IV.—NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF NEWFOUNDLAND.—By T. ¢ 
Weston, F. G. S. A, LATE oF THE GEOLOGICAL SUR- 
VEY OF CANADA. 
(Read 11th May, 1896.) 
The following notes have been written partly to record a few 
paleontological facts not mentioned elsewhere and partly to give 
a brief outline of the various geological formations and show the 
similiarity in the fossil faunas of Newfoundland to the members 
of the upper and lower silurian of Canada. Should the reader 
wish for a more detailed account of the geology, he will find it 
in the admirable reports of the late director of the Geological 
Survey of Newfoundland, Alex. Murray, also in those of his 
assistant, Jas. P. Howley, and of the late Sir W. E. Logan, Geo-. 
logical Survey of Canada, 1863. 
The Lawrentian.—In considering the more interesting 
geological features of the island, we shall commence with the 
base of the great geological column, which in Canada has an 
estimated thickness of 32,750 feet. 
The Laurentian rocks of Newfoundland are similar to those of 
Canada, consisting of gneiss, granite, syenite, limestone, quartz- 
ite, mica schist, etc., all of which are frequently cut by granite 
and other dykes. They form a large portion of the island which, 
as Mr. Murray remarks, “ has materially contributed to produce 
the remarkable geological aud topographical features which it 
presents.” Probably it was the chopped up appearance of the 
Laurentian and Huronian formations which caused him to 
remark that “ Newfoundland was formed of the chippings of the 
world.” The Laurentian of Newfoundland, so far as we know, 
is totally destitute of the remains of either vegetable or animal 
structure, and therefore must still be considered azoic, although 
this term has been abandoned by some geologists in the nomen- 
clature of Canadian rocks owing to the discovery in the Upper 
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