350 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Maicll 13, 



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Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



quartzite prevail. Westward of the main 

 stream of the St. Mary's River, clay slate and 

 quartzite with masses of granite are the pre- 

 vailing rocks. 



The surface of this metamorphic belt is 

 rugged and uneven, but not very elevated. 

 The inland side is however somewhat higher 

 than the parts nearer the coast, attaining in 

 some places an elevation of about 600 feet ; 

 it abounds in small lakes and streams, and its 

 coast line is much indented. 



From the upper part of the west branch of 

 the St. Mary's River to the head of Cheda- 

 bucto Bay, the granitic group is bounded on 

 the north by a valley occupied by sandstones, 

 conglomerate, and shale, composed of the de- 

 bris of the hypogene and metamorphic rocks ; 

 and containing a few Calamites and other 

 fossil plants of the carboniferous system. This 

 belt of carboniferous strata, which I explored 

 and marked on the map of the province for 

 the first time in 1845, separates in its whole 

 length the granitic group from that next to 

 be described. (See Section, fig. 2.) 



II. In the second, as in the first metamor- 

 phic group, the prevailing rocks are slate and 

 quartzite ; these are, however, of much more 

 varied characters. The former varies from 

 grey wacke to imperfect micaceous and talcose 

 schists through many intermediate varieties 

 of clay slate, and presents grey, olive, black 

 and reddish colours. The latter is of every 

 variety of texture, and ranges in colour from 

 white to dark grey. These rocks are also 

 more thinly bedded, and present more fre- 

 quent alternations than those of the granitic 

 group ; at some points they are observed to 

 pass into less altered rocks, contauiing organic 

 remains ; and in several locahties they are 

 traversed by metalhferous veins. The igneous 

 rocks which have penetrated the strata of this 

 group are very abundant, and exceedingly 

 varied in their composition and characters. 

 Their prevailing composition is felspatho- 

 homblendic, a character by which they are in 

 general markedly distmguished from those of 

 the granitic group. Syenite, greenstone of 

 many varieties, compact felspar, claystone, 

 and porphyries with bases of the two latter 

 substances, are the most common of these 



