TRIASSIC. 535 



Concerning the scanty paleontologic evidence of the age of the Teton forma- 

 tion Stanton ^"^^ says: 



The Teton formation, of supposed Triassic age, yielded a few specimens of a Lingula at a 

 locality on the summit of Quadrant Peak. This fossil resembles Lingula hrevirostris M. and 

 H., from the Jurassic of the Black Hills, but in the absence of other fossils it should be given 

 little weight ia determining the age of the beds. Linguloid shells are so sUghtly differentiated 

 that it would not be safe to distinguish, by them alone, even between Paleozoic and Mesozoic. 

 The determination of the age of this formation must, for the present at least, rest on the evi- 

 dence of stratigraphy and lithology. The paleontologist can only say that the underlying 

 beds yield Carboniferous fossils, while the overlying formation has a well-developed Jurassic 

 fauna. 



L 20. NOVA SCOTIA. 



The Triassic of Nova Scotia comprises the rocks which have long been known by 

 the descriptive term "New Red sandstone" and which belong to what is now called 

 the Newark group. According to Dawson,^^ the terrane consists " principally of 

 coarse and soft red sandstones with a calcareous cement. * * * Jn the lower 

 part of the formation there are conglomerates made up of well-worn pebbles of the 

 harder and older rocks." The Triassic strata lie with gentle dip, in marked uncon- 

 formity to the subjacent steeply dipping Carboniferous rocks. They are asso- 

 ciated with sheets of trap rock, in part massive, in part amygdaloidal or tuffaceous. 

 Describing the characteristic relations as they are exposed at Cape Blomidon, 

 Dawson ^"^^^ says: 



The history of this fine precipice is, then, shortly as follows. In the Triassic era, thick 

 beds of sandstone were deposited off the coasts of Horton, just as the red mud and sand of the 

 flats are now deposited. Volcanic phenomena on a great scale, however, broke forth from 

 beneath the waters, scoriae and dust were thrown out and spread around in thick beds, and 

 currents of lava were poured forth. Subsequently the whole mass was elevated, to be again 

 submerged under the bowlder-bearing sea, by which and the present atmospheric and aqueous 

 agencies it was worn and wasted into its present form. 



Dawson's account of the general relations of the Triassic of the Bay of 

 Fundy^'^^'' is as follows: 



The red sandstones now described appear to have been deposited in an arm of the sea, 

 somewhat resembling in its general form the southern part of the present Bay of Fundy but 

 rather longer and wider. This ancient bay was bounded by disturbed Carboniferous and 

 Silurian strata, and the detritus which it received was probably chiefly derived from the softer 

 strata of the Carboniferous system. The arenaceous nature of the New Red sandstone, as 

 compared with the character of these older deposits, indicates that the ancient bay must have 

 been traVersed by currents, probably tidal hke those of the modem bay, which washed away 

 the argillaceous matter so as to prevent the accumulation of muddy sediment. Wlien we 

 consider the large amount of land in the vicinity of the waters in which the New Red sandstone 

 was deposited, the deficiency of organic remains in its beds is somewhat surprising, though this 

 is perhaps to be attributed rather to the materials of the deposit and its mode of accumulation 

 than to any deficiency of vegetable or animal life at the period m question. 



The volcanic action which manifested itself in the bed and on the margin of the bay of 

 the New Red sandstone is one of the most remarkable features of the period. It has brought 

 to the surface great quantities of melted rock, without disturbing or altering the soft arenaceous 

 beds through which it has been poured and whose surface it has overflowed. 



