NEAR WOLFVILLE, N. S. CHURCHILL 139 



at the present day. This would give these streams a high grade 

 and they could cut a gorge, both large and deep, through or 

 into the loose drift and even into the soft bed-rock that lies 

 below; but bed-rock has been reached by one stream only and 

 that in one place. 



That these brooks have cut into but not through the drift, 

 seems quite evident. The absence of boulder-clay in these 

 valleys I think can be accounted for by the fact that it is easily 

 washed away from the surface. The larger material, such as 

 boulders, remained as the stream was unable to remove them. 



The melting of the ice must have supplied vast quantities of 

 water, and the streams, as I before have stated, must have been 

 larger than they are today. 



Immediately after the retreat of the ice, the land stood high 

 relatively to sea-level; but subsidence had already begun, and 

 as the waters of the sea advanced upon the land these streams 

 had their grades lessened until finally deposition began and the 

 lower end of their valleys were drowned. Probably deposition 

 continued until the tops of these deltas stood a little above the 

 level of the receiving body of water which was the sea or rather 

 the craters of Minas Basin. 



The strong tides forcing their way up these small valleys 

 seem even to have aided rather than hindered deposition, as we 

 witness today in the growing deltas of the Gaspereau and 

 Cornwallis rivers. 



Following this submergence, a period of uplift in the land set 

 in. This continued until these small deltas now stand well 

 above sea-level. 



As the railroad between Wolfville and Grand Pre stations is 

 level and crosses the mouth of these brooks, I have chosen it as 

 a datum place to show the difference in relative level between 

 land and sea, since these deltas were laid down. 



Where the railroad passes these brooks, it is 28 feet above sea 

 level, and the base of both of these deltas is about six feet above 

 it. The height of one delta above its valley floor is 11 feet, 

 the other 26 feet. This makes the top of one delta 28 feet and 

 the other 32 feet above the railroad, and 56 feet and 60 feet 

 respectively above sea-level. As they both have experienced 

 sub-aerial denudation, 65 feet would be a more correct estimate; 

 and we must also remember that they may have stood a little 

 above water-level. 



