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MKIOCOrr RIKHUTION THT CHAIT 
 
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 Hon LOUIS CODERRE, Minitter; 
 K W BROCK. Deputy Minitter. 
 
 <SeologiC(ii Suru^y 
 
 R W. BROCK, Director. 
 
 Museum Bulletin No. 2 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SERIES, No. 15 
 
 JUNE 19. 1914 
 
 SUPPOSED EMDENCES OF SUBSIDENCE OF THE CO.\ST OF 
 NEW BRUNSWICK WITHIN .MODERN TIME 
 
 by 
 J. W. Goldthwait 
 
 QH 
 1 
 [' .C13 
 no.2 
 June 19 
 
 <»TTA\\.\ 
 
 GllVKIlNMKNT I'lilNTtMi .'<! Itl.AI 
 l'.)U 
 
 .\n. IS 12 
 
June 19th, 1UI4. 
 
 Canada 
 
 Geological Survey 
 
 Museum Bulletin No. 2. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SERIES. No. 15 
 
 III.— Supposed Evidences of Subsidence of the Coast of New 
 Brunswick within Modern Time. 
 
 By J. W. OOLDTHWAIT. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 While engaged in 1910 in a study of the records of late Pleis- 
 tocene marine submergence in Quebec and New Brunswick I 
 was impressed by the need for giving greater attention to the 
 more recent of the post-Glacial movements which this region 
 in common with New England, has suffered. Accordingly, in 
 July and August, 1911, during the continuance of work on the 
 several problems of po.st-OIacial changes of level in southeastern 
 Q- ebec and New Brunswick, I visited a number of localities 
 where so-called evidences of modern subsidence are to be seen 
 Before entering upon this phase of the work, a conference was 
 held with Professor Douglas Wilson Johnson of Harvard Univer- 
 sity, under whom an exhaustive investigation of the question 
 of modern stability of the coasts on both sides of the North 
 Atlantic was already in progress. A co-operative plan was 
 arranged, between the Geological Survey, Canada, and the 
 bhaler Memorial Investigation, which will find full expression 
 in a later publication. The present paper merely outlines the 
 conclusions reached by the writer during the field season of 1911. 
 From Professor Johnson have come manv helpful suggestions 
 which It is a pleasure to acknowledge. Thanks are due also to 
 Professor W. F. Oanong, of Smith College, who.se published 
 
 56815— c—l 1 
 
<iJW \ C \'^. VNo ^ ::T'.^r \r^ 
 
 3 MUHECM aULIiCTIN MO, 3. 
 
 writings on th*- h<» miy, phyr<iugr!iphy,(-!irtuRraphy, uml hintory 
 of Nrw Brunswick (■i>n>titutp ii most valuublo guide in that 
 Provinct' for the naturaliHt, the antiquurinn, and the i,.i jller; 
 and who kindly euggpstcd to mo, in i)€nonal corrrMpondence, 
 Bcvcral locuIitioH particularly worth viHiting, in my search for 
 evidences* of iiiodorn < oastal subsidence. 
 
 MODERN V1:R8US LATE PLEI8Tf»f'ENE MOVE- 
 MKNTH. 
 
 The elevated beaches, deltas, and Mca-floor deposits which are 
 found along the coast of the Maritime Provinces bear witness 
 to a difT<Tintial emergence of this rcn.oii from the sea, in poHt- 
 Glacial time. Judging from the strength oi certain strandM, 
 especially along the north coast of (Jaspe peninsula, this emer- 
 gence was not steady, but consisted of two or three periods of 
 uplift, se' irated by periods of stability or of subsidence. In the 
 lower Saint Lawrence, one shore-line, in particular, which forms 
 a wide shelf only twenty feet above the modi-rn sea-level, and a 
 great sea-<!liff, records an interval of stability or of subsidence 
 which must have lasted for a considerabU length of time, and 
 was followed b. ■ an uplift of approximately twenty feet.' Recent 
 observav'.on.s around the coast of Gaspe peninsula point to the 
 probability that this recent upward movement of the lower 
 Saint Lawrence region was attended by a downward movement 
 of the more southerly coast of Gaspe and New Brunswick. 
 It is not known whether the upward movement is still in progress 
 along the lower Saint Lawrence, or not. From New Bt 'vicK, 
 however, a number of phenomena have been adduced a. evi- 
 dence that the more southerly coast is still subsiding. That 
 there has been coastal subsidence, locally, if not over a wide 
 region, since the last Glacial epoch, and presumably since the 
 great Champlain emergence, is shown by the famous submerged 
 forest at Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia. The supposed evidences 
 of a modern continuance of the subsidence, however, are open to 
 question. On this account, it is important to discriminate 
 
 'J. W. (ioldthwait: Tho twentv-foot trrraic BrJ sen-cliff o' the Lower Saint 
 Lawrence, Anier. Journ. Sci., vol, XXXII. 1911, pp. 291-317. 
 
