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CHAPTER VIIL 



THE TRIAS OR NEW RED SANDSTONE— Conimwerf. 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND AGE OF ITS SANDSTONES FOSSIL PLANTS 



REPTILIAN REMAINS USEFUL MINERALS AND SOIL. 



Prince Edward Island, which stretches for 125 miles along the 

 northern coast of Nova Scotia and New Bi'unswick, has everywhere 

 a low and undulating surface, and consists almost entirely of soft red 

 sandstone and arenaceous shale, much resembling the New Red of 

 Nova Scotia, and like it having the component particles of the rock 

 united by a calcareous cement. In some places the calcareous matter 

 has been in sufficient abundance to form bands of impure limestone, 

 usually thin and arenaceous. Over the greater part of the island 

 these beds dip at small angles to the northward, with, however, large 

 undulations to the south, which probably cause the same beds to be 

 repeated in the sections on the opposite sides of the island. This is 

 the general character of the island in all parts of it that I have 

 explored, with the exception of a few limited spots on the south side, 

 which present broAvn and gray sandstones and shales, not unlike some 

 of the upper parts of the Coal Formation of Nova Scotia, and containing 

 a few fossil plants. These are apparently the lowest and oldest beds 

 observed, and they may possibly belong to a series underlying 

 unconformably the ordinary red sandstone of the island. The deter- 

 mination of their true geological age is important, as affording data 

 for ascertaining that of the red sandstone. I shall therefore give a 

 somewhat detailed account of these beds as they appear at Orwell or 

 Gallows Point on the south coast, about ten miles east of Charlotte- 

 town. 



In approaching this place, the red sandstone forms long undulations 

 sloping gently toward the shore, and the coast displays a series of 

 low points, terminated by red sandstones, which, though not hard, 

 have better resisted the Avearing action of the waves than the softer 

 strata which have occupied the intermediate creeks. Passing through 

 Cherry Valley, the country has the same appearance until we enter 



