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CHAPTER X. 



THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



GENERAL REMARKS SYNOPTICAL TABLE GEOGRAPHICAL ARRANGE- 

 MENT CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICT OF CUMBERLAND SOUTH JOGGINS 



SECTION. 



I HAVE had frequent occasion to state that the lower beds of the 

 Triassic sandstones rest on the edges of the upturned strata of the 

 great geological series now to be described. In entering, therefore, 

 on the Carboniferous system, we go at least one whole period back in 

 the history of the earth, to a time when the rocks that formed the 

 shore of the red sandstone sea were themselves being depcsited in the 

 form of sediment, in waters which washed the sides of the Cobequid 

 Hills and the other old metamorphic ranges. 



The Carboniferous system is of inestimable importance in an eco- 

 nomical point of view, from the number and value of its useful min- 

 erals. It is also of exceeding interest to the geologist, in consequence 

 of the many remarkable monuments which it contains of the changes 

 of the earth's surface, and of the character of its inhabitants, during a 

 long and important period. None of the geological formations sur- 

 passes it in either of these respects ; and in Nova Scotia and the 

 neighbouring colonies there is none which approaches to an equality 

 with it. It is also a very thick group of beds, and these are very 

 varied in their character. For these reasons, I shall commence my 

 description with a synoptical view of its various members, as they 

 have now been ascertained in Nova Scotia. An examination of this 

 condensed summary will enable the reader much more clearly to 

 comprehend the statements hereafter to be made. 



Physical Characters and Subdivisions of the Carboniferous. 



The total vertical thickness of the immense mass of sediment consti- 

 tuting the Carboniferous system in Nova Scotia may be estimated from 

 the fact that Sir W. E. Logan has ascertained, by actual measurement at 

 the Joggins, a thickness of 14,570 feet ; and this does not include the 



