Geology of the Rocky Mountains. — Coleman. 89 
from its flanks consists of a variety of rocks, including lime- 
stones, sometimes containing chert, sometimes oolitic, and at 
times having curious concretionary structures; greenish 
slate; and black shales with white veins of quartz or calcite, 
the latter often satin spar of the fibrous variety- A few fos- 
sils obtained from moraine blocks were examined by Mr. 
Whiteaves, who writes: 
One of the, specimens contains numerous valves of a species of Obo- 
Lella, with fragmentary portions of a trilobite, probably Oleuellus. The 
other contains an imperfect trilobite, possibly Ptychoparia. These 
give me rather the impression of belonging to the Lower Cambrian <>r 
( )lenellus zone. 
Along the Athabasca below the falls and near the mouth of 
the Miette, slates crop out, dipping at one point 45° to the 
southwest, and at another nearly vertically, with an east and 
west strike. These slates and some obscure schistose rocks 
appear to underlie somewhat metamorphosed conglomerates 
with interbedded chloritic layers. In the conglomerate angu- 
lar fragments of slate are sometimes included. Along the 
lower portion of the Miette, which enters the Athabasca from 
the west, nearly vertical beds of somewhat metamorphosed 
conglomerate form the prevailing rocks. 
Ascending Whirlpool river from the Athabasca, the rocks 
for a few miles up are quartzites and conglomerates, both 
showing scales of mica. The mountains have the usual tilt 
for the greater part, though a few present nearly horizontal 
strata. Fifteen or twenty miles up the river the mountains 
show fine examples of folds and the rock changes to limestone 
with Some slate. Near the summit of the pass dark grey 
slates appear, along with shiny, wrinkled sericite schist. On 
Mt. Brow r n the rock observed was chiefly slate with a shim- 
mer of sericite, sonic specimens containing cubes of pyrite. 
At the Committee's Punch-bowl, the summit of Athabasca 
pass, the prevailing rocks, chiefly boulders, are slater and 
quartzitic sandstones. The schistose rocks of this pass air 
evidently of metamorphic origin, modified sediments, by no 
means perfectly crystalline. They resemble somewhat the seri 
cite schists of the Columbia valley, near Surprise rapids and 
lake Kimbasket. They are the only schistose rocks which I 
have observed in the Canadian Rocky mountains. Eruptives 
