HONEYMAX OX XOVA SCOTIAN GEOLOGY. 345 



Art. II. — ISTovA Scotian Geology. Intercolonial Rail- 

 way. By the Rev. D. Honeyman, D. C. L., F. G. S., 



Member of the Geological Society of France^ Hon, Mem. 

 of the Geologists' Association of London, (£*c., Director 

 of the Provincial Museum, 



{Read November 9, 1873.) 



Leaving Truro by the Intercolonial Railway, and proceeding 

 in a northerly direction, at the distance of about half a mile, we 

 see a fine section of an extensive gravel-bank which has done good 

 service in ballasting the line of Railway. This bank is of Post- 

 pliocene formatioji. The material has been largely derived from 

 the rocks of the Cobequid Mountains lying to the north. Before 

 reaching the DeBert Station, we pass over a long level track which 

 shows numerous sections of the same formation, and many beauti- 

 ful sections of the Triassic formation. The latter are seen in the 

 lower parts of the cuttings, and in the openings of the various 

 tunnels cut for the drainage. I would observe that elsew^here we 

 have intervening between the Post-'pliocene and Triassic forma- 

 tions, the Pliocene Miocene^ Eocene, Cretaceous, Wealden, 

 Oolite and Pias ; so that in passing at once from the Post-pliocene 

 to the Triassic, we have an enormous break in succession and 

 unrepresented /a^^se of geological time. At Folly River Bridge 

 we still have the Triassic. The strata are seen in a magnificent 

 section on the eastern side of the River. 



In the second cutting, before reaching Londonderry Station, 

 there is a fine section of coarse cons^lomerate. This is the lowest 

 member of the Triassic series. This conoflomerate was originallv 

 shingle, formed of the debris of pre-existing formations accumu- 

 lated on the shores of the Post-carboniferous Sea. 



After an obscure interval occupied by a filing, we have another 

 cutting of strata of the carboniferous period. If the prevailing 

 opinion is correct, that what is sometimes called the new red sand- 

 stone of Nova Scotia is altogether of Triassic age, we have here 

 another break in succession, the Permian formation being absent. 

 The proof of absence, however, is altogether presumptive, so that it 



