GEOLOGICAL AREAS OF CANADA. Ill 



Although regarded in the present outline as forming a single geo- 

 logical district, characterized as above, this northern portion of the 

 Province may be provisionally subdivided, for descriptive purposes, 

 *nto twelve subordinate areas. These follow each other, roughly, 

 from west to east in the following order: — 1. The Annapolis and 

 North Mountains area, mostly Triassic and Trappean ; 2. The New- 

 port and Truro area, essentially Lower Carboniferous and Triassic ; 

 3. The Cobequid Mountains area, essentially syenitic and slaty ; 4. 

 The Cumberland area, Middle Carboniferous (coal-bearing) • 5. The 

 Pictou area, Middle Carboniferous (coal-beariiig) ; 6. The Egerton, 

 Arisaig, and Porcupine Mountains area, essentially syenitic and slaty; 

 7. The Antigonish area, essentially Lower Carboniferous; 8. The 

 •Guysboro' area, Lower Carboniferous ; 9. The Southern area of Cape 

 Breton, essentially syenitic and slaty ; 10. The Western Cape Breton 

 area, mostly Lower Carboniferous, with some overlying coal-bearing 

 beds ; 11. The Sydney Cape Breton area, Middle. Carboniferous (coal- 

 bearing) ; 12. The Northern area of Cape Breton, syenitic and slaty. 



1. TJie Annai)olis and North Mountains Area. — This division ex- 

 tends along the south shore of the Bay of Fundy. It includes the 

 Noi'th Mountains and the valleys of the Cornwallis and Annapolis 

 Rivers, and is limited inland by the granitic slopes of the South 

 Mountains. The strata which rest against the latter, consist essen- 

 tially of altered and partially-altered slates of Upper Silurian or De- 

 vonian age. They dip away from the granite mass, and they are 

 traversed generally by transverse cleavage-lines. Towards the north, 

 sis in Kentville and New Canaan, they are but little altered, and 

 numerous crinoid stems and other apparently Upper Silurian fossils 

 -occur in their beds at these sites. A thick bed of granular iron ore 

 on the River Nictau, farther south, also contains fossils. A few 

 miles south of this stream, the continuity of the strata is interrupted 

 by a granite spur, but beyond this, the slates reappear, although in 

 i\ more altered condition, and extend broadly to the sea-coast, south of 

 St. Mary's Bay. North of this granite spur, or along the valleys of 

 the Annapolis and Cornwallis, the slates are bordered by a narrow 

 strip of red sandstone country, apparently Triassic. The sandstone 

 is mostly in the form of thin and slightly-inclined layers. These 

 rest in places on highly -inclined strata of the Carboniferous series, 

 but the latter are of quite subordinate occurrence in this area. Im- 

 mediately west of the Triassic country, a broad belt of columnar and 



