CARBONIFEROUS DISTRICT OF COLCHESTER AND HANTS. 269 



the gypsum acted on a mass of calcareous matter, mixed with sand 

 and gravel, which became entangled in the gypseous mass produced. 

 Such instances of the enclosure of foreign bodies in gypsum are rare. 

 I have, howevei', seen layers of sand and earthy matter, and fragments 

 of limestone, and in a few instances vegetable remains have appeared 

 in the earthy layers. Some beds of gypsum are also blackened by 

 bituminous matter, derived no doubt from animal or vegetable 

 substances. 



Over nearly all the beds of gypsum in this region, the whole surface 

 is riddled by funnel-shaped cavities, named " plaster-pits," by the aid 

 of which the gypsum may be traced in localities where it does not 

 itself reach the surface. These pits are well exposed in the face of 

 the " Big Rock " formerly described. They are produced by the 

 solvent action of the surface water penetrating through the fissures of 

 the gypsum, in a manner which we shall have better opportunities of 

 studying when we arrive at the gypsiferous districts of Cape Breton. 



The section formed by the long narrow tideway of the Shubenacadie, 

 and continued less perfectly along its fresh-water portion, enables us 

 to form an idea of the structure of the southern part of the Hants and 

 Colchester area, across its whole breadth. It is evident that the 

 regular succession of the beds has been much disturbed by faults or 

 fractures, most of which have a direction approaching to east and west. 

 They have shifted the masses of beds, so that we cannot now, without 

 extensive investigations of all the minor sections afforded by tributary 

 streams, put them together into a continuous series. The following is 

 the nearest approximation to such a restoration of the original arrange- 

 ment that I can offer : — 1st, From the mouth of the Shubenacadie 

 westward to Walton and Cheverie, the shales which lie at the base of 

 the Carboniferous system appear in several places, and immediately 

 resting on them are red sandstones and marls, with limestone and 

 gypsum ; and the lowest bed of limestone is a laminated dark- coloured 

 crystalline bed without fossils. 2c/(y, The red sandstones and marls 

 with gypsum and limestone, form a wide band extending through 

 Hants to the Avon estuary, south of these lowest members of the 

 series ; and in places there appear, in and over these beds, gray and 

 brown sandstones with fossil plants. ScZ/y, Along the course of Five 

 Mile and Kennetcook Rivers, extend rocks having the aspect of the 

 Lower Coal formation, which appear to be thrown up along an anticlinal 

 line. 4:tMy, Immediately to the south of these, we again find the red 

 marls, gypsum, and limestone, forming a second broad belt, extending 

 from Rose's Point and Admiral's Rock, on the Shubenacadie, through 

 Newport to Windsor. This is the re-appearence of the same part of 



