162 ICE-BORNE SEDIMENTS IN MINAS BASIN, N. S. — BANCROFT. 



The amount of sediment carried by this floating ice is greatly 

 emphasized to one if he watches the melting of some of the ice 

 clumps stranded upon the marsh b}^ an exceptionally high tide- 

 In one case, the layer of sediment left after the melting of such 

 a stranded cake was six inches thick, and in the midst of the 

 detritus was a boulder of trap rock which weighed over twenty 

 pounds. Early in the spring, the marsh has the appearnce of 

 being covered with ant hills, this effect being produced by the 

 melting of these isolated ice cakes, and the deposition of tbeir 

 burden of debris. These scattered heaps of sediment do not 

 seem to be easily levelled down by succeeding high tides. If 

 by the continued formation of laminae, deposited by the follow- 

 ing high tides, they should be buried, it would seem as if they 

 should be of some geological significance in the structure of the 

 rock formed, at a later date, of these stratified marsh sediments. 

 Possibly they would cause slight irregularities in the bedding, or 

 give the rock a patched appearance. But this is largely 

 conjecture. 



This material deposited on the marshes in this way is 

 caused by the standing of only a few stray ice cakes. A good 

 deal of the floating ice is carried out into the Bay of Fundy. 

 Much of it melts while floating in the waters of Minas Basin. 

 Some of it melts while resting on the area left bare between 

 high and low water. But wherever the melting takes place, 

 it necessarilj/ is accompanied by the depo.sition of the burden of 

 detritus. The ice which floats about in Minas Basin during the 

 winter, is thus seen to be a vevy important agent in the trans- 

 ference of mud and silt, abstracted from the land, to the sea 

 bottom. 



