106 J. E. WOODMAN PROBABLE AGE OF THE MEGUMA SERIES 



They are elliptical in outline, 2.5 to 5 inches long and 1.5 to 2.5 inches 

 wide. Two have a slightly raised center. No structures are visible, and 

 the forms are not such as have been described before, although in some 

 ways similar to the mold of "Astropolithon." They may be concretionary, 

 but the exposed surface is different from that found in weathered concre- 

 tions elsewhere. They have no value as evidence at present, even though 

 their appearance is more organic than that of most of the "fossils" from 

 the series, and they and the concretions of Gays river are described in 

 some detail, chiefly from the belief that nothing which may yield evidence 

 should go unrecorded. 



LITEOLOGICAL RESEMBLANCES AND BEDDED VEINS 



Most of the lithological resemblances mentioned in literature have been 

 noted already in this paper. In no case, according to the present ideas 

 regarding correlation, can these likenesses be regarded as important at 

 such geographical distances as have been spanned in the comparisons. 

 The presence of stratified veins belongs to the same category of insuffi- 

 cient evidence. They occur to some extent in many parts of the world, 

 in rocks varying in their age and physical characters, and their presence 

 can no more be held to indicate the age of the country rock than can the 

 presence of the red color in sandstones in other regions be employed as an 

 index to the age of the formations. 



Beyond these two classes of criteria — fossils and lithological resem- 

 blances — few writers have ventured in their search for the age of the 

 Meguma series. But there are other data available, and it is believed by 

 the author that they are more valid and important. ■ These are chiefly 

 (1) unconformities and the composition of younger rocks, (2) structure, 

 and (3) accompanying igneous rocks. 



UNCONFORMITIES 



Unconformities which might be available for study are made by the 

 contacts of the Meguma with various parts of the Carboniferous and with 

 the Middle Devonian in the eastern part of the province, and in the Bear 

 Eiver basin of the west contacts of what has been called heretofore in 

 literature Siluro-Devonian with a formation regarded by Bailey (1898) 

 as part of the gold-bearing series. In the region between Torbrook on 

 the west and the Avon river on the east are isolated areas at present 

 considered by Messrs Fletcher and Faribault, of the Geological Survey 

 of Canada, to belong chiefly to the Halifax formation, surrounded by 

 strata of Silurian age. The contacts in this field have not yet been 

 studied in sufficient detail to yield good evidence on the point in question. 

 In the Bear Eiver basin the lower rocks have not been proved to belong 



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