618 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 29, I914 
GEOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA. 
ee Geological Survey Branch of the Department 
of Mines of Canada continues to cover a wide 
field of research. Even its *\Summary Keport”’ for 
1911 includes topographic and structural papers, in 
which coal-mining areas are dealt with, as well as 
notes on peat and clay, and (p. 316) on petroleum in 
New Brunswick. J. W. Goldthwait’s paper (p. 296) 
on. post-glacial changes of level in Quebec and New 
Brunswick continues work previously published 
(Mem. 10) on the shore-lines of the extinct lakes 
Algonquin and Nipissing in south-west Ontario. In 
this earlier memoir the author draws isubases across 
the Great Lake region, showing the warping of the 
beaches of Lake Algonquin and its successor, the 
greater uplift being in both cases in the north. 
M. E. Wilson, in a publication numbered 1064, 
describes country on the east side of Lake Timis- 
kaming, Quebec, where for the most part pre-Cam- 
brian rocks prevail. The relations of the fragmental 
Huronians to the older granites are described. A 
large colour-printed map (18a), on the scale of one 
inch to one mile, has been issued of the mining 
region round the lake, and includes on the west the 
interesting basic igneous rocks and green schists of 
Cobalt. 
M. E. Wilson, in Memoir 172, shows how the 
geological surveyor is quickly following the extension 
of the railway into the gold-bearing region of northern 
Ontario. 
G. S. Malloch, in Memoir 9£, describes the Big- 
horn Coal Basin of Alberta, where a large area of 
undeveloped coal exists in Upper Jurassic or Lower 
Cretaceous strata. .The region lies near the United 
States border, and is so far only accessible by horse- 
trails. 
Memoir 27 (1912) is concerned with a serious report 
on Turtle Mountain, which rises above the town of 
Frank, Alberta. This limestone mass is tunnelled 
into at the base for coal, and a destructive landslide 
occurred in 1903. R. A. Daly, W. G. Miller, and 
G.-S. Rice, the commissioners appointed, now show 
that great fissures traverse the upper portion of the 
mountain, and that -the .modern forest growth 
is affected by their widening. The illustrations, 
especially plate viii., record impressive instances. of 
the creep of massive rocks. It is recommended that 
the town of Frank, at the foot of the great scarp, 
should be moved to another site in the valley, since 
the mountain is structurally unsafe, irrespective of its 
possible weakening by the mines. 
In Memoir 13 (1912), C. H. Clapp describes the 
mountainous region of southern Vancouver Island. 
A recent uplift of some 250 ft. has taken place (p. 13), 
whereby the coast-features have become rejuvenated, 
and the streams now fall from upraised coastal plains 
over rock-cliffs into the ocean. The prospects of 
copper-mining are discussed, but pyrite and pyrrhotine 
are the most prevalent ores. The metallic veins arose 
(p. 173) in connection with igneous intrusions of 
Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous age. 
W. H. Twenhofel, of Yale University (Am. Journ. 
Sci:, vol. xxxiii., 1912, p. 1), summarises the physio- 
graphy of Newfoundland, in a paper that will interest 
geographers. Fault-scarp features remain prominent 
on the Long Range in the south-west of the island, 
and the faulting is later than the formation of a 
peneplain, which is tentatively correlated (p. 19) with 
the late Cretaceous peneplain of the Appalachians. 
In Memoir 21 (1912) of the Canadian Geological 
Survey, on the geology and ore deposits of Phcenix, 
B.C., O. E. Le Roy makes some interesting observa- 
tions on the silicification of large bodies of limestone, 
whereby nodular ‘‘jasperoids"’ are produced (p. 34). 
NO. 2309, VOL. 92| 
Memoir 16£, on the clay and shale deposits of Nova 
Scotia and portions of New Brunswick, by H.. Ries 
and J. Keele, and Memoir 248, ‘y the same authors, 
on the clay and shale deposits.of the western proy- 
inces, both contain (pp. 115 and 177) a useful general 
essay on clay-rocks and their impurities. H. S. de 
Schmid has similarly incorporated a broad review ot 
the mica industry throughout the world in his memoir 
on mica (Department of Mines, Mines Branch, 1912). 
The development of the ‘‘mica-board” trade now 
allows of the use of material that formerly was thrown 
aside. 
In a monograph of 200 pages on pyrites in Canada 
(Mines Branch, 1912), A. W. G. Wilson describes the 
uses of iron sulphides, and the processes employed 
in roasting and in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. 
The Mines Branch has also issued vol. i. (376 pp-) 
of a ‘Report on the Building and Ornamental Stones 
of Canada,” by W. A. Parks, in which technical 
questions are prominent; and numerous papers on 
applied mineralogy appear in the ‘‘Summary Report” 
for the year 1911, including an account (p. 103) of the 
use of magnetic observations in tracing pyrrhotine. 
Pyrrhotine in Canada, .of course, to the miner implies 
pentlandite and nickel. 
L. M. Lambe, of the Geological Survey of Canada, 
has reviewed the past vertebrate life of Canada 
(Trans. R. Soc. Canada, vol. v., 1911, ser. 3, Pp. 3). 
Due prominence is given to the deinosaurs of the 
Judith River beds. 
O. P. Hay, in a paper on the recognition of Pleis- 
tocene faunas (Smithsonian Miscell. Collections, 
vol. lix., No. 20, 1912), shows, in a series of maps, 
the distribution of a number of mammals in North 
America since the Pliocene period. The limit set by 
the fluctuating’ ice-margin in the north is clearly 
seen; but the author regards temperature-changes as 
of far less importance in promoting changes in the 
fauna than the mere element of time, whereby one 
type of mammalian fauna disappeared before another, 
which was itself already doomed to disappear. We 
presume that the doom thus referred to implies some 
cause other than the mere decay of specific energy 
during time; but this question trenches on physiology. 
The work of the United States Geological Survey, 
equally with that of Canada, maintains a broad out- 
look, from topography to mineral research. The suc- 
cession of severe earthquakes that occurred in the 
central Mississippi Valley in 1811-12, when the region 
was thinly populated, has been investigated by M. L. 
Fuller (Bull. 494, 1912). The possibilities of recur- 
rence are considered (p. 110). Interesting surface- 
features due_to the sudden extrusion of sand from 
fissures still indicate the earthquake-area, and a large 
region of sunken land is marked by stumps of trees 
ae in water, as was noted by Lyell in 1846 
(p.. 70). } ) 
The second edition of F. W. Clarke’s ‘‘ Data of Geo- 
chemistry’ (Bull. 491, 1911) now takes the place of 
the copies of this manual that have been used with 
such advantage in scientific libraries. Its 731 pages 
form a summary of the chemistry of the earth, with 
abundant references to sources of information. The 
origins of minerals and rocks are steadily borne in 
mind, and the results of the evolution of gases from 
the earth, of processes of subaérial weathering, and 
of the multiplication of marine organisms in the 
ocean, are alike brought under review. The work, 
indeed, is for the general geologist quite as much as 
for the specialist in petrology. The passages on 
aragonite and calcite, on laterite, and on dolomitic 
limestone may serve as good examples. Nearly a 
hundred pages, moreover, are devoted to the origins 
of metallic ores. 
