33 



fKEELE] AIESOZOIC CLAYS AND SANDS 



Coarse white sand 2 feet 



Variegated clay 1 foo^. 



White clay 9 f^^^ 



35 feet 



The clays and sands found in this boring are apparently identical 

 in character to those found by the writer when boring on the Matta- 

 gami deposit near the foot of Long Portage, except that no lignite 

 seams were found at the latter locality. 



The most extensive remnant of Cretaceous deposits at present 

 known in northern Ontario occurs on the east bank of Missinaibi 

 river, about 45 miles north of the Canadian National railway line 

 and about 4 miles above the mouth of Wabiskagami river. The pre- 

 Cambrian rock escarpment is about 6 miles to the south of these 

 deposits. 



The Cretaceous beds are exposed for a distance of half a mile 

 along the lower part of the river bank, and in places rise to a 

 height of 30 feet above the low water level. The greater part of the 

 deposit is made up of quartz sand, the particles of which are coated 

 with white clay, but the sand is stained in places to a pink or yellow 

 colour. 



The clay is of various colours— white, pink, grey and yellow, 

 but the bulk of the exposed part is mottled pink and white in colour.' 



The whole deposit is overlain by the late glacial stony clay, and 

 some of this clay is pressed into and intermixed with the Cretaceous 

 clay for a depth of several feet. Two small streams have cut down 

 through the overlying glacial drift, exposing the lower clay and pro- 

 viding convenient points for the examination of the deposit. In one 

 of the sections thus exposed the glacial drift is seen to rest directly 

 on the white sand. The glacial clay has a high content of lime, and 

 some of the lime leached from it has been redeposited in the white 

 sands and has cemented the upper 3 or 4 feet so as to form a protective 

 capping. 



The Cretaceous material is found in irregular arrangement and 

 although the sands are stratified in places they generally form lens- 

 like masses. The clay likewise occurs in lenses, some of which are 

 banded in different colours. This banding does not appear to be 

 related to bedding, except that it is due to the varying quantity of 

 iron oxide that accompanied the sediments during their deposition 

 and in that sense may be bedding. In the great masses of mottled 