■VrPMCD KriOENCM or ICMIDKICrB OP l«W RlirNgWICK COAIT. 3 
 
 at the ouvsct Mween tDwlern luovenifnttt uiid thoxc which, no 
 far B8 can be seen, may have been completed nome time ago. 
 To avoid any misundewtanding that might arioe from the une 
 of the term "recent"' for the period covered approximately 
 by the twenty centuries of the Chrirttiuu eri, the term "nidilern" 
 will here be used. 
 
 Amon the supposed evidences of modern wub^itlcnce of the 
 coast in Now Brunswick, those to which attention is here 
 invited are: — 
 
 (1) A rapid recession of the coastline now in progress; 
 
 (2) The presence of drowned valleys; 
 
 (3) The presence of barrier l>eaches ; 
 
 (4) Recurved hooks, dipping beneath lagoons; 
 
 (6) Trees dying because of an invasion by high tides; 
 
 (6) Peat bogs whose bottoms lie below high tide mark; 
 
 (7) Old beaches on prograding shores, whose crests are lower 
 than the crests of more modern beaches outside of them. 
 
 Such a varied list of evidences would ; cem to constitute a 
 strong argument for the commonly accepted view that the New 
 Brunswick coast is now sinking. An examination of the several 
 lines of evidence, however, seems to show that convincing proof 
 of modern subsidence here, is yet to be discovered; while, on the 
 other hand, as some writen; have maintained, there are some 
 indications that the coast for several centuries has been nearly, 
 if not perfectly stable. 
 
 SUPPOSED EVIDENCES OF SUBSIDENCE. 
 
 Recession of the Coastline. — As all who live on exposed portions 
 ' the New Brunswick coast are aware, and as Professor Ganoiig 
 as pointed out in several of his physiographic and his+rrical 
 papers, the coast is being cut back at a rapid rate. Among the 
 hundred.s of illustrations which might be gi -en, are the sites of 
 the old French establishments at Fort Nipisigait, Fort Moncton, 
 and Little Shippigan, which have be'^n more or less completely 
 
 „, '.Which, nceording to the br«t i.aagp, is synonymous with the "human" or "poat- 
 G'acial prrioa. 
 
 "»81.'i— c— IJ 
 
 y7Vb3 
 
MUMVM HULUmin NO. 1. 
 
 wMhed away, during the laKt two centuries and a half.' Lobster 
 factorieH mar Mincou point, Point Ewuininac, and other niacea 
 have Ucn itwept away by the ntewtion of the cliffi, and ) ebullt, 
 fartbtr inland, ovor uiiil over ngiiin. Atcurding to Mr. Kenneth 
 McClellan, lightkceprr at Point Ktwunilnac, the lighthouse 
 originally Htood alnjut .VK) fert waward from iu pre.«nt position, 
 and waM moved inland ulwut eighty yearn ago, because of the 
 rapid encroachment of the wnves against the low cliffH of sand- 
 Btone at that point. Since that time, the sea has advanced 
 about 10() yards, and in now threatening to demolinh a building 
 where the fog horn is installed, tmletw the Ciovernment takes 
 prompt meo»*tiret( to protect ii. There is no doubt that along 
 most of the vyn'n coast of New Hrunswick, the nea is now advanc- 
 iii;r u|>on the land. 
 
 It does not. follow, however, that because the shore-line is 
 moving inland, the coast is sinking. In a brief note on " Evid- 
 ences of sinking of the coast of New Brunsvick"* Professor 
 Ganong explains that the washing of the sei through the 
 gateway of old Fort Moncton, descrilwd by Gecner,' must \>e 
 accounted for by a wa.«<hing away of the coast, rather than by 
 an actual sinking of the ground beneath tne sea. Ganong, 
 nevertheless, argues that the rapid cliff recession thus recorded, 
 which measures over 70 yards in a century and a half, is an 
 evidence of subsidence. "This washing away of the upland 
 can only be explained by u marked sinking of the coast, though 
 the amount of the sinking is not thereby determined."* Were 
 it not for the fact that thi.'* idea of a necessary connexion between 
 cliff recession and coastal sul>sidence has been widely circulated, 
 it would seem hardly worth while to point out the possibility 
 that all this encroachment can be accounted for by the horizontal 
 cutting of waves against the foot of cliffs, attended, as it is, 
 by the scouring down of the inclined shelf which lies below, and 
 without any downward movement of the coast whatsoever. 
 
 tory 
 
 ural Hi"'or^ (y of New Urunnwirk. Bull., vol. XIX, lUOl, pp. 330-340. 
 
