15 



and plutonic rocks. But along the eastern half of the 

 southern border of the Carboniferous area, the Carboni- 

 ferous rocks abut against and extend into an area domin- 

 antly occupied by Pre-Cambrian rocks with which are 

 associated Cambrian and perhaps younger Palseozhic 

 sediments. This complex forms another of the north- 

 easterly extending zones which so characterize the general 

 region. This area, essentially underlain by Pre-Cambrian 

 rocks, borders the Bay of Fundy coast which apparently 

 truncates the Pre-Cambrian area. In places, along the 

 Bay of Fundy coast, the Pre-Cambrian zone is fringed 

 with Carboniferous strata and it may be that the Bay of 

 Fundy trough has been developed chiefly in Carboniferous 

 and younger measures. 



The province of Nova Scotia lies southeast of New 

 Brunswick and is almost completely severed from it by the 

 Bay of Fundy. The peninsula of Nova Scotia, including 

 the mainland and the continuing area of Cape Breton 

 Island to the northeast, has a length, along a nearly due 

 northeast course, of about 360 miles (580 km.) and an 

 average breadth of about 60 miles (95 km.). In this 

 province the main geological structures are less broadly 

 and more irregularly developed than in the region to the 

 northwest and therefore may not be so readily outlined 

 in generalized terms. 



The southwestern portion of the peninsula of Nova 

 Scotia is almost entirely occupied by a broadly folded 

 sedimentary series of late Pre-Cambrian age penetrated 

 by large batholiths of granite of Devonian age. These 

 rocks extend to the northeast with a gradually diminishing 

 width, and outcrop along the whole length — 270 miles 

 (435 km.) — of the Atlantic coast of the Nova Scotian 

 peninsula. In the southwest these measures are bordered 

 on the northwest foi a distance of about 120 miles (190 km.) 

 by small detached areas of late Silurian and early Devonian 

 strata which in their turn are bordered by a narrow strip 

 of Triassic strata forming the Bay of Fundy shore. To 

 the northeast, however, the Pre-Cambrian sediments and 

 their intrusive granites are bordered by Carboniferous 

 strata which, encircling large and small areas of older 

 Palaeozoic sediments and igneous rocks, extend westward 

 to join the Carboniferous area of New Brunswick. The 

 island of Cape Breton, to the northeast, is in the main 

 underlain by ancient Pre-Cambrian strata occupying 



