MARITIME APPALACHIANS 



193 



Cambrian System 



Alcock (1947) reports that Cambrian rocks are found in southeastern 

 Quebec, in Gaspe Peninsula, in southern New Brunswick, and in Cape 

 Breton Island, Nova Scotia. In southeastern Quebec most of the rocks of 

 this age are metamorphosed to a greater or less degree, and some are 

 highly schistose. In the Oak Hill region near the Vermont border a series 

 of Lower Cambrian strata 3000 to 4000 feet thick consist of slate, quartz- 

 ite, dolomite, graywacke, and sericite schist. Rocks presumably of Cam- 

 brian age of the Thetford-Beauceville region, known as the Caldwell 

 group, consist of nearly pure quartzites, slates, and pillow lavas of basaltic 

 composition. A Cambrian seaway and trough of deposition probably 

 extended from the Lake Champlain region to Quebec City and hence to 

 Gaspe where some hard, gray limestone and ribboned, shaly limestone 

 of late Cambrian age occur. 



At St. John, southern New Brunswick, strata from Lower Cambrian to 

 Lower Ordovician crop out, and these are known collectively as the St. 

 John group. It consists of quartzites, limestones, and black shales. Similar 

 beds occur on Cape Breton Island. They range in age from Lower to 

 Upper Cambrian and consist of gray and black shales and slates with 

 some quartzite and conglomerate, red sandstone and red and gray argillite 

 carrying hematite, and greenish gray and reddish gray argillites. 



Ordovician System 

 According to Alcock (1947): 



In the Appalachian belt of Quebec, strata of Lower, Middle, and Upper 

 ! Ordovician age are known, but in most places fossils are not sufficiently well 

 preserved to permit an exact age determination. In the long belt from the Ver- 

 mont border to the east end of Gaspe the deformed Ordovician strata were 

 formerly referred to as the "Quebec group." This term had first been applied 

 by Logan in 1860 to beds at Quebec City that had been thrust against and 

 over the younger strata of Middle Ordovician age. Later the term became a con- 

 venient one to include all those early rocks whose exact age was unknown. 



In Nova Scotia, Ordovician rocks are known to occur in the Pictou-Antigonish 

 upland. They comprise metamorphosed sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive 

 varieties. The Browns Mountain group, consisting of argillites, slates and gray- 

 wacke, is regarded on the evidence of a few fossil linguloids, as of Lower Ordo- 

 vician age. Locally associated with the sediments are interbedded volcanic flows 



Era 



Period 



Epoch 



Nova Scotia 



New Brunswick 



Quebec 



Mesozoic 



Triassic 





Annapolis 



Ouaco; Lepreau 







Permian 













Carboniferous 



Pennsylvania 



Pictou; Morien; 



Stellarton 

 Cumberland 

 Riversdale 



Clifton \ 



Lancaster f 



>Petit- 

 i codiac 



Mispek 



Bon a venture 





Mississipian 



Canso 







Windsor 

 Horton 



Hopewell 

 Windsor 



Moncton 



Albert 



Memramcook 





Paleozoic 



Devonian 



Upper Devonian 





Perry 



Escuminac 

 Fleurant 

 Pirate Cove 





Middle Devonian 





Gaspe 



Gaspe; Malbaie; 



Heppel 





Lower Devonian 



McAdom Lake; Tor- 

 brook; Knoydart 



Dalhousie 



Grand Greve 

 Bon Ami 



St. Albans; Dalhousie; 

 Lake Aylmer 





Silurian 





Arisaig; Kentville 



Chaleur Bay; Mas- 

 carene 



Chaleur Bay 





Ordovician 



Upper Ordovician 





Matapedia 



Matapedia; Paboi; 

 White Head 





Middle Ordovician 



Malignant Cove; 

 Stewart Brook 



Browns Mountain 

 Boisdale 



Tetagouche 



Pohenagamooke; 

 Mictaw; Quebec 

 City; Beaucevitle; 

 Farnham; St. Fran- 

 cis 





Lower Ordovician 



Saint John 



Levis 

 Sillery 





Cambrian 





Murphy Creek; Cald- 

 well; Sutton; L'Met 



ProTerozolc 







Meguma (Gold- 

 bearing) 



Coldbrook 



Macquereau; Tibbit 

 Hill 



Archean 







George River 



Green Head 





Fig. 12.3. Correlation chart of the principal formations of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and 

 Quebec. Reproduced from Alcock, 1947. 



and tuffs, and cutting them is a stock of granite and dvkes and stocks of rh\ o- 

 lite and quartz porphyry. In the Arisaig region, strata of this group are overlain 

 by coarse conglomerate, and grit of the Malignant Cove formation, which is 

 believed to be of Middle Ordovician age. In the Pictou region purplish red. ar- 

 kosic conglomerate, purplish gray, arkosic grit, and purplish red argillite form 

 what is known as the Stewart Brook formation, which is probably correlative 

 with the Malignant Cove. 



In New Brunswick, rocks of Middle Ordovician age occur near Bathurst. 

 Stretching to the southwest is a wide belt of sedimentary rocks, with, in places, 



