[pooLE] FEATURES OF CONTINENTAL SHELF OFF NOVA SCOTIA 77 



deeps already referred to eastward of Sambro there are others of 150 

 fms. oft: Canso and off G-abarus. These soundings suggest that the plain 

 of marine denudation that dressed off the continental shelf was at a 

 depth exceeding that of 80 fms. below the foreshore of to-day and that 

 it was formed before the great elevation that permitted the extensive 

 river channelling we have been considering. 



There are yet other' features to be considered similar to some that 

 are more pronounced on the shores of Newfoundland where the land is 

 higher, the waters of the bays and fjords deeper, and the situation gener- 

 ally more like that of Labrador, and these will better illustrate char- 

 acteristics 'to which it is desired to direct attention than their less 

 prominent counterparts of Nova Scotia. ]\Jjuch of the coast of New- 

 foundland is deeply indented by fjords with narrow channels between 

 steep walls and with bold water giving soundings deeper inside than in 

 the open sea outside. Not only this, but what at first sight seems very 

 remarkable soundings even sometimes deeper at the very head of the 

 fjords than further out. Of the origin of these deep indentations there 

 can be no doubt it is due to the same causes that produced the fjords of 

 Norway and G-reenland, to the erosion by sediment in moving water and 

 ice, to streams descending from the high table lands at a time when the 

 whole country stood far above the present level and when it was elevated 

 sufficiently to allow the rivers to cut their beds 2500'îeet at least below 

 the sea level of to-day. Then followed a period when glaciers occupied 

 the river valleys and ravinetj and stretched seaward beyond the present 

 coast line. To recognize these features it is only necessary to study the 

 chart;.' of the coast, take almosti any ravine and it will supply an illus- 

 tration : Conception Bay shows soundings down to 143 fms. ; La Poile to 

 150 fms.; Harbor Breton to 169 fms.; Belle Bay out? of Fortune Bay 

 to 299 fms.; and Hermitage Bay to no less than 390 fms., or 2340 feet 

 of water, while outside the headlands in the open sea the usual depth of 

 water does not exceed 100 fms. The conclusion is inevitable that the 

 fjords were first carved to the greater depths and afterwards had their 

 outer channel choked by deposits. It will further be noted that where 

 bold water approaches close to the cliffs it is always on the west side of 

 the bays, the side from which glaciers would descend from the ice sheet 

 on the high plateaux. To account for the deepest water occurring at 

 the 'head of some ravines it is surmised that they were occupied by the 

 glacial ice when the moraine matter was carried forward and deposited 

 in the channels further out and there shallowed the waters. Then when 

 later the ice age passed away and the glaciers meltel the parts they oc- 

 cupied were free of drift and are now represented by deep holes and de- 

 pressions occupied by water. In the same way were made what are 