 'Ai.rahannJeanpr: Onrlpvntiun^and clcprewionsof th«nii ih in North Amrrira 
 Quarterly JournBl of the Geol. Sot. London, vol. 17, 1881. pp. 381-388. 
 
 •Op. cit., p. ,140. 
 
•crwMD BvmiiiciB or acBSiOBMrB or nb« ••ciiawirB ooawt 
 
 Fig. t. Map ot the coad of northeaatern New Brunawiek. 
 
MU0l;rM B0UJBTIN NO. 2. 
 
 Clifif recession is indeed accelerated by coastal subsidence; but 
 it takes place on any fully matured shore-line, as a part of the 
 normal sequence of changes, and even on young shore-lines 
 where the initial slope is steep. 
 
 That rapid cliff recession does not necessarily indicate that 
 subsidence is in progress is seen in the case of the west shore of 
 Lake Michigan, between Milwaukee and Chicago. According 
 to Dr. Edmund Andrews,' the average rate of recession of this 
 cliffed coast, prior to 1870, wius over five feet a year. In other 
 words, although the cliffs along the west shore of Lake Michigan 
 are higher than those on the northeast coast of New Brunswick, 
 their average rate of retreat is faster. Locally, cliff recession 
 as fast as thirty or forty feet has been observed on the Wisconsin 
 shore.' This destruction of cliffs by the waves of Lake Michigan 
 cannot be attributed to a rise in level of the water on the shore; 
 for the surveys cover a long period of years, during which the 
 changes of level of the lakes have been slight, and as often 
 downward as upward.' 
 
 Drowned Valleys.— In a letter in Science,* discussing the 
 question of modern stability of the Atlantic coast, Mr. T. L. 
 Casey points to the well-known estuarine coast of Maryland as 
 "positive evidence of progressive subsidence ... in 
 recent times." If the drowned valleys of Chesapeake bay can 
 thu« be appealed to as evidence that the coast of Maryland is 
 now sinking, the same argument could be applied to the equally 
 typical dendritic estuaries of Gloucester, Cumberland, and Kent 
 counties, in New Brunswick. It seems necessary, therefore, 
 to anticipate the use— or, more accurately, the misuse— of such 
 evidence, by pointing out the fallacy in it. Drowned valleys 
 simply indicate that the land once stood higher than now; they 
 donot indicate the date of the drowning, and do not prove that 
 
 • Kdinund Andrew:^: The N>rtli Amoriran Kiki-M considerr.l aa Chronomi.ters 
 1 7a PP 1-23" "■ T™"^''*'""'' "' «'"' t;hic,*„ Academy of Sciences vol. 2! 
 
 r.w,!"'' ,*i <^"'J'''»'''V Abandoned Bhore-lines of eastrrn Wisconsin. Wisconsin 
 GeoloRical and Natural History Survey, Bull. \o. 17, 1907, pp. 5«-59 "'™"»"' 
 
 ... n"l "'""'"'.♦'-.''•iniony from the shore of Lake Huron, and information as to 
 «ie fluctuations m level of the Great Lakes, see A. C. Lane: GeoloRical reuort on 
 PUH ^''"*^' "'"'■'''''"• *^«''- «""''y "' Michigan, vol. 7, 1^ pp TsTs, and 
 g^l^- ^- ^'^y- Subsidence of the Atlantic shore-line. Science, vol. 34, 1911, pp. 
 
BCPPOBED EVIDENCES OF SUBSIDENCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK COAST. 7 
 
 the sinking of the land has continued down to present time. 
 Indeed, in the case of New Brunswick, there is positive evidence, 
 in the raised beaches, fossiliferous clays, and associated deposits, 
 that at the dose of the Ice Age this coast was very much farther 
 under the sea than now; and that an elevation of from 100 to 
 200 feet has taken place, nearly but not quite restoring the 
 region to its former position. Since the elevation of this coast 
 is of later date than the stage of widespread submergence, it is 
 more logical to conclude that the movemeut now in progress, 
 if any, is upward, rather than downward. In any case, drowned 
 valleys do not necessarily show what is the nature of the latest 
 movement in a region. 
 
