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Report on the Geology & Gold Fields of Otago

Rivers

Rivers.

All the rivers and nearly all the creeks in Otago are rapid streams, running over shingly or rocky beds. Like all mountain rivers they are liable to considerable fluctuation in level, a subject which in the case of the Taieri has been ably treated by Mr. J. T. Thomson, C.E.* and Mr. G. M. Barr, C.E. Mr. Thomson also, in another paper, has a very important discussion on the curves formed by the beds of the rivers Manuherikia, Waitaki, Shag, Taieri, Clutha, Cardrona, and Mataura, all of which he shows conform practically to the curve of the ellipse. This result is contrary to the general belief of geographers, who consider that the parabola is the curve which a river tends to assume from its source to its mouth. Mr. Thomson, however, considers that rivers tend to assume the curve of the ellipse only when they are hollowing out their beds, and that when they are raising them they tend to assume the curve of the parabola,§ but he offers no explanation of the cause of this difference. The Mataura is the only river in New Zealand with falls near its mouth.