18 i» 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY «>!■' CANADA. 



I rypsum and 

 manganese. 



Besides the albertite, this formation contains gypsam and manganese. 



The distribution and mode of occurrence of the former mineral are 

 given in the report of 1876-77. Of manganese, several deposits exist. 

 Of these, that at Markhamville is, so far as known, the most important. 

 It has long been worked with varying success, and mining on it is still in 

 progress. Its position is near the contact of the Lower Carboniferous 

 conglomerates and limestones with the felsites and slates of the pre- 

 Cambrian ridge. At Quaco Head also a small deposit occurs in rocks 

 of the Lower Carboniferous age, preparations for working which are 

 already being made on quite a large scale. On the east side of Salis- 

 bury Bay, in Albert county, there is also a small deposit near the 

 contact of the Lower Carboniferous and Triassic sandstones, and at 

 Hillsdale, about five miles south-west of Elgin corner, large pieces of 

 fine ore are picked up, but the vein has not yet been discovered. Bog 

 manganese also occurs at various points, but no deposits of any 

 particular value have been found. 

 Disturbances During the time that the rocks of Lower Carboniferous age were 

 Carboniferous being deposited, violent disturbances occurred. These appear to have 

 been quite local and to have affected principally the rocks in Albert 

 county, where the lower portion of the formation has been extensively 

 folded and faulted, and in places penetrated by dykes of igneous rocks. 

 The upper members, however, occur in nearly horizontal beds. In the 

 central or Kings county basin the rocks of this formation lie in several 

 folds, but do not give evidence of any extensive disturbance. At Quaco, 

 the Lower Carboniferous limestones have been penetrated by dykes of 

 trap of large size, probably of Triassic age, by which the limestones 

 have been thrown into an anticlinal and changed to a highly crystalline 

 rock. 



Over many parts of the area covered by the rocks of this formation, 

 fossils peculiar to the time are found. Reference has already been made 

 to the fossil fishes of the genus Palceoniscus, which are so plentiful 

 in some portions of the Albert shales. In 1877, among the specimens 

 obtained from this belt, was a new species, which has been described 

 by Principal Dawson under the name of P. modulus, and figured in the 

 appendix to the Acadian Geology. Beautiful specimens also occur in 

 some of the nodules from the shales, one of which, in nearly perfect 

 condition, measured 10 inches in length and 3J inches in breadth, the 

 breadth at the dorsal fin being about equal to that at the shoulder, and 

 diminishing rapidly to the tail. In this specimen ths crystalline, lens 

 of the eye is preserved in calcite, and shows its structure. This is 

 especially interesting, as being the first instance known of the 

 preservation of the eye of a palaeozoic fish. 



Among the limestones also, which constitute a considerable portion 



Fossils 