 Barrier Beaches. — During the past few year.-!, there seems to 
 have been a growing opinion, on the part of experts in plant 
 physiology and ecology, that barrier beaches like those of New 
 Jersey and New Brunswick aro evidences of coastal subsidence. 
 While, so far as I am aware, this opinion has been expressed in 
 print by only one author, it is entertained by others.' It is 
 hard to sec the reason for this view, unless it is that barrier 
 beaches are commonly associated with salt marsh deposits, 
 and that these are believed, upon botanical grounds, to te^iify 
 to a modern progressive subsidence. The only attempt to 
 outline a theory for the origin of barrier beaches, V)ased upon 
 subsidence, so far as I have learned, appears in Professor Ganong's 
 notes on the origin of Portage and Fox islands." Referring 
 to the long, broken barriers across the mouths of the Miramichi 
 and neighbouring estuaries, he says: "Originally . they 
 
 no doubt formed against the margin of the flat upland as ordinary 
 shore beaches. But the steadily progressing subsidence car.ied 
 the land beneath the sea faster than the beaches, whose rate 
 of inward movement is determined by the erosion of the pro- 
 tecting headlands, could follow; hence the lagoons were formed. 
 The coast is still sinking, and the beaches are still travelling 
 
 '('. A. Davis and David White, in oral discussion of tUc qmstion iit modern 
 coastal subsidenip, at the eleventh ann'jal New Kngland IntereolleKiate GeoloKieal 
 Eieursion. at Tutt.t Colh^ne, Oct. 13, 1911. , . , , 
 
 •W. r. Ganonjs: On the physical gtsonraphy of the north shore siind islands. 
 Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, vol. «, 1908, pp. 6-13; 
 and. On the physiographic characteristics of IVrtaRC and Fox islands, Miramichi. 
 In the same volume, pp. 1-6. 
 
* taCBSrM BULLETIN NO. 2. 
 
 inward.'" As concrete illustrations of successive stages in this 
 development of barrier beaches, Professor Ganong presents, 
 among other cases, the following:— 
 
 (a) Three short beaches, just south of Point Escuminac, 
 which connect headlands, and which enclose very narrow 
 lagoons. "These arc of especial interest as showing the mode 
 of origin of the greater beaches, for in the case of the first two 
 while they are still shore beaches, lagoons are forming inside 
 them." Likewise, Chockpish beach, which "extends from the 
 rocky Richibucto head in an inbowed curve south to a rocky 
 point just north of Buctouche beach, encloses mostly bog and 
 marsh, but with rudimentary lagoons. It is thus another 
 forming beach."' 
 
 (6) The long barriers or sand reefs which shut off from the 
 sea the wide estuaries of Pokcmouche, Little Tracadie, and 
 other rivers. According to Professor Ganong's theorj-, the 
 lagoons have been broadened by progrcs.sive subsidence faster 
 than they have been narrowed by the inland migration of the 
 sand reefs. In otiier words, the vertical subsidence has been 
 more effective, here, than the horizontal advance of the barrier 
 towards the land— an advance which is accomplished mainly 
 through the drifting of sand along the cxpu.ed shore and the 
 scattering of the sand through the gulleys into the lagoons. 
 
 (c) The more detached fragments of sand reef,^, like Portage 
 and Fox islands, at the mouth of the Miramichi. These are 
 conceived to have passed through the stages already described, 
 and to have become disconnected from their original anchorage 
 as subsidence converted the mainland border into a submerged 
 shoal, or as the protecting ledges at the headlands were drowned 
 and their places were taken by easily eroded cliffs of peat 
 whose destruction let the sea through the barrier, at points 
 where there was no longer a supply of sand for the beach. In 
 short, "both Portage and Fox islands . . . appear to 
 have been formed as true beach plains against the neighbouring 
 upland. . . . Their separation from the upland is due to 
 subsidence of the land, admitting the sea to flow over their 
 
 'Op. cit., pp. 12-13. 
 •Op. rit., p. 9. 
 
SUPPOSED EVIDENCES OP SUBSIDENCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK COAST. 
 
 oldest and, therefore, lowest parts, while their outer parts have 
 been more or less eroded by the advancing ocean."' Thus it 
 is conceived that barrier beaches originate as true beaclies at 
 the mouths of rivers on a low coast; that as this coast sinks 
 beneath the sea, the river mouths are drowned to form lagoons, 
 while the beaches, being tied to headlands at either end, remain 
 relatively fixed in position; that as soon as the subsidence allows 
 the sea a better opportunity to cut tlie beach away from its 
 supporting headlands, there is a rapid widening of gullies, and 
 a conversion of the reef into a broken chain of sand islands. 
 
