108 THE TRIAS OR NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



valuable discoveries, however, whicli have been made on the shores 

 of Lake Superior have in late years caused increased importance 

 to be attached to the appearance of copper in trap rocks, and perhaps 

 this and other cupriferous localities in the trap of Nova Scotia may- 

 deserve a more careful examination than they have yet received.* 



The only remaining portion of the New Red Sandstone and Trap 

 formation is the little insulated spot of Isle Haut, lying off Cape 

 Chiegnecto. I have not landed on this island ; but, viewed from the 

 sea, it appears to present nearly on all sides lofty cliffs of trap. 



4. South Coast of New Brunswick. 



The following notices of the detached patches of Trias which occur 

 on the south coast of New Brunswick, are taken from a contribution 

 of Mr Matthew to Professor Bailey's Report on Southern New 

 Brunswick. 



Formerly, large areas of the Lower Carboniferous red sandstones 

 of New Brunswick were regarded as Triassic, but on more careful 

 examination it appears that this formation is limited to three small 

 patches on the coast of the Bay of Fundy. It is probable, however, 

 that these are but remnants of a more extensive area removed by 

 denudation, or still beneath the waters of the bay, and perhaps 

 continuous with the red sandstone district of the counties of King's 

 and Annapolis in Nova Scotia. 



The most important of these Triassic patches is that near Quaco Head, 

 where the beds consist of soft red sandstones with layers of quartzose 

 pebbles, and an overlying coarse conglomerate of a gray colour. Tliey 

 rest unconformably on limestone and conglomerate of Lower Carbon- 

 iferous age. A few fragments of fossil wood were found in them by 

 Mr Matthew, and, though not well preserved, their structure is evi- 

 dently that of coniferous or pine trees, and the cell walls show but one 

 row of discs, — a character which belongs to the pines of the genera 

 Pence and Pinites, found in Mesozoic rocks, and not to the older pine 

 trees of the Coal formation. This fossil wood I regard as a valuable 

 confirmation of the opinion that these red sandstones are really Triassic, 

 as such wood is not found in any older formation. At Quaco the beds 

 dip N. N.E., at angles varying from 25° to 45°, and their thickness is 

 estimated by Mr Matthew at 800 feet. They show much oblique 

 lamination,- and are probably not far from the original margin of the 

 New Red Sandstone area in this direction. The oxide of manganese 



* Since the first edition of tliis work was published, explorations have been under- 

 taken at Cape d'Or, and also on the opposite side of the bay, but as yet without 

 profitable results. 



