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CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE LOWER SILURIAN PERIOD. 



LOWER SILURIAN OP NOVA SCOTIA — GOLD LOWER SILURIAN OF NEW 



BRUNSWICK " ACADIAN GROUP" USEFUL MINERALS PRIMORDIAL 



FOSSILS. 



To this geological age I have referred, principally on evidence of 

 an inferential character, the extensive belt of metamorphic sediments 

 extending along the coast of Nova Scotia from Cape Canseau to Cape 

 Sable. On similar grounds certain extensive areas of metamorphic 

 rocks in New Brunswick have been regarded as belonging to this 

 period ; and very recently the discovery of a rich primordial fauna in 

 some of these beds near St John has confirmed this view in regard 

 to a portion of these areas ; while in Northern New Brunswick 

 the resemblance of the beds to those of the "Quebec group," and 

 their relation to the Upper Silurian beds, tend to give similar con- 

 firmation. 



In describing these districts, we shall first sketch the character and 

 distribution of the Atlantic coast series of Nova Scotia, with the 

 important discoveries of gold which have given to it so great economic 

 importance, and shall then proceed to notice the rocks of similar age 

 in New Brunswick, with the very remarkable fossils — the oldest known 

 in Acadia — which have recently been discovered in them. 



1. Lower Silurian of the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia. 



This series extends continuously, with prevailing east and west 

 strike, from Cape Canseau to the middle of the peninsula at Halifax 

 Harbour ; thence it continues with prevailing north-east and south- 

 west strike to the western extremity of the province. Its most 

 abundant rocks are coarse clay slate and quartzite in thick beds. In 

 some districts the slates arc represented by mica schist and gneiss, and 

 interrupted by considerable masses and transverse bands of intrusive 

 granite. It has afforded no fossils; but it appears to be the continuation 

 of the older slate series of Mr Jukes in Newfoundland, which has 



