H3 



SCAUMENAC BAY.* 



This is the locality of fish-bearing sandstones which are 

 commonly regarded as of upper Devonian age. The beds 

 face the water in layers having a low dip to the east, are 

 bounded and overlain at the east by the red Bonaventure 

 sands (Devono-Carboniferous) and at the west are limited, 

 for this immediate region, by diabase intrusions. The 

 inland extent of the rocks is not fully known but they 

 have been recognized with their fossils 20 miles (36 km.) 

 to the northeast on the Grand Cascapedia river, and there 

 is evidence that there they lie above marine deposits with a 

 lower Middle Devonian fauna. The fish beds are thus, in a 

 broad sense, "Old Red-sandstone." 



The ferry from Dalhousie stops at Maguasha Landing. 

 Maguasha point lies 2 miles (3-6 km.) to the east. Scau- 

 menac bay covers the coast line from Maguasha point to 

 High cape at the west — 3 miles (5 • 4 km.) . Westward from 

 the ferry landing along the shore, are exposures of very 

 interesting and suggestive boulder beds, loosely cemented, 

 interlaminated with sand layers, all lying beneath the 

 fish-bearing strata. These boulders are largely limestone, 

 freely containing fossils which are for the most part of 

 normal marine Lower Devonian age. No fossils of later 

 date than this age have been observed in them. There is 

 no evidence of unconformity between them and the over- 

 lying beds. 



The fish beds stand in high cliffs reaching 100 feet (30m.) 



or more in places and are essentially grey sand-shales and 



sandstones. The fish remains occur in the nodules and 



concretions, and in blocky parts of the shale beds. These 



beds afford the most abundant and some of the best pre- 



rved fish remains of the Devonian, although the genera 



id species are few. Bothriolepis canadensis is the most 



'fuse in specimens and the extraordinary restorations 



Patten are based on material obtained here. Scan- 



menacia curta is not uncommon in almost complete 



;amples in the nodules. Eusthenopteron foordi often 



tains a size of 2-3 feet, and occurs in the shale layers. 



•rcosteus canadensis and Acanthodes concinnus are also 



>ong the commoner species. Other members of this 



^sh fauna are Cephalaspis laticeps, Euphanerops longaevus, 



*See Map, — Scaumenac Bay, Quebec. 

 35063—8 



