300 GEOLOGY OF A PORTION OF SHELBURNE CO., 



Concerning the character of the granite in the neighborhood 

 of the gold mines in Lunenburg and Halifax counties, where 

 it has been studied the most, ]\Ir. E R. Faribault writes*: 



"The composition and texture of the granite varies much 

 with the locality and mode of occurrence. The rock consists 

 for the most part of a light grej' or reddish grej^ coarse por- 

 phyritic biotite granite, generallj^ studded with large pheno- 

 crysts of white or pink-white feldspar. In the west, a light 

 pearl-grey or pinkish-white fine-grained muscovite granite 

 occupies small areas penetrating the biotite granite as well 

 as the sediments. With the muscovite granite are associated 

 dikes of coarse pegmatite often passing to quartz, and bear- 

 ing a large variety of minerals."' 



The Shelburne granite was observed in outcrops three miles 

 south of the town, just south of the first outcrops of schist 

 on the shore. The granite is porphyritic and includes frag- 

 ments of schist. The schist is micaceous, a feature common 

 to the sediments whenever near a granite contact, and it 

 is cut by aplite veins one to three inches wide. Frequent out- 

 crops of granite are found in railroad cuts southwest of Shelburne 

 and at a quarrj^ near Hart Point. The granite in the railroad 

 cuts is cut by pegmatite dikes, the largest of whi-'^h is three feet 

 wide. Numerous pegmatite dikes are also found in boulders 

 in this vicinity. The pegmatite consists of large pink ortho- 

 clase crystals (4 inches long, 3 inches wide and thick), masses 

 of quartz in smaller quantities than the feldspar, plates of 

 muscovite one inch in diameter, less abundant biotite crys- 

 tals, a white feldspar showing albite twinning (probably 

 oligoclase), garnets one-quarter of an inch in diameter, and 

 occasional masses of tourmaline. One crystal of beryl, one 

 and one half inches in width and length, was found. 



The Shelburne granite is a light grey, fine-grained, mica- 

 ceous granite with biotite generally predominating over 



* International Geological Congress, Guide Book, 1, pt. 1, p. 16S, 1913. 