 It will be noticed, by those familiar with the commonly 
 accepted principles of shore-line morphology^ that the first or 
 "rudimentary stage, as outlined above, is the final stage, 
 according to the accepted theory. Barrier beaches along coasts 
 like that of New Brunswick are commonly believed to owe 
 their origin to a rapid accumulation of shore drift along the 
 concave line of breakers between headlands, and to follow these 
 retreating headlands in their shoreward migration, narrowing 
 the lagoons as they go, until at last they reach the mainland, 
 and the lagoons vanish, so that the barrier passes into a true 
 beach. In other words, the small beaches which Professor 
 Ganong regards as "forming" would be regarded by most 
 physiographers as disappearing barrier beaches. It is periiaps 
 sufficient reason for the rejection of this theory of subsidence in 
 favour of the commonly accepted one, that long bars or barriers 
 of this kind occur between headlands on lakes whose level has 
 been unvarying. Moreover, since both the headlands and the 
 beaches, on the New Brunswick coast, are known to have been 
 rapidly retreating, during the last few centuries, at least, this 
 horizontal shifting, alone, of the sand reefs towards the shore, 
 is competent to account for the several stages of development 
 noted, if the long barriers which bridge the greater re-entrants 
 are taken as the more youthful type, and thv^ short beaches at 
 the mouths of streams on the most exposed headlands mark 
 the end of the life history of the barriers. Here, as in the case 
 of the rapid recession of sea-cliffs, we find no necessity for 
 progressive coastal subsidence. 
 
 ' dp. oit., p. 5. 
 
 ' See, for instance, W. M. 
 
 66815— c— 2 
 
 Iiavis: I'hyBical CieOi^raphy. Hoston. IS99, pp. Sr^t-iiJ. 
 
10 
 
 MCHEUM BULLETIN NO. 3. 
 
 Hr-curvcd, Hooked Spits, Dipping Beneath Lagoons.— in his 
 dpsciiptioii of PorUigc imd Fox i>land.-<, already referred to, 
 Professor CanoiiK shitws tli.it they are detached remnants of 
 long, re-curved hooks, now liciiig cut away at one end, and 
 Ituilt forward at the other. "Portage i.sUind irs composed of a 
 •eric- of ai)proxiinately coiirentric, low dune lieaches with 
 intermediate .^hallow hollow.s, a series of sand .swells or 
 l)illows. . . Xcar it., northern end the beaches, bearing 
 
 the olde-t woo<ls, :,re parallel with the axis of the island, and 
 here tliey are being < ut uw.iy, together wth the covering woods, 
 by the sea. raither south these same beaches curve around 
 lo the westward and finally sink gradually beneath the waves 
 of the Inner liay, their summits projecting as points, while 
 their intermediate hollows form coves of salt marsh. These 
 beach lines, as may be seen at many points, form only 
 above the reach of the l1igho:^t tides and their gradual disappear- 
 ance beneath tlie waters of the Inner l>ay forms one of the very 
 best evidenics we po>~ess of progressive .subsidence in this 
 region, evidence still further strengthened by the occurrence 
 near the north end of the island, of peat in situ on the beach 
 belo'.v high water mark."* 
 
 Contrary to this statement, it may be pointed out that the 
 hooked terminations of long sand spits are commonly inferior 
 in height to tlie erestline of a main storm beach, whether the 
 latter is covered witli dune sand or not. On such a hook, the 
 crest of the beach always de>c(-nds to sea-level and extends out 
 under water. This is due in part to the decreasing supply of 
 sand towards the end of the hook and in part to the fact that 
 the storm waves around the bend of the hook are weaker than 
 on the fully exposed .straight beach which faces the sea, and 
 so do not cast beach material up so high. In this ca.se of Portage 
 island, tlierefore, there is ,.othing abnormal about the dipping 
 of the extremities of the hooks beneath the surface of the 
 sheltered lagoon. Not only is this feature seen on hooked 
 spits of tlie Atlantic coast g<'n(Tally, but it occurs on hooked 
 spits in such lakes a-^ Lake Michigan, where no subsidence of 
 the coast has taken phu e during the period of construction of 
 
 'Op. Pit., p. 2. 
 
SUPPOSED EVIDENCES OF SUBSIDENCE OF NEW nRIN.^W UK (OAST 1 1 
 
 the hooks. So far as the occurrence of the peat l)e(l hclow hi^h 
 tide mark on the outer beach of PortaRc isUmtl i- i omeriicd — 
 evidence of quite another kind — this is a coniinDii feature in 
 retreating harrier Jx'aches, and can He exj)lained witliout appeal 
 to coastal subsidence.' 
 
