The Contributions of John Thomas Jutson to Geomorphology

YO ,1rr\6t The Contrlbutíons of John Thomas Jutson Èo GeomorPhologY by ; E. J. Bro'ck VOLUME II (1874 Correspondence of John Thom¡s Jutson - 1959) ' Australian geol-ogist and geomorphologlst' r^rritten over Èhe years 1898 to 1950. CopyrighÈ L977, DeparÈment of Minerals and Energy' Victorla. No material included in thl-s volume which is identffied as parÈ of the Jutson Documents may be ex- tracted or used in any way wlthout the wríÈten permLssion of the Direetor of Geological Survey, DepartmenÈ of Minerals and Energy, Vict.orl-a. r}r i' j'i',t Arr.'," .i rü /\ ¡,iÍ . 11 ContenÈs Introduct ion iíi Correspondence 1 Author index 235 all Introductíon Collections of corresPondence of men and r'¡omen who have contributed slgnificantl-y to human culture have a fasclnation all of theír own. In their lettersr men reveal not only their general character, but also thelr hopes and aspirations, their problems and concerns, Èheir frustrations and misgivings. Such is the nature of the collectlon enclosed in this volume. In his will, Jutson left ínstructions thaÈ certain strictly personal letters be destroyed. Brrt he set aside corresPondence that concerned professional matters pertaining to geology and geomorphology and it l-s this that is here placed before the reader. Guíded by the practices of editors of such collectl-ons, the wrlter has employed the following editorlal scheme l-n preparing this volume. Initially,. the letters hTere arïanged alphabetically by author, and chronologícally within each group of letters by the same auÈhor. Each letter ¡l7as assigned a rtumber, whlch aPPears at the top left side. All letters wrltten to Jutson have been headed "From"""' wíth the addltion of the tltle of the author, such as for example "Director, Geologícal Survey of l{estern Australlar" or the name of the instítution or organization with which the author rtTas assoc- lated. Letters r^r'ritten by Jutson are headed "To. .". Because all his letters were wrltten from 9 Ivanhoe Parade, Ivanhoe, Vic- l_v torla, this address is omitted' the date only beÍng given. In the address of authors other than Jutson, the professional instítution or organizatíon ls given when it appears on the original letter, followed by the tortm or city, state or provlnce, and country of origin. Exception to this is made for letters written in Aus- tralla, where tolvn or city, and state only are glven. In a group of leÈÈers by the same author, the address ls given on the first letter, and thereafter omitted unless there 1s a change of address. In the letter itself , the salutatl-on ís retal-ned, while the complÍmentary close l-s omitted. Obvl-ous mlsspellings are indicated by Isic], but ídiosyncratic contractions are left unexpanded. Margínalia by Jutson are placed at the end of the letter in square brackets, with the l-nitlals JTJ in parentheses. In the author l-ndex to Èhe volume, the number appearing after the authorts name is the page number, not the letter number. For letters written by Jutson, these are listed under his name, but l-ndented and alphabetically arranged accordlng to the recipient of hls letter. Time alone wl-ll te1l the sígniflcance of this correspondence. But the writer hazards a guess that ln preserving hls letters for posterity, Jutson posthumously has made a most slgnfficant contributl-on to geol-ogy and geomorPhology. I a.- t/ No. 1 Fron E. C. Andrews, SYdneY' Geol-ogical Branch' Department New South Ìtrales' of Mines. MaY 13, 1910 Dear Sir, I have glanced through the note on the Plenty Ríver just received from you. The physiography of the Yarra is noÈ well knovm to me and any papers on its hístory are very r¡elcome. I gather all possible ínfonnation concerning the Tertiary history of Australia as it appears to be almost an unknown quanÈity, and yet rlre have a great amount of fossil and physiographic evidence if it could only be unravelled. Now for instance in your account of the old Plenty River' I find no reference to supposed age excePt Èhat ít has been buried under the Newer Volcanics while these in turn have been trenched by a youthful gorge of very little length. Al1 of that could have been accomplished in the advanced Pleistocene, for I have seen gorges 700 ft. in depth and many miles in length excavated in solid rhyolites and granites overlain by glacial moraines (owen valley in california). Again the great gorges of the Auvergne are only Pleístocene in age. Are we then to conclude that your old Plenty Ríver is only Pleistocene in age? Have you not other evidence? Take for example your basalts in that region. In what state of dissection are they? Are they dissected by the young canyons only.,- or do they show signs of iepeated cycles of erosion? Do your "newer volcanícs" not fall in line with ours at Kiandra, ForesÈ Reefs, and the Darling Dovms (Queensland) and Ballarat below which the fossils are all simílar (Pentenne, Rhyditocaryon, Plesiucapparis' etc.). Now take Èhe case of Forest Reefs (and I believe Ballarat is a símilar topography). Here we have "leads" which were formed during subsidence. Basalts !