PEESIDRNTIAL ADDEESS. 



13 



Euglaud, contiuued in the Archœau belts of soutlieru New Bruuswick, Nova Scotia and 

 Cape Breton, and finally bending around to connect with those of Newfoundland, thus 

 closing in the same basin on the east. As the result of these uplifts and the accompany- 

 ing processes of plication and metamorphism, the interior of the basin became, to some 

 extent, protected against the subsequent action of those similar earth-movements which 

 in aftertime affected so seriously other portions of eastern America. 



(2.) The following of the period of Archœan uplifts last referred to, by a period of 

 intense volcanic activity, confined for the most part to the same areas as those affected by 

 the former, and synchronous, in all probability, with that of the similar volcanic out- 

 bursts of Lakes Superior and Huron. These outbursts were accompanied by, or were 

 attendant upon, movements which chiefly affected the southern border of the Provinc(>, 

 adjacent to the Bay of Fundy ; the Huronian rocks being here piled up to an enormous 

 thickness, with evidences of frequent changes of level in the course of their accumula- 

 tion, while in the interior of the Province they are comparatively scarce. The nature of 

 the deposits would indicate a somewhat rapid deposition, and mostly in shallow water. 



(3.) The submergence of portions of the basin beneath the sea-level in the Canadian 

 era, as indicated by the limestones of this age bordering the Straits of Belleisle, as well 

 as the boulders, containing relics of the Georgia or Oleuellus fauna in the limestone- 

 conglomerates of the Quebec Group. Portions of the rim of the basin were also sub- 

 merged, as indicated by the character and fossils of the Cambrian formation at St. John 

 and elsewhere, but the movements here would seem to have been quite various, as 

 indicated by the following table, based upon the observations of Mr. Matthew : — 



f Conglomerates, &c., showing littoral ori;;in. 



I 

 f Elchcminian Stage, j Fine shales indicating lieeper water. 



[Shales and sandstones, ..of shallow water origin. 

 Basal or J 



Gbokoiax Series. I ( Glauconite shale, ] 



I I I . 



l^ Givrtjian Skir/e. ■{ Shales, f- indicating deeper waters. 



1^ Shales, J 



f a. Sandstone, "1 



[-formed in sliallow waler.i. 



I b. Sandstone, J 



f Stayr 1. -| 



I I c. Dark shale, formed in deeper waters. 



I [^ (L Black shalos, formed in the deep sea. 



a 



St. John or. . \ Sandstones 1 , , j 



, c, c; o I f .• 1 . I -shore and shal ow waters. 



AcAniAN Sebibs. S«iffr 2. '^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ [ npple marks, J 



I ( Black shales, ] 



I I I 



[ Slaije 3. -| Ctenopyge bods, j- with deep-water sponges. 



[ Grey shales, J 



Tt is not a little singular that the formation ends with de(^p-sea deposits, there being 

 nothing to mark that return to or above the sea-level which wotild naturally usher in the 

 changing conditions and the changing life of a succeeding era. 



(4.) A more general submergence in the Cambro-Silurian or Ordovician era, deter- 



