188 



The coal-measures usually lie in long parallel troughs or in cir- 

 cular basins, towards the bottoms of which troughs or basins the 

 strata dip in opposite directions. The prevailing strike of the strata 

 is from south-west to north-east, which is also that of the more an- 

 cient slate rocks of Nova Scotia. The dip of the coal-measures varies 

 from 5° to 45°. Throughout the whole of the coast-line, from 

 Pomket Harbour to Point Miscou, the coal-measures undergo scarcely 

 any fault or dislocation. 



From Pictou Harbour, in Northumberland Strait, a belt of coal- 

 measures, about six miles broad, runs in a westerly direction across 

 the isthmus, passing between the southern flank of the Cobequial 

 mountains and the southern coast of the isthmus, along the Basin of 

 Mines, and thence running further westward to Advocate Harbour. 

 The length of this belt is about 100 miles : the strata which compose 

 it rest along the northern margin of the great part of the belt, on 

 the fossiliferous slates of the Cobequial mountain ; it is along its 

 southern margin, that at Moose River and Advocate Harbour, the 

 coal strata rest unconformably on old red sandstone. At Moose 

 River the coal-measures contain a thin bed of marine limestone-, 

 and like the old red sandstone which they rest upon, thin beds 

 of gyi)sum. The coal-measures lap round the eastern extremity, 

 and pass along the northern flank of the fossiliferous slates of 

 the Cobequial range ; whence they pass nearly due west to Apple 

 River on Chignecto Bay. All the isthmus north of this line consists 

 of coal-measures. 



The Nova Scotian or south-eastern coast of Chignecto Bay runs 

 nearly at right angles to the direction of the cOal strata, and presents 

 an admirable section of them nearly thirty-five miles in length. Along 

 this length of coast the strata lie in a trough, the base or synclinal 

 point of which is Little Shoolie ; and from this point, as you recede 

 further in a north-eastern direction, the strata rise to the north and 

 north-north-west, with an increasing dip. At the Joggins, twelve 

 miles north-east of Little Shoolie, where the blue sandstone is ex- 

 tensively worked for grindstones, the dip is from 25° to 35°. In the 

 opjiosite direction, as you recede from the base of the trough, the 

 strata rise towards the south, until on approaching the intrusive 

 rocks of Cape Chignecto the inclination is 45°. 



In making a careful examination of the entire of this coast of 

 thirty-five miles, only one fault was observed, and that occasioned 

 a dislocation of only a few feet. By measuring the horizontal di- 

 stances between the strata and making allowance for their inclination 

 at a number of places, the author estimated the total thickness of 

 the coal-measures on this coast at not less than three miles. 



The chief part of the workable seams of coal is probably exposed 

 on the Chignecto shore, and it is near the middle of the section that 

 most coal-seams are seen. At the South Joggins, in the above coast- 

 section, in the horizontal distance of three quarters of a mile and in 

 a thickness of strata amounting to 1800 feet, nineteen seams of coal 

 are seen, from six inches to four feet thick. Outcrops of coal have 

 been observed to the south-west of the Joggins, on the Apple River» 



