No. 4.] CHALMERS — SURFACE GEOLOGY. 211 



The harbor of Bathurst and the estuary of the Kestigouche 

 appear to be rapidly silting up, and great stretches of flats com- 

 posed of sand, clay and mud are exposed at ebb tides covered 

 with a growth of seaweeds, chiefly Zostera marina and Ruppia 

 maritima. The old settlers report these basins as getting shal- 

 lower within the last fifty years, and this fact has given rise to 

 the opinion by some geologists that the land was rising in the 

 Baie de Chaleur district ; but the filling up of these estuaries 

 seems to be entirely due to the detritus carried down by the 

 rivers. 



Near Belledune Point, on the farm of Mr. Hugh Galbraith, 

 there is a peat bog skirting the shore, the seaward border of 

 which is now being covered over with sands washed up by the 

 waves. The peat is 4 to 5 feet in depth and is underlaid by 

 marl containing fresh water shells i.e. Limncea, Planorhis and 

 others. Dr. Gesner refers to this deposit in one of his Reports, 

 and says it must have once formed the bed of a fresh water lake. 

 Portions of it are now being converted into salt marsh. 



Along the shore to the south of River Charlo and elsewhere 

 within this region are similar beds of peat, which are apparently 

 being encroached on by the sea. 



High tides seem also to encroach fjirther on the land of late 

 years than formerly, eroding the banks and throwing up sand 

 higher than has been known since the settlement of the country. 

 One of these high tides accompanying an easterly storm occurred 

 in October, 1861. and washed away from 10 to 15 feet of the 

 banks on exposed parts of the coast, spreading so much sand and 

 debris over the fields along the shore as to render some of them 

 unfit for cultivation since. 



These phenomena together with the apparent sinking of the 

 sand dunes referred to would indicate that the region is slowly 

 subsiding since the formation of the peat and marl beds. 



I shall conclude this paper with a section of the surface de- 

 posits of the Baie de Chaleur district, embracing a synoptical 

 statement of their geological history, so far as known to me, in 

 descending order, 



(1) Recent Deposits. — On the coast — sand dunes, estuarine 

 silts, submarine sand flats. In the interior — river intervales and 

 alluvia, peat and marl beds, etc. Life during period of these 

 formations — fresh water shells. Land reaching a height above 

 present level, followed by a gradual subsidence. 



