SEOTION IV. -1883. 187288 TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 
IV.— The Folding of the Carboniferous Strata in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. 
By Evwin Giupin, Jr, AM. F.G.S., Government Inspector of Mines for the 
Province of Nova Scotia. 
(Read May 23, 1883.) 
The following notes are an attempt to outline in some degree the changes of level and 
foldings accompanying the deposition of the Carboniferous series in the Lower Provinces. 
The material is not yet amassed, and possibly may never be completely compiled, so 
as to allow of a full record of these changes. Even at this early date, however, in our pro- 
egress toward a complete geological survey of the district under consideration, a few im- 
portant points seem to be established. I venture to submit them, in the hope that even if 
the conclusions do not appear deducible from the data, the subject may receive the atten- 
tion of those better qualified to read the history of the rocks. 
The Carboniferous in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick may be regarded as quite a 
youthful member of the great rock series, as it is presented with hardly a trace of later 
formations to obscure it. Its divisions are generally well marked, and the presence of 
numerous valuable minerals has led to the accumulation of much information about its 
structure. 
We owe the first systematic grouping of the Carboniferous periods to the labors of Sir 
Charles Lyell, Dr. Dawson, and Sir William Logan, who cleared up the conjectures of 
previous writers, and laid down the various divisions of this great series. Mr. Richard 
Brown also threw much light on the structure of the Carboniferous of Cape Breton. 
The principal divisions of this series are :— 
1. The Upper Coal formation. 
2. The Middle, or Coal formation proper. 
3. The Millstone Grit series. 
4. The Carboniferous Limestone. 
5. The Lower Coal Measures. 
These measures are found lying in well defined folds, having a general east and west 
course, roughly parallel to that of the Atlantic shore. They are crossed at several points 
by subordinate transverse folds. The main folds are found also in the older strata, and 
preserve a general parallelism to those of the Carboniferous. 
This exhibition of a force affecting so many horizons along lines of so little diver- 
gence presents two points of interest. Was the force an intermittent one, of local extent, 
or an uninterrupted series of changes affecting wide areas. The following notes, bearing 
more particularly on the local flexures, would perhaps indicate that the force partook of 
each character. 
THE Lower Coan MEASURES. 
The first division of the Carboniferous series is met at Hillsboro, N. B., where it 
reaches a thickness of 1850 feet, and is marked by a heayy mass of conglomerate at its 
base, which rock also occurs at intervals through it. It does not appear in the Joggins 
Sec. IV., 1883. 18 
