THE HAISE1> SHOKE LINES 

 OF I ilE FUOYINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 



w R n Tin ' IBRARY 



By K. Chalmers, LL. I)., , . ,,, , 



of the Geological Survey of Canada. 

 ^^IIE -evei-.-changing forms of our coast lines due to the we,av-iv 

 (w^ ing away of the banks, or the accaniulation of shifting 

 sands, have long been a subject of interest to the geolo- 

 gist and student of nature. These variable features in the con- 

 dition of our shores are sometimes attributed to changes in the 

 level of the land, or of the sea, but for the most part they are 

 merely the result of the seasonal or periodic modifications which 

 the materials referred to have undergone. Nevertheless, it is 

 pretty well known that our coast lines are not absolutely 

 stationary, or immovable, for long periods of time. Some of 

 the facts which tend to support this view may be briefly stated: — 

 The estuaries of most of our larger rivers are occupied by sand, 

 gravel and stones to depths of one to two hundred feet below sea 

 level, showing that the land formerly stood that much higher 

 than at present. At that period the rivers flowed along their 

 rocky floors one to twt) hundred feet below the present sea level. 

 Following this elev_;tion of the coast border, or depression of the 

 ocean, as the case may have been, the greatest in the Post-Terti- 

 ary period, there wa3 a subsidence equal at least to the present 

 altitude of the highest shore line jjlus tlie difl'erence between sea 

 level and the rock floc>rs of the estuaries referred to. At the time 

 of the maxiuium subsidence of the land, or rise of the sea level, 

 the raised shore lines around the coast of New Brunswick were 

 formed, the highest of which it is proposed to describe in this 

 paper. Another uplift of the land followed, and this in turn 

 seems to have been succeeded by a slow subsidence in some 

 areas, as shown by drowned peat bogs and the erosion of banks. 

 It will thus be seen that the crust of the earth, in coastal areas 

 at least, is in a state ol continual though slow oscillation, great- 



^,er in .?ome parts than in others. Unceasing change seems to be 



Dthe rule. 



I 



