512 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XV, October 1961 
tion of the east coast of Vancouver I. from 
Hardy Bay southward almost to Johnstone Strait 
is Cretaceous (chiefly Upper Cretaceous), with 
shales and sandstones. 
The rocks are heavily glaciated throughout 
almost the whole coastal area. The Queen Char- 
lotte Strait area was heavily glaciated during the 
Pleistocene, which fact is particularly evident in 
the vicinity of Deer I., where northwestern 
slopes are comparatively rough in contrast to 
the grooved and polished vertical or near ver- 
tical faces on southeastern parts. Well-stratified 
deposits of clays, silts, and sands occur, partic- 
ularly toward the east end of the Strait and along 
the Vancouver I. side. Cormorant I., Harwood 
I., and Malcolm I. are also examples of these 
deposits. In some places cliffs of these deposits 
border the shoreline, with extensive accumula- 
tions of boulders at the base. In such regions 
the boulders, which occur in great abundance 
along the beaches, are probably erratics derived 
from morainic material. 
Although the detailed geology of Queen Char- 
lotte Strait region is not well known supratidally, 
it is even less well known subtidally. The gen- 
eral features described, however, indicate the 
wide variety of substrata available for the at- 
tachment of benthonic organisms, particularly 
in the intertidal and shallower subtidal zones. 
This variety in the physical nature of the sub- 
TEMPERATURE (°C) 
10 10 iO 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 
FIG. 22. Temperature profiles at station 21 (1953) near Malcolm Island from bathythermograph traces. 