 Trees Killed by High Tides. — In u short paper in hi- " Notes on 
 the Natural liistory and physiograpliy of New 15ruii-wi( k," 
 Professor Canong says that on the low shores of the Soutli river, 
 near Pokeinouche, '"in places the dead fore-^t trec^ 4ill staiuliug 
 with their roots immersed by the higliest tides alVord striking 
 evidence of the rapid subsidence this coast is uutlergoing."-' 
 An examination of this esiaary in 1911, with the expectation 
 of finding convincing proof that llie tides at that i)lac(> rise 
 higher than they formerly did, proved a disappoiiitinenl to me. 
 It is quite possible that I failed ;o find the precise place to 
 which Professor Ganong refers, although my search for it was 
 rather thorough. Here and there, near the creek are patches 
 of trees whose death, like that of groves farther back on the 
 upland, seems to have been due to fiie rathi'r than to tides. 
 Where the road from Lower Pokemouchc to Tracadie crosses 
 the upper end of South river, a number of dead spruces and 
 v-s occur near the river bank; but they stand in a bog which is 
 clothed with characteristic freshwater vegetation. At one 
 point where the highway between Si.x Reads and I'okcniouche 
 crosses the head of a short creek, about a mile south of Upper 
 Pokemouche, there are cliscure signs of an increasing sub- 
 mergence by the tides. At the water's edge, where salt iuai>li 
 grasses of the genus Spartimt and meadow i)lants like Daucus 
 Carnta and Eupatorium purpureum are curiously mingled, are 
 a few tall birch trees, now dead. According to farmers in thi- 
 vicinity, the trees have been killed by salt water, broiiglit up 
 during occasional spring tides. ICven if we grant thai tiiis 
 explanation is correct, in this instanc(\ we cannot -alVly argue 
 from it that the killing of the trees registers mure than tlie 
 
 'D. W. Johnson; FhUd .1.- la Coli' Atl.-inliq'ir ,1.. 1' \;i, r!., i ■ .i ; S'vA.'W-y 
 de Gfograpliic. vol. 21. 1!)1l'. pp. l!i:!-21.' |)iirli<iil,'.rly pp, JOl-.'Jti. 
 
 *W.F. (lanonj;: On tin- p!iysif!t;i:iphic elifiriu'f^ iisli'- ; . i the rnk«'nii*ih''i.' /i ^. 
 !?t. Simon rivers. Hullctin ot (liu .Natural History tiofii'iv of St'w Brunswick, 
 vol. 5, 1906. pp. 524-526. 
 
12 
 
 MCSEUM BULLETIN NO. 2. 
 
 injury received from an unufual succession of high tides, due, 
 perliaprt, to a series of storms of very great severity. If a 
 downward movement of the coast is now in progress, and is so 
 rapid as to lie recorded during the short lifetime of a troc, we 
 might reasonably expect to find, in a situation like tins one, 
 trees in all stages of destruction and of burial by the » Ivancing 
 salt marnh. 
 
 In one other place, of those which I visited in 1911, is there 
 perhaps a recortl of forest destruction through submergence. 
 At the head of the southeast branch of Saint Simon inlet, near 
 the railway that runs to Shippigan, the low upland bordering 
 the salt marsh is occupied by many stumps and dead trees. 
 The suggestion of subsidence hero in modern time is strengthened 
 by the discovery of a number of stumps farther out on the marsh 
 itself, entirely surrounded by Spartina and other halophilous 
 plants, and of a black stratum of leaf mould or swamp deposit 
 containing birch bark, beneath three feet of salt marsh material, 
 near the edge of the creek, about 300 feet out from the margin 
 of the upland. Some of the stumps are charred, as if by fire. 
 Most of them, however, bear axe marks, as if the fore«t had 
 l)een cut while living; for there is no apparent reason why a 
 tide-killed forest should have been visited by the woodsman 
 in a district where standing timber is abundant and little fuel 
 is used. The encroachment of the salt marsh upon the forest 
 border, therefore, must have taken place within the two cen- 
 turies or so of occupation of the district by the French. A 
 series of borings indicates that the buried stratum of leaf mould, 
 at its greatest depth, is not more than four and a half feet 
 below the surface of the marsli. As Professor JohnSon points 
 out, there are a number of ways to account for slight submer- 
 gence without subsidence. The local high tide surface may 
 creep up over a low upland border and bury it with a few^ feet 
 e' salt mar.-ih in a district, for iny<nncc, where the widening 
 and .icepening of passageways acro-s barrier teaches allows a 
 constantly increasing play of the tides, or where the same 
 result is accomplished in a single great storm, as at Marshfield, 
 Massachusetts, in 1898.' On a rapidly retrograding coast like 
 
 'D. W. Johnson: 
 UHI.PI). 30(K-30l'. 
 
