1845.] ■ 505 ■ 



East River of Pictou, a series of beds, estimated by Mr. Logan at 

 5000 feet in thickness, and constituting our older coal formation, 

 are succeeded, in ascending order, by a great bed of coarse con- 

 glomerate, which, as it marks a violent interruption of the pro- 

 cesses which had accumulated the great beds of coal, shale, and 

 ii'onstone beneath, and as it is succeeded by rocks of a character 

 very different from that of these older coal measures, forms a well- 

 marked boundary, which we may consider as the commencement 

 of the newer coal formation. 



This conglomerate appears in the East River section, at New 

 Glasgow, where it dips to the north. From this place its outcrop, 

 rising above the neighbouring softer rocks, may be traced, in a 

 western direction, as far as the West river, nine miles distant, and 

 eastward for a few miles, when it either disappears beneath the 

 surface, or passes into red sandstones, which appear in the same 

 direction, as far as Merigomish Harbour, six miles distant. 



On the East River the conglomerate is accompanied and over- 

 laid by soft reddish sandstones. Northward of New Glasgow, 

 howevei', the banks of the river are covered with detritus, and the 

 only rocks which appear are grey sandstones and grey and reddish 

 shales, which are seen in a few places. In one part of the section 

 numerous fragments of black shale, with coprolites and scales of 

 ganoid fishes, appear to indicate the presence, in this series, of a 

 bed of that description. Wherever the dips of the rocks, on this 

 section, can be ascertained they are northerly, but usually at a very 

 small angle. 



Eastward of the Ewer section, and in geological position pro- 

 bably a few hundred feet above the conglomerate, there is a bed of 

 grey limestone, twelve feet or more in thickness, containing a few 

 minute univalves, and having in one part of its thickness a pecu- 

 liar laminated and concretionary structure. Above this limestone, 

 and separated from it only by a few inches of underclay, is a small 

 bed of coal. The outcrop of these beds can be traced across the 

 country, parallel with that of the conglomerate, as far as Merigo- 

 mish Harbour, where they are seen dipping to the north at an angle 

 of about 25°, and are accompanied by reddish and grey sandstones 

 and shales. The latter rocks form a series of at least 2000 feet in 

 thickness, portions of which appear at various places on the shores 

 of Merigomish and Little Harbours. Red sandstones prevail in 

 the lower part of this series, but in its upper portion there are 

 thick beds of grey sandstones, accompanied by grey shales ; and, 

 in one place, by a bed of coal 1 1 inches thick, with an underclay. 

 They also include a thin bed of dark grey limestone, in concre- 

 tionary balls, separated by clay. Near Merigomish, these beds dip 

 to the north at an angle of about 20°, but further westward the 

 dip becomes very small, and they spread over a greater surface, so 

 as to occupy the shore nearly as far as the entrance of Pictou Har- 

 bour. In the grey sandstones on this shore, coniferous wood, fos- 

 silized by carbonate of lime, is very abundant; and Calamites, Endo- 



