[bailey] presidential ADDRESS 15 



of detrital matter which may have been produced by aerial agencies 

 or along the course of streams or rivers have since been wholly obliter- 

 ated. 



The facts regarding the Quaternary age may be briefly stated. 

 Adopting the generally accepted Glacial Theory of Agassiz, we may 

 picture to ourselves the greater part of Acadia in the Glacial Epoch as 

 standing at a much higher elevation than now, and covered by an ice- 

 cap which buried alike the two provinces of New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia, as well as the Bay of Fundy trough which now separates them. 

 The extent of the ice-cap was continental, and few, if any, of the 

 higher elevations remained uncovered. The effects were those of 

 enormous erosion, the formation or deepening of river channels and 

 the formation of new ones, together with the origination and dis- 

 persion of enormous quantities of drift, mostly to the south of the place 

 of origin. With the passing away of Arctic conditions, local centres of 

 ice action for a time persisted, and to these were due the occasional 

 transference of the drift, as in the Annapolis Valley, in directions the 

 reverse of its previous transportation. 



In the Second (or Champlain) Era, a subsidence followed the 

 previous elevation and to such an extent as to carry much of the 

 present coastal areas bordering the St. Lawrence Gulf and the Bay of 

 Fundy below the sea-level, about 200 feet in the latter case and about 

 600 feet in the former, and thus leading to the drowning of numerous 

 rivers and streams. At the same time, many lakes and ponds were 

 formed through the damming of drift, and the soil covering of the 

 region had its characteristics largely determined. 



Finally, in the Terrace Period, still another upward movement 

 took place, but not sufficient to restore Arctic conditions. The coast 

 line became about what it is today. Lakes were drained more or less 

 completely by the removal of their drift dams, river piracy, as in the 

 case of such streams as the St. John and Miramichi, took place on a 

 large scale, and the drainage systems of both New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia, assumed for the most part their present aspect. Elevated 

 beaches, like Pennfield Ridge in New Brunswick, were left bordering 

 the coast, while along the river valleys, as illustrated in the case of 

 the St. John, below the Grand Falls, these slopes were conspicuously 

 fringed with terraces, sometimes four or five in number, marking suc- 

 cessive periods of elevation. 



Among other changes may be noted the separation from the 

 mainland of the ridge of the North Mountains in Nova Scotia, as 



