Early Canterbury... The Journey of our Land

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Canterbury began about 250 years ago. It all under the sea. At our land was just , millions of tonnes of , sand, and pebbles lying the ocean floor. Over of years, the seabed pushed up by huge from tectonic plates. When rocks were pushed out the sea, they became . Millions of years passed the sun, rain, wind ice broke and wore mountains down. The material deposited in a plain. return of the sea more clay, sand and down on the underwater . About 60 million years , more pressure from the of the continental plates ( like a tennis ball) the land rise once out of the sea.
time, vegetation and animals . Many of these are to New Zealand because seas surrounding the island as a barrier.
Even two hundred years ago was very different. It long sandy beaches, huge , high mountains, dry grassy , and a lot of . The Alps shelter the from the wet weather comes from the west the seas.