[BAILEY-MATTHEW] NEW BRUNSWICK GEOLOGY 1.21 



Another feature in which the Devono-Carboniferous (or Perry) 

 rocks ^nd succeeding Lower Carboniferous beds were found to differ 

 from the underlying Little River group, was that the former were 

 not folded but divided into blocks by faults, and in St. John county 

 as a rule dipped northward at a low angle; whereas the older rocks 

 were often closely folded and dipped at a high angle southeastward. 



Thus a discordance of dip and strike as well as other conditions 

 everywhere distinguished these two series. 



It was some time before evidence was found for separating the 

 Mispec Group from the older part of the Little River group. The 

 Mispec begins abruptly in a volcanic breccia, resting upon the grey 

 slates and sandstones of the Cordaite group both on the Black River 

 and the Red Head roads several miles apart; but there was very 

 little change in the dip of the two groups at the lines of contact. 

 The Mispec slates were all of a deep red color, whereas the underlying 

 slates of the Cordaite series were gray. 



A similar relation between the Cordaite and Mispec groups was 

 found to hold not only in the St. John basins and in the next basin 

 westward (Lepreau) but in the third basin, that of Beaver Harbor. 

 The Mispec was here found to be entirely separate and distinct from 

 the plant bearing beds, and so continued to L'Etang Harbor, which is 

 protected by Bliss's Island. This island consists of similar red slates 

 with layers of conglomerate. In the conglomerate, along the shore 

 line at the eastern end of the island, were found rolled fragments of 

 the corals which are in place as constituents of the Upper Silurian beds 

 of shale on La Tete island on the opposite or northwestern side of 

 L'Etang Harbor. In the harbor is a small island of the Red conglom- 

 erate and calcareous sandy slate, which belongs to the overlying 

 Upper Devonian-Carboniferous series, which is more fully displayed 

 in the next bay (Passamaquoddy) where the Perry plant beds are 

 found. Thus we find that the Mispec group is really an intermediate 

 series separating the plant beds of Perry from the older plant beds of 

 St. John and unconformable to both. 



Only fragments of plant stems and no marine fpssils have been 

 found in the slaty part of the Mispec beds to determine their exact 

 age, nor are there any near-by localities which have yielded marine 

 organic remains through which the exact age of the Mispec group 

 could be determined, but the physical relations of the group appear 

 to indicate that it is near the horizon of the Lower Devonian. If 

 this inference be sustained, the Plant Beds of the "Fern Ledges" 

 should be Upper Silurian. 



Assuming the above inference to be correct, i.e., that the plant 

 beds are Silurian, we may ask whence came the materials that formed 



Sec. IV, Sig. 9 



