FOSSILIFEROUS LOCALITIES—SOUTH SHORE. 361 
Patoot.—In that portion of the coast known as Patoot the profile of 
the escarpment is very strongly concave, beginning in the upper part 
by lofty cliffs of horizontally bedded Tertiary basalts and tuffs about 
8,000 feet in thickness and ending in a long gentle talus slope to sea- 
level. The contour of the igneous cap is but slightly affected by the 
abruptly heading, steeply V-shaped ravines (whence the name Patoot) 
in the clastic series below. This region is exceptionally favorable for 
the observation and study of the “burned shale” mentioned under the 
preceding locality. As noted by Steenstrup,* these shales are here oc- 
casionally a creamy white,as though leached. Frequently the red areas 
occur near the lower talus slope, but they rarely attain the Tertiary 
basalt above. Dikes occur here and there, but it is not often that the 
red shales are in proximity to either a dike or outflow. 
The sedimentary series at Patoot does not appear to differ, save by 
the greater number of “burnt” masses, from that described at other 
places; nor is there any notable lithological or stratigraphical difference 
in the composition of that portion of the series exposed below 500 feet 
above tide (Atane series as differentiated paleobotanically by Heer) and 
the succeeding beds (Patoot series of Heer), except near the top be- 
neath the Tertiary basalt, where, at 2,600 feet above tide, there is fre- 
quently a sandstone series about 300 feet in thickness. This sandstone 
may, however, be of Tertiary age. 
The plant and invertebrate bearing beds below 470 feet above tide were 
included by Heer in the Atane series.t Since the fossils found above 
500 feet above tide were regarded by him as indicative of a later age in 
the Cretaceous than the Atane (Cenomanian), he established for them a 
new series, tle Patoot series, of which the rocks here exposed constitute 
the type section. The flora, embracing 116 species, is correlated with 
the Senonian of Hurope. Hlevation above tide is not, however, a reli- 
able criterion for distinguishing the two series. In one of the easterly 
ravines the strata are exposed unusually low (850 feet above tide) and 
dip about 15° to the south. The stream flows over the oblique edges of 
the strata, so that at 750 feet above tide the rocks are 100 to 200 feet 
lower stratigraphically than at the mouth of the ravine. A few frag- 
ments of plants were collected in these low beds, the most abundant 
leaves identified by Dr Knowlton being Platanus heerii, a species which 
occurs at Ujarartorsuak, on the north coast, and which is reported by 
Heer as found only in the Atane series. 
In another ravine, farther west, the coastward dip is perhaps equally 
strong. On ascending a steep spur at this point we found fragments of 
* Meddelelser, v, 1893, p. 65. Heer: Fl. Foss. Arct., vii, pp. 164, 169, 242, 243, 
7 Fl. Foss. Arct., vii, p. 164. 
