22 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORT SOCIETY. 



1898. January 11; 2 a. m. 



At South West Head, Grand Manan. 



"We felt a sharp shock of earthquake at this ])lace on Tuesday, the 1 lth 

 inst., at 2 a. m. It sounded like a heavy explosion, Wind northeast, 

 light, high water, clear cold weather." (Letter from W. B. McLaughlan). 



The greater frequency of earthquakes at Grand Manan than at any 

 other place in the Province is worthy of note, and it is possible that 

 further observations may show some connection between the so-called 

 "gun reports" (see Bulletin XIV, pp. 40-44, 1896,) and these light 

 earth movements. 



In the discussion which followed, Dr. Geo. F. Matthew said: "This 

 part of the Bay of Fundy it remarkable for its great depth and pre- 

 cipitous shores. Off Brier Island the bottom descends to a depth of 

 100 fathoms in a distance of three miles from the outermost ledge ; it 

 is almost equally abrupt on the Grand Manan slope ; the trough 

 between is deeper than the bottom of the Gulf of Maine outside ad- 

 joining. This is the only part of the Bay of Fundy where there have 

 been heavy outflows of trap of Triassic age on both sides of the bay, 

 and the abyss between may be complementary to these ejections of 

 lava. The weakness of the earth's crust here in Triassic times, as 

 shown by the volcanic eruptions of that age, may not even yet be 

 altogether removed ; but the greater tendency to earthquake move- 

 ments in this district may be the dying throes of the old Triassic 

 disturbances." 



