on the NE side of the Haurangi Mt.s making them an up-faulted block with Cretaceous strata terminating at the fault-line. Mr H. Hill spoke (not very lucidly) on both papers + I put a question on the first. The session adjourned at 11am + most went to hear a paper by Mr. H.D Skinner on 'Moriori Art: My impression was that this class of ethnolgy is immeasurably vague even than geology + some of the theories seemed wildly improbable. Dined at Excelsior + then walked to rly. [railway] station to take part in geol. excursion to Quail Island. The party consisted of Mr. Speight (leader) Dr's Thomson, Cotton, Benson + Messers Morgan, Wild Lomas + self + Miss Mestayer, malacologist at Dominion Museum. We trammed to Lyttelton

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by the 1.25pm. + on arrival found the large launch 'Matariki' awaiting us. Left wharf at 1.55 + reached island in about 20 minutes It was low tide + I noted that low tide level is about 15ft. [foot] below Lyttelton rly. station. We disembarked at the jetty at the NE corner of Quail Is.[land] + leaving Miss Mestayer to collect shells, set off along the shore going SE. Being low tide the foreshore was uncovered + consists of boulders, partly basalt just here, + small patches of rocky shore-platform, backed up by very low cliffs. Further west at the massive basalt lava-flows, the cliffs are higher. Our route was entirely on the rhyolite of the 1st [first] volcanic phase of the peninsula. Dykes of trachyte (usually much weathered) cut the rhyolite are remarkably numerous - usually they run nearly at right angles to the shore - two I measured are 5 1/2ft + 18ft in width respectively ^'Photo (19) Dyke of trachyte, 4' wide, dip to w[est], foreshore Quail Is. NE corner' The rhyolite is a white or cream coloured rock, + like the trachyte usually much jointed - the joints being outlined by narrow dark red oxydised strips which are harder then the rest + form narrow ridges (honeycomb

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structure) under the action of weathering. The rhyolite usually exhibits flow structure + in a few places a remarkable spherulitic structure, even Dr. Thomson expressing surprise at the size of the larger spherulites which range from the size of pens up to 6 inches in diameter. ^ [he has drawn a line down the page to (20)] The spherulites are harder than the groundmass + project under weathering + + can be detached - they are milk white inside + show some concentricity, + some contain crystals of secondary quartz. After passing a series of ash beds of the rhyolite phase we reached another jetty and leaving the foreshore proceeded along a path just above the same. Here Dr Thomson called my attention to a section showing the rhyolite passing upwards under the influence of weathering into soil, and as the section also contained a small dyke 9 inches wide. I took a 1/4pl. photo (21) (Photo (20) 1/4pl. Outcrop of spherulitic rhyolite, on foreshore on E of Quail Island, lying between two trachyte dykes (scale shown by Dr. Thomson) At the head of the bay round which the path runs, we again descended to the beach which here consists entirely of coarse shell

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sand with numerous perfect shells mostly brachiopods. Beyond a small rocky point there is a similar bay also with a beach of shell sand though here this passed downwards into ordinary fine grey sand. At the far side of this bay the rocky foreshore re-commences + we went as far as a series of agglomerate or conglomerate beds which contain occasional pebbles of garnetiferous rhyolite - a rather unusual rock-type which also occurs at Malvern Hills. From here we could see Little QuaiI Island + the hillspurs enclosing Charteris Bay. At low tide Quail + Little Quail Islands are connected with each other + also with the promontory which projects towards them by exposed tidal flats At the head of Charteris Bay the greywacke + slate foundation of the peninsula is exposed on the hillslopes of a flat-topped spur which is capped by basalts of the second volcanic phase These basalt flows are responsible for this flat top + also for a rock bench high up on both sides of the valley of a stream which drains into Charteris Bay. Started back at 3.30 - 're-embarked at 4pm + reached

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Lyttelton wharf at 4.15. Mr. Speight informed me that the two basaltic lava-flows on the cliff of Quail Island facing the town of Lyttelton are confined laterally by the sides of a small valley - hence their small lateral extent + abrupt lateral termination, the latter feature we could plainly see from the launch. We then walked along the Lyttelton - Sumner Road, first to the Lyttelton Borough quarry where the dyke + transected volcanics were discussed + specimens chipped off, + then to the great tridymite - trachyte dyke above Officers point. The lower contact of this dyke is very clear, but owing to it's size + semi-recumbent attitude, a clear conception of its course is difficult. It's extension to the shore-line is distinguishable + is shown in the foreground of photo (21) supra. According to Mr Speight it belongs to the Quail Island system. The party returned to Chch.[Christchurch] by the 5.10 train. In evening I met Wright + we walked to Canterbury College + listened to a very good lecture by Rev.[erend] J.E Holloway of Hokitika, on "Vestiges of the

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Primeval Plant World." Very fine lantern slides - diagrammatic + photos of fossils from the European Carboniferous. In proposing a vote of thanks, Prof[essor] Kirk administered a snub to the lecturer by saying that Prof. Thomas had made these supposed new discoveries some time before. Wright + I again visited the "Rendezvous" + had first toast + hot chocolate + then sundaes.