GASPEREAU VALLEY, NOVA SCOTIA HAYCOCK. 309 



curves to the southwest and just below the brow of the hill con- 

 tinues along in that direction for about half a mile to the 

 westernmost outcrop of the sandstone on the north side of the 

 valley. The next outcrop of sandstone occurs on the opposite 

 side of the Gaspereau Valley, about a mile and a half to the 

 southwest, in a brook just west of Gaspereau Village. It is here 

 about two hundred feet below its last mentioned occurrence on 

 the brow of the ridge, and its contact with the slate lies within 

 a few rods of this exposure, as the next watercourse to the 

 west lies in compact bluish slates. The line of contact next 

 ascends the slope, but curves eastwardly before reaching the edge 

 of the southern tableland and extends in that direction for about 

 three miles, when it again sweeps around southerly, and then 

 southwesterly, up the valley of the Half-way River. 



The slate is tough and resistant, and the country occupied by 

 it to the southwest of this bounding line presents smooth level 

 outlines gashed by sudden gorges. The sandstones and shales to 

 the north and east of it are variable in hardness but relatively 

 less resistant than the slates, and the country underlaid by these 

 younger rocks lies, as a rule, at a lower level and presents broadly 

 undulating outlines. 



The Cornwallis Valley has a geological history which has 

 already been traced out as far as the records have been available 

 and intelligible to the writer up to the present time.* The 

 Gaspereau outlier has been subject to the same general changes, 

 but its separation from the main portion calls for additional 

 explanation. 



If we imagine a vertical plane cutting deep into the earth's 

 crust and extending north and south from the borders of the 

 Minas Basin at Wolfville to the edge of the elevated southern 

 plain, and if the part on the west side were removed so that we 

 could see the underlying structure of the whole district, the 

 surface exposures lead us to believe that the rocks in the 

 geological section thus laid bare are arranged as in the accom- 



* " Records of Post-triassic Changes in Kings County, N. S." Transactions of the 

 Nova Scotian Institute of Science, Vol. X., Session 1899-1900. Pp. 287-302. 



