CHAPTER  VI. 
EASTERN    TOWNSHIPS    OF    QUEBEC    SOUTHEAST    OF 
ST.  LAWRENCE  RIVER. 
SUMMARY  OF  LITERATURE. 
Murray,1  in  1847,  describes  the  met  amorphic  rocks  of  the  Notre 
Dame  Mountains.  The  more  important  varieties  are  slate  and  trap. 
It  is  not  certain  that  these  rocks  do  not  belong  to  the  fossiliferous 
formation. 
Logan,2  in  1863,  describes  the  Quebec  group  at  length.  Metamor- 
phic  rocks  of  various  kinds  are  mentioned,  but  these  are  all  regarded 
as  belonging  to  the  fossiliferous  series.  In  the  fossiliferous  forma- 
tions east  of  the  Notre  Dame  Mountains  are  veins  and  masses  of 
intrusive  granite. 
Selwyn,3  in  1879,  gives  observations  on  the  stratigraphy  of  the 
Quebec  group.  This  group  is  divided  into  three  distinct  groups  of 
strata :  First,  the  lower  Silurian  group ;  second,  the  volcanic  group, 
probably  lower  Cambrian;  and,  third,  the  Crystalline  schist  group 
(Huronian?).  The  rocks  composing  the  third  group  are  chiefly 
slaty  and  schistose,  embracing  various  schists,  imperfect  gneisses, 
micaceous  dolomites,  and  magnesian  limestones.  The  upper  part  of 
this  series  emerges  from  beneath  the  upper  Silurian. 
Selwyn,4  in  1883,  finds  in  the  Stoke  Mountains  an  igneous  belt 
unconformably  overlapped  and  covered  by.  the  fossiliferous  beds  of 
the  Levis  formation  and  by  the  Siluro-Devonian  rocks;  but  between 
these  volcanics  and  the  more  schistose  rocks  of  the  central  axis,  by 
which  they  are  underlain,  no  unconformity  has  been  detected.  These 
volcanics  are  provisionally  classed  with  the  lower  series — that  is,  pre- 
Cambrian,  and  probably  Upper  Huronian.  In  the  Quebec  series  are 
found  important  masses  of  granite  which  are  intrusive  in  the  fos- 
siliferous series.  The  stratified  rocks  in  contact  with  them  are  dis- 
turbed and  altered,  the  limestones  converted  into  graphitic  schists  or 
crystalline  marble,  and  the  argillites  into  mica  slates  and  chiastolite 
and  staurolite  schists,  which  are  traversed  by  streaks  and  veins 
(dikes?)  of  granite.  These  granites  are  regarded  as  of  Silurian  or 
Devonian  age.  The  alteration  of  the  fossiliferous  beds  has  gone  so 
far  as  to  suggest  a  resemblance  to  the  crystalline  rocks  which  have 
been  referred  to  the  Laurentian  or  Huronian. 
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