252 BULLETIN: museum of comparative zoology. 



The Zone of Postglacial Emergence in Northeastern Labrador 

 and in Newfoundland. 



The path of the " Brave " was such as always to keep us in view of 

 memorials of recent uplift of the land. These were found to he so 

 numerous and so striking that one's note-books rapidly filled with the 

 data of their nature and occurrence. If all other sources of geological 

 interest failed on the coast, the singularly fresh records of emergence 

 are yet sufficient to refute Lieber's statement that " the geology of 

 Labrador is of extraordinarily little interest." The account of the 

 cruise would be incomplete without reference being made to the obser- 

 vations made in connection with this subject. 



Packard's summary in " The Labrador Coast " makes it unnecessary 

 to review the earlier studies. Still more recently, Low has published 

 the elevations of raised beaches in Ungava Bay, Hudson's Bay, James 

 Bay, and in the interior of the peninsula. 1 So far as known, all the 

 beaches described by both authors are of postglacial date and are 

 related to the elevated shore-lines early described in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. On account, however, of the scant information we possess 

 concerning the actual heights of the Atlantic coast beaches, no very 

 definite correlation of these with one another or with the beaches 

 farther west has yet been made. Thus an accurate idea of the amount 

 or kind of elevatory movement that the Labrador peninsula has suf- 

 fered in postglacial time, is yet lacking. "What light last summer's 

 coastal studies throw on the question will first engage our attention. 



The bai-ometric method was used in fixing elevations. Four standard 

 compensated aneroids were employed. The accessibility of the sea- 

 level and of the British Admiralty's triangulation stations as check- 

 points, of course, give the aneroid an exceptionally large share of 

 advantage as compared with that enjoyed by the same instrument 

 working inland. It is believed that the error seldom exceeded five 

 feet. At any rate, the accuracy obtained was sufficient for the main 

 purposes of the study. 



It was found to be impossible to group the beaches with reference 

 to distinct levels, the deformation of which would indicate the type or 

 types of crustal movement in postglacial time. At only one anchorage 

 was there discovered a correspondence among the different beaches 

 which showed that there were special beach-building periods in the 

 whole time since uplift began. This was at Kirpon Harbor near Cape 



1 A. P. Low, Rep. Geol. Surv. Can. 1895, p. 308, and 1899, Part L. 





