14 
There is no evidence that glaciers worked on the highest parts of 
the Shickshock mountains, for their surfaces consist of loose blocks of the 
underlying rock, seldom showing any displacement; and no striated sur- 
faces or boulder clay have been found above 2,500 feet. 
There are, however, small cirques, commonly enclosing one or more 
lakes, at several places on the north side of the mountains at about the 
2,500-foot level, showing that cliff glaciers must have been active for a long 
time. This 'work was done probably after the more general ice action 
mentioned above. 
In general it may be said that the effects of local glaciation in Gaspe 
are not strongly marked and may easily be overlooked. Bell and Chalmers 
emphasize the frequent occurrence of residual soils where the rock has 
weathered in place, and most of the surface of Gaspe above the level of 
marine deposits is of that character. Boulder clay is rarely found, and 
then only in valleys, and it is mainly the scattered stones derived from 
the mountains that prove that ice once covered the lower ground. The 
residual soils and the V-shaped, zigzag river valleys are proofs that the 
region was in general only lightly touched by ice. 
Raised Beaches 
Marine terraces occur all around the shores of Gaspe and attracted 
the attention of the older geologists, especially of Bell and Chalmers, so 
that many details are on record regarding them. The first definite men- 
tion appears to have been by Bell in 1863, when he states that several 
species of marine shells are found 8 miles up Metis river at 245 feet above 
sea-level 1 . Chalmers refers to them at many places, and more recently 
Goldthwait discusses them, making special mention of the Micmac beach 
found at 20 feet above sea-level on the north side of the peninsula 2 . ( th ai- 
mers and Goldthwait agree that the beaches rise higher from east to west 
and also that the north side of Gaspe has been elevated more than the south 
side. Fairchild, who visited the south side, arranges the isobasic lines of 
his map in such a way as to imply no great difference in the elevation of 
the two sides 3 . He usually makes the upper level of marine action con- 
siderably higher than it is made by former writers on the subject. His 
account puts the highest marine level near Gaspe basin on the east at 
240 feet, and the highest toward the west end at 581 feet, near Sayabec; 
but the highest beach mentioned by Chalmers, at Ste. Flavie, northwest 
of Sayabec, reaches only 345 feet. 
The writer made many aneroid readings at points all around the 
shores, with the result that the evidence of greater elevation toward the 
west was confirmed, the highest probable beach, south of Ste. Flavie, 
being at 434 feet. It is probable that wave action was very slight when 
the sea first penetrated along the shore at the close of the Ice Age, since 
the centre of the depression of the St. Lawrence must have been still filled 
with ice. Probably Fairchild's reliance on small deltas formed by streams 
coming into quiet water is justified as determining the initial marine stages. 
When the ice had disappeared from the St. Lawrence basin the splendid 
beaches found at lower levels would be formed. 
1 Can. Nat. and Geol., vol. VIII, 1st ser., p. 180. 
2 Twelfth Inter. Geol. Cong., Guide Book No. 1, pt. I, pp. 81 and 120. 
3 “Post-glacial Uplift of Northwestern America,” Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 29, 1918, 
p. 217. 
