S84 Rohh on Superficial Deposits in Canada. 



calcareous shales are exposed they may be seen decomposing into 

 clay ; while the fossils and fragments of sione found in the clay 

 are sharp and angular, indicating that they have not travelled far 

 from their native beds. Probably this fact of the great excess of 

 calcareous matter in the western soils may account for the supe- 

 rior nature of the timber which grows there, as well as for the su* 

 perior fertility and early period of their vegetation and harvests. 



ii. 



Many of the facts connected with the physical condition of the 

 superficial deposits in Canada, and especially of the vast ochre- 

 beds and deposits of marl, bog iron-ore, &c., are attribniable to 

 the existence of powevail chemical actions wliich have been for 

 indefinite periods, and still are in action at no great distance from 

 the surface. I beg to call attention to certain phenomena illus- 

 trative of this subject, which have partly come under my own 

 observation, and partly been related to me by trust-worthy wit- 

 nesses. No doubi similar facts might be discovered in many other 

 parts of the Province, should they happen to come under the 

 notice of competent observers. 



In the month of October, 1859, 1 visited the farm of a friend who 

 resides on the 1st lot of the broken front range on the road pass- 

 ing through Arkona village, in the township of Bosanquet. This 

 point is, according to the determination of our Provincial Geolo- 

 gists, immediately on the line of j miction of the Corniferous lime- 

 stone and Hamilton shales of the Devonian formation; and as it 

 has been observed that metallic deposits occur most frequently in 

 the neighborhood of such junctions, which may possibly affect 

 their formation, it may reasonably be inferred that some connec- 

 tion exists between the phenomenon I am about to relate and the 

 existenc.e of such deposits. I am not prepared to give an exact 

 explanation of the causes of the proximate chemical reactions 

 which are found in operation at the locahty in question ; still less 

 do I feel competent to offer any solution of the vexed question of 

 the origin and mode of formation of mineral lodes ; I shall simply 

 relate the facts as a slight contribution to our knowledge of the 

 chemical geology of some of the superficial deposits, and possibly 

 also of the formation of metallic veins. 



The river Sable flows through the lot in question at its north- 

 ern extremity, and at the distance of about 200 yards to the 

 south their occurs upon this lot a tract of low-lying ground 



