142 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



outbursts of tlic period, for near where the volcanic masses are the 

 largest t^he depth of water in the bay is greatest. The great flows of 

 Triassic times form the long ridge of the Xorth Mountains in Nova 

 •Scotia, and towards this the depth of the soundings increase from the 

 north side of the bay, except in one locality, viz., off tlhe coast of the 

 island of Grand Manan, which is on the northern side of the bay towards 

 its mouth; in this part the deep water extends across the bottom of 

 the bay from side to side, and Grand Manan is the only place on the 

 north side of the Bay of Fundy where there was an extensive outflow of 

 Triassic trap. It might be inferred from these conditions that these 

 extensive discharges of Mesozoic lavas and ashes had so far weak- 

 ened the earth's crust here as to cause a subsidence in this area and 

 thus give form to the bottom of this arm of the sea. 



The sediments of this period where, as on the north side of the 

 bay at Quaco, N.B., they show their greatest fulness and diversity, are 

 0Ï three kinds. The lowest group are bright red sandstones with a 

 cement more or less calcareous, well laminated and often showing oblique 

 lamination. It has been the custom to attribute this structure to power- 

 ful tidal currents, and hence it has been supposed that strong currents, 

 such as traverse the Bay of Fundy at the present time, were responsible 

 for such structures as we now see in the Triassic sandstones that are 

 found in its basin. It seems, however, difficult to reconcile wàth this 

 hypothesis the entire absence of marine organisms from these sandstones ; 

 or the bright red colour and uniform appearance which they everywhere 

 exhibit. 



In regard t» rocks of this appearance and this age in the Connecti- 

 cut and New Jersey outcrops, it appears to the writer that the hypo- 

 thesis of Mr. J. Volney Lewis, that they form the deposit of a Pied- 

 mont plain has much applicability.^ In addition, he suggests the 

 prevalence of an arid climate. Such an hypothesis would, perhaps, 

 better than any other, account for the peculiarities of the " New Eed 

 Sandstone," or Triassic sandstones of the Bay of Fundy. The conditions 

 would not, therefore, greatly differ from those of the preceding Permian 

 time, except in the presence of a drier and probably a colder climate. 



The second or middle member of this cycle, however, presents a 

 very different series of beds. There is a distinct and sudden transition 

 from the fine and homogeneous rod sands to coarse pebble beds, such as 

 might have gathered on a shingle beach- these beds of pebbles are often 

 without a matrix, except such as has been furnished by calcite subsequent 

 to the deposition of the beds, and are so thoroughly rounded that they 



' Annual Report of the State Geologist, Geol. Surv. N. Jersey, 1906, p. 106. 



