[BAILEY-MATTHEW] NEW BRUNSWICK GEOLOGY 125 



5. Coal Measures. Gray, non-calcareous conglomerates, 

 sandstones and shales, in nearly horizontal beds, wholly unal- 

 tered and holding numerous typical Carboniferous plants and 

 thin seams of coal. 



Of the groups tabulated above, the first or Perry Group has 

 already been sufficiently discussed. It is also unnecessary to con- 

 sider individually the groups which follow; but it is important to 

 notice that the character of these groups is very constant, that they 

 are found widely spread, with essentially the same features, over 

 nearly all parts of the Province, and that it is impossible to establish 

 any correlation or parallelism between them and the Little River 

 Group, already discussed on paleobotanical grounds. 



Thus, in a vertical section of nearly horizontal beds, exposed in 

 bluffs overlooking the St. John river a few miles above Fredricton, 

 the succession is the same as that of the table, except that there are 

 no limestones, their horizon being represented by gypseous beds. 

 About Red Rock settlement and Stanley, the fossiliferous limestones 

 may be seen in place, while in Harvey the volcanics acquire great 

 prominence. At Wickham and near Long Island in Queens county, 

 both the limestones and volcanics occur together, the limestones being 

 partly altered into marbles. Essentially the same succession may be 

 seen on the Newcastle River in the center of ths great coal field. It is 

 found on the Beccaquimic and Tobique rivers in northern New 

 Brunswick, and again along the coast of the Bay of Fundy at St. 

 Martin's and Gardner's Creek, only a few miles east of St. John and in 

 Albert county. In all cases the sedimentary rocks including and 

 following the Carboniferous limestones, are, except locally, wholly 

 unaltered; the coals are caking coals, surcharged with bitumen, there 

 is an entire absence of slaty cleavage and the soft shales upon ex- 

 posure crumble into mud. If dipping at all, it is usually at very low 

 angles, and though, especially in the Bay of Fundy trough, the strata 

 show frequent dislocations it is in the form of blocks rather than folds, 

 the orogenic movements to which they have been subjected having 

 been of a very moderate character. The question therefore may 

 well be asked "Is it possible that with the Carboniferous succession as 

 above given, and with characters which are essentially the same over 

 every part of the Province, including even the Bay of Fundy, these 

 can be correlated with the Little River group, which, except in its 

 plant remains, differs in every one of the particulars mentioned ? 



The writers of this paper think not. 



