W. H. Twenhofel — Physiography of Newfoundland. 17 



arm receives its tributary, a remnant of a dismembered river 

 system. At Bonne Bay and the Bay of Islands the mountains 

 tower over the water with elevations of 2000 feet a mile from 

 the shore, and cliffs rise from the water's edge to nearly a 

 thousand feet, while in the bays the slope descends precipi- 

 tously from a shallow shelf, where ships may anchor, to depths 

 greater than 700 feet.* The other bays do not have such 

 high margins, though almost equally precipitous, nor do they 

 descend so deep ; but depths of 500 feet are not exceptional. 



Low islands. — Attention has been called to the numerous 

 low islands on that portion of the coast extending from Belle 

 Isle Strait to Port au Choix. JSTorth of St. Barbe Bay these are 

 quite low, many barely rising above the surface of the water, 

 yet with relatively deep water on their inland sides. South 

 from St. Barbe Bay the islands are a little higher and the coast 

 line of the north, if projected south, would rest on the surface of 

 the outer islands and again touch the mainland at Point Rich, 

 the outer extremity of the Port au Choix peninsula. The fore- 

 land almost ceases to exist on this portion of the coast, but in 

 its place appear numerous islands with passages between them 

 and the mainland of sufficient depth to float large steamers. 

 The islands are thought to represent the submerged foreland. 

 Between the Bay of Islands and Port au Port the general 

 line of the coast is continued by the submerged Long Ledge 

 and Long Point and the outer margin of the peninsula. The 

 enclosed waters are, in general, quite shallow. An exception 

 is a long narrow trough of 20 fathoms depth that very closely 

 follows the main shore. This bay with its low islands and sub- 

 merged ledges is also thought to be a part of the submerged 

 foreland. 



Submerged folds off the Avalon peninsula. — That the east 

 side of Newfoundland is in a drowned condition appears 

 equally certain. Nearly every river in its lower course enters 

 in a deep bay and the headlands rise precipitously from the 

 water's edge. The parallelism of the peninsulas and bays on 

 this portion of the coast is one of its remarkable features ; but 

 equally striking is the submerged topography immediate to the 

 shore with peninsulas essentially similar to those above the 

 water and bays little different from those of the present coast. 



Effects of Glaciation. 



Along the west coasts erratics are quite common and deposits 

 of till and bowlders exist at several places in considerable thick- 



* A part of this depth, may be due to glacial overdeepening. How much, 

 however, there are no means of determining, but it is to be noted that the 

 water is more shallow at the entrances than in the interior of the bays. The 

 channels, however, could readily have been rilled by the currents that drift 

 along the coast. 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Vol. XXXIII, No. 193.— January, 1912. 



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