 Botanical ovi-lcni' 
 
 iKistal nulisiilinii'. ricii nco, vol. 33, 
 
8CFPOBED KVIDBNCSa OF 8T7B8IDENCII OF NEW BRUNSWICK COAST. 13 
 
 that of New Brunswick, where the sea has cut back half-way 
 to the heads of the estuaries, an increase of three or four feet 
 in local high tide level might reasonably be expected. It does 
 not app«<ar, therefore, that the destruction of trees at the 
 localities noted constitutes valid evidence of coastal subsidence. 
 On the other hand, as Professor Johnson suggested to me 
 before field work was commenced, if the coast is now going 
 down at a rate fast enough to be registered within the lifetime 
 of trees of moderate size, the destruction of bordering forests 
 should be seen in all parts of the area where submergence is in 
 progress. An inspection of a number of estuaries along the 
 drowned coast of New Brunswick, between Bathurst and Point 
 du Chene, leads to the opinion that as a rule the forests sur- 
 rounding salt creeks and marshes are not suffering from their 
 proximity to the sea. The fringe of dead trees which we should 
 expect to see is missing. 
 
 Forest Beds and Peat Bogs Reaching to Depths Below High Tide 
 Level. — At a number of places along the coast of New Brunswick, 
 peat bogs composed of fresh-water plants and containing roots 
 of trees have been reported to extend to depths several feet 
 below high-tide mark. Bogs of this type, composed of sphagnum 
 and other swamp-loving plants, but generally treeless, cover 
 vast areas on the lowlands near the coast, and are known as 
 the "barrens." Their height is often not more than fifteen or 
 twenty feet above sea-level. Since soundings have been known 
 to penetrate them to a depth of over twenty feet, the impression 
 has arisen that the bottoms of the bogs are so far below tide 
 level as to indicate a subsidence of the coast. Among those 
 who have studied the bogs and reported in detail upon them, 
 the late Dr. Chalmers has published the largest amount of 
 information. Criticii--n of his evidence naturally follows two 
 lines: (a) Chalmers' statements of observation are so qualified 
 .as to admit of some doubt whether the peat ctually does 
 extend below sea-level; and (6) in case it does tend to that 
 depth, the question arises whether it may not l , explained in 
 other ways than by supposing that the coast has gone down. 
 In order to test both the facts and the interpretation of them 
 as records of modern subsidence, I visited a few of the most 
 
u 
 
 MUBBUM BULLETIN NO. 2. 
 
 typical barreiiH, including one on Mi«cou island, one at the 
 head of Saint Simon inlet, and one near Point Escuminac. 
 Natural croHs Hection« of these bogn, cut by the sea, were in- 
 spected, and many Koundings were made with a Davis peat 
 sampler, with the expectation that the deposits would prove 
 to extend to a considerable depth. 
 
 On Miscou island, half a mile inland from Miscou point, at a 
 place where the surfac*' of the barren is about ten fe«>t above 
 high tide marlc, the sounding instrument penetrated decayed 
 sphagnum to a depth of thirteen feet, where it struck something 
 hard. Another group of borings 150 fe»'t away from the first 
 one, at the edge of a tidal "pond," gave the following section:— 
 
 Surfarr; typical salt marsh, with Jmrn.t ijrrarii (?) the doriiinarit uniss- 
 
 ut njian hiich ii(ii>. ' 
 
 to 6 inchis; Immii, spoimy ptat, ci.ntalniii^' very lilllr. scliini'iit, »iiu 
 
 niajiy viTtical tibn^' (salt iiiarili). 
 « to 12 inchcM; lirown, viry roinpact, wiK,dy p<;at, wilhoul si'ilinicnl- niilin 
 
 hoiizontiJly. 
 I'-' to IH iucli™; reddish brown, very soft, Hhrous peat (sphatinum). 
 18 to L'4 inrlirs; no core (frcqucnlly th« eui.' in hoiinK throucli soft sBhuCTiirii 
 
 deposits). 
 24 to 30 inches; same rotten, rcdclish hroun peat. 
 30 to 38 inches; stiHir, rather firm, reddi.sli-limwn peat. 
 38 to 42 inchs; l.r(,»n, slippery, j„uddy prat in cpinr two inches, f.. II., wed 
 
 helow by watery mud. 
 42 to 48 inches; muddy brown .sunil, witli liard, Krilly .sund below, throut-li 
 
 which the sounder could nut lii' driven. 
 
