372 



volcanic flows and ejectementa older than the Etcheminian 

 but still of Palaeozoic age. 



Dr. C. D. Walcott has presented arguments to show 

 that the lowest division of the St. John group, the Acadian, 

 is of Middle Cambrian age and belongs to the horizon of 

 the Paradoxides fauna. By the same authority the 

 Etcheminian is regarded as a phase of the Lower Cambrian. 

 The variations in thickness of the Etcheminian from place 

 to place are believed to be due to the presence of inequali- 

 ties in the original floor of the Cambrian basin whereby in 

 some places a thousand feet of Etcheminian strata were 

 deposited, in others only a hundred feet or less, while in 

 others the Middle Cambrian rests directly on the Pre- 

 Cambrian. Evidence is given to show that the uncon- 

 formities which in some places appear to exist between the 

 Acadian and Etcheminian are, in some instances at least, 

 due to faulting and minor movements attendant on the 

 deformation of the Cambrian basin as a whole. The Cold- 

 brookian is classed with the Pre-Cambrain as had been 

 done by earlier writers. 



The fine muds and sands of the St. John group and the 

 coarser detrital material of the basal formation, the Etche- 

 minian, were laid down in a sea having a very uneven 

 bottom and which apparently existed continuously through- 

 out the greater part of Cambrian time and on into the open- 

 ing epochs of Ordovician time. It is assumed that this sea 

 withdrew temporarily at least, during the Ordovician 

 period. Elsewhere in the Maritime Provinces, marine 

 Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous measures are 

 extensively developed but these if ever present in the 

 immediate vicinity of St. John, were removed by erosion 

 before mid-Carboniferous time and the Cambrian beds 

 were faulted and closely folded along axial lines pursuing a 

 general northeasterly course. 



The Bloomsbiiry, Dadoxylon and Cordaite formations 

 as developed in the neighborhood of St. John, succeed the 

 Cambrian measures on the south and in places at least, 

 are brought against them by faulting. The Dadoxylon and 

 Cordaite formations together compose the Little River 

 group (*) 



On the eastern shores of Courtenay bay, these measures, 

 including a band of igneous rocks, are developed on the 



(*) On the map of St. John and vicinity, t e Bloomsbury division has been included 

 under the term, Little River group. 



