IV. ON THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 

 IN EASTERN CANADA, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 

 POSITION OF THE UNION AND RIVERSDALE FORMATIONS 

 OF NOVA SCOTIA, REFERRED TO THE DEVONIAN SYSTEM 

 BY SOME CANADIAN GEOLOGISTS. By H. M. Ami, M. A., 

 D. Sc., F. G. S., of the Geological Survey of Canada, 

 Ottawa. 



(Read December llth, 1899.) 



Considerable discussion has arisen of late amongst European 

 as well as North American geologists, as to where certain series 

 of sedimentary strata occurring near the summit of the Palaeozoic 

 should be placed, either in the Carboniferous or in the Devonian 

 system. 



Whether certain other geological formations, occurring in the 

 Maritime Provinces of Canada, should be described as Permian, 

 or classed as Upper Carboniferous or Permo-Carboniferous, con- 

 stitutes another problem. It is not within the province of this 

 paper, however, at this time, to discuss this latter question, which 

 it is hoped may form the subject of another paper before long > 



Where to draw the line between the Carboniferous and 

 Devonian sj'stems in Eastern Canada, is therefore the question 

 at issue. It is the purpose of the writer to enter this field of 

 enquiry without any leaning or bias to any one view, but to take 

 up the evidence as it presents itself to him and as it was collected 

 by him during the last four years in the Counties of Pictou, 

 Colchester, Cumberland, Antigonish, Hants, and Kings, in Nova 

 Scotia, referring to such other localities and additional evidence 

 only as the occasion may require. 



Numerous and varied opinions have been given by many 

 writers on this important question of the dividing line between 

 the Devonian and the Carboniferous. These were consulted 

 merely with the purpose of obtaining notes of records of obser- 

 vations that might help to throw light upon the problem, without. 



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