 The significant points about this section arc: (a) that the 
 salt marsh is merely a thin veneer over the bog peat. This 
 agrees with the physiographic evidence that this "pond" is 
 one of the numerous fresh-water pools on the barren, which has 
 very recently been invaded by an advance of the .sea, cutting 
 back the cliffs into one end of it; {h) that the sphagnum deposit 
 extends to a depth of only three feet and a half below mean 
 high tide. This much submergence does not prove coastal 
 subsidence. The bog may have grown up in a basin whose 
 floor, although below high tide mark, was above mean tide 
 level, and whose water, consequently, was fresh, and supported 
 fresh-water vegetation. Later, as the sea cut its way into the 
 pond and flooded it to high tide mark, opportunity came for 
 a salt marsh deposit to form on top of the fresh peat, around 
 the border of the pond. 
 
BCPP08ED EVIDENCES Or HDBUOENCE Or NEW BKCNHWlrK COAMT. 
 
 16 
 
 A condition of things .similar to this wsw found in the peat 
 bog whirii lies ut the head of the Suint Simon inlet, southwest 
 of Sliippigan. Here ii low seu-clifT exposes the [M'at in (.toss 
 se(;tion to a dejith of not more than four feet below high tide 
 mark, where the underlying structure, deeply decayed xand- 
 btone, is seen. Spongy brown sphagnum, in layers, alternates 
 with toug:ier, blacker layers of woody jH-ut, in which erect 
 stumps and prostrate logs are rather abundant. The peat is 
 exactly the sort of deposit now in proce.-<s of formation on tne 
 Hurface of the quaking bog, wlure stunted spruces in scattered 
 group.s relieve the monotony of the low-busheti carpet that 
 conceals the .soft sphagnum. There seems to be a greater 
 compactness of the t)a.sal layers of the peat, as if considerable 
 settling of the mass had occurred. The rotten character of 
 the moss, likewise, points to a considerable loss of volume. 
 The very distinct stratification evidently marks recurrent 
 cycles of wet and dry climate, in which forests encroached 
 upon the barrens during dry periods, only to be overwhelmed 
 by i'phagnum when more humid conditions returned. The 
 fact that the peat reaches down about to mean-tide level, 
 but not below it, seems significant and will presently be 
 discus,sed. 
 
 Of the bogs cited bj- Chalmers as evidence of coastal subsi- 
 dence, perhaps the most notable is the one at Point Escuminac, 
 near the mouth of the Miramichi. Ells stated, in 1880, that 
 this bog has a maximum depth of more than thirty feet.' 
 Chalmers, after mentioning the convexity of the bog, says: 
 "From the examination made about its margin, it seems to 
 occupy a basin the centr;\l part of which is below 
 
 high tide level. This gives it a thickness of twenty feet or 
 upwards. Mr. Phillips, the lighthouse keeper at x*oint Escu- 
 minac, informed nie that he found it tw(>nty-four feet deep in 
 one place."- Again, (halmers rtmarks that "the bottom of 
 these deposits seems to be at least ten or fifteen feet below 
 high tide level in some places,"' 
 
 Mi. \V. 1;1!.h: CicoIcKiial Survey of Canail i, r;.-i»irt tor 187i)-S0. Part D. p. 4.1. 
 * li. M. t'halmcrs: Gwjlogic.'il .Survey of Canada. .Annual Iloport, 1887, Part N, 
 p. 24. 
 
 •Op. cit.,p. 2.5. 
 
»• MDiBCll BCUXTIN NO. I. 
 
 A Study of the peat exposed in receding diffH went of the Point 
 EHcuminac lighthouse, arrompanied by boringn to determine 
 the depth of the deposit, convintCH me that there i<« little if any 
 evidence of coastal suh.xi.knce. Behind the soft peat cliff 
 which riM.s from 5 to 15 feet alwve the heach, the surface of the 
 lK)g ascends rapidly inland, attaining nearly 30 feet altitude 
 in the c«'ntral part. It is quite apparent that the convexity 
 of the Imrren at its periphery is due mainly to loss of water near 
 the cliffs, where the water-table descends to the level of the 
 beach. In the first quarter mile west of the lighthouse, the 
 freshly cut cliff shows the floor of the Iwg-a smooth surface 
 of decayed sandstone, gradually descending to the high tide 
 mark. A series of Iwrings along the foot of the peat cliffs in 
 the next quarter nule, taken at intervals of 200 feet, show 'h.- 
 depth of the floor of the poat bog below high tide mark, as 
 follows-: zero; zero; 6 inches; 12 inches; zero. Half a mile from 
 the lighthouse, where the peat cliff attain.^ its maximum height, 
 13 feet, a boring through the beach reached the sandy floor of