STRUCTURE OF THE COAL-FIELD OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 229 



patch of micaceous red sandstone, which appears to be an outlier 

 of the New Red Sandstone of Prince Edward Island. Bay Verte 

 presents another slight synclinal undulation, continuous apparently 

 with that which appears at Dorchester Ferry ; and south of this is 

 the anticlinal which brings up the Lower Carboniferous limestones of 

 Northern Cumberland, and which limits the coal trough of the Joggins 

 in Nova Scotia. 



The coast section above described, as given in Professor Robb's 

 manuscripts, is included in the general section attached to the map, 

 to which the reader is referred. 



It would appear from this section, compared with those fartlier inland, 

 as, for example, in the vicinity of Frederickton, that in the noithern 

 and western part of the New Brunswick coal area the Lower Carbon- 

 iferous Formation is little developed, except in the form of grits and 

 conglomerates ; and that the greatest development of the calcareous 

 members of the Lower Carboniferous and of the Lower Carboniferous 

 Coal measures occurs in the southern part of the area, the principal 

 exception being the occurrence of limestone and gypsum in the Tobique 

 outlier. The same deficiency occurs in Nova Scotia on the northern 

 side of the Cobequid Hills. 



In the next place, in so far as ascertained, the Coal formation proper 

 appears in New Brunswick to have a less thickness than in Nova 

 Scotia, and to include only two principal coal groups — one near the 

 base, and the other near the summit. To the former, I refer the 

 coals of the coast near Bathurst, of Richebucto, and of the vicinity of 

 Frederickton, unless, indeed, the upper members of the series there 

 overlap and conceal the lower ; to the latter, those of Miramichi, 

 and possibly those of Cocagne and Grand Lake. This would accord 

 also with such evidence as fossils afford, since, as I have elsewhere 

 shown,* the plants of the Coal measures near Bathurst have a Lower 

 Coal formation aspect ; those of Grand Lake are more akin to those of 

 the Upper Coal formation. 



On the one hand, the great uniformity of the New Brunswick 

 area, so far as observed, would lead to the belief that these exposures 

 represent fairly its available resources of coal, which, in that case, are 

 great as to area, but insignificant as to thickness, and consequently as 

 to productive value. On the other hand, it is quite possible, judging 

 from the analogy of other countries, that there may be portions of this 

 area as yet unexplored, in which mineral fuel may have been more 

 bountifully produced. Farther, as the Grand Lake beds seem to 

 belong to the Upper series, and borings already made would indicate 

 that the Lower series may be reached there, it would be desirable that 

 * "Synopsis of the Carboniferous Flora.'" 