üere Poured over this subsiding area. Then came formation of small peneplains or very mature valleys ín the basalt, then a mature dissection of this surface Ín turn. Then came great and repeated uplifÈ in early Pleístocene and enormous canyons were formed v¡hich even no\¡I are eating their way back along Èhe mature valleys of the Pliocene. On Physiographic evídence I would refer the "Newer Volcanicsil to the early Plio- cene (or the closing ì.fiocene). Your paper is valuable in any discussion as to the varying courses of streams and the formaÈíon of canyons in peneplalns and I would like to see you investigate the still greater problems of the Miocene, Pliocene and Pleisto- cene for your regíon. All the more \¡Iou1d I urge this on you because your paper evídences care and true scientifíc ínsight. llhile on the subject of Ballarat do not let me be imagined as dlscussing I^larrenherp and other craters. They may be Pleisto- cene in age and have burst through the surface excavated in the Newer Volcanics and assocíated PaLaeozolc complex by stream erosíon. 2 No. 2 From E. C. Andrews. l(ay 22, 1911 Dear Jutson, Have read through your t\^lo papers on Yarra (& lJarrandyte) physiography and geology. Al1ow me to congratulate you on your r^rork. Your case for antecedent streams is good, so a1-so your case for slow uplift. A better point still is the relation in tl-me of the plateau and harbour formations. The two are very differenÈ in poinË of time. The peneplain was hoisted and trenched wlth eanyons & the submerg- ence of these canyon & valley mouths gave rise t.o many harbours etc. Your note on senkungsfelder being often differenÈially raised blocks 1s good. Under separate cover I fow¡ard you a note of mine read last November on "Geographíc Unity of Eastralía in Pliocene and Pleís- tocene times." You will there find most of these subjects dis- cussed for N. S. trIales, Queensland & Tasmania. By the way there is one thing I miss in your paPer, v|z. the age of the Nullumblk plaÈeau as shown by erosion in the precanyon cycle. You will re- member thaÈ the laÈer deposiÈs (Newer Volcanic Age) were dlssected to late-maturLty before the upll-ft, therefore the age of the peneplain itself must be shoved back say to older Pliocene at leasË while Èhe plateaus are only as old as the gorges which dís- sect them and are doubtless only Pleistocene in age. Long live physiography. I foresee a great career of useful- ness for you in Victoria. You have there the evidence to work out the hisÈory of the Tertiary in Southeastern Austral-ia. No. 3 From E. C. Andrews. l{.ay 29, 1918 Dear Juston: I was much pleased to receive your letter and your seParate on "Erosion...ín Subarid Llestern Australia...tt from ttGeographieal Journal" for Dec. L9L7. I have read this Paper through, but only líghtly. Before givíng an expression of opinion on it I would 1l-ke to read íË much more carefully. I wil-l write, therefore, from Broken Hill as I am making a Survey of that dlstríct. The idea of arld erosion never díd appeal to me as an ex- planation of E. Australfan toPography, although Mawson sees ít as a great eroding agent at Broken If111. I had iÈ out face to face wlth G. K. Gtlbert ln Colorado & with Davis ln Australia' also against l{alther fn Melbourne. I donrt deny the efficacy of arl-d eroslon. IrrhaÈ I do deny 1s that the features of Colorado, Nevada, Broken Hillr & certain other places seen by me, have been nought buÈ nodified slightl-y by arid processes. The dfspositlon of the thalwegs, the general contours, suggest streâm topography with recent slight aggxada- tíon. 3 However, your paPer is one on which you are Èo be congratu- lated highly. It ís a strong Paper, and strong PaPers are Ëhe- only oneÀ which count. ,I congratulate you whole heartedly on it' Iwil1d'iscussitlaterafterseeingabitmoreofBroken HÍll. Under seParate cover I include 3 recent notes' one on Aus- tralian structures' one on Australian floweríng plants & one on a local beach. I^Iíth best wishes and hearËy congratulatíons on your great help to the cause of geograPhY. tE. C. Andrews on Arid Erosion (JTJ)I No. 4 From J. Andrews, Secretary, Sydney' The Geographical SocieÈy of New South Wales' New SouËh l^Iales.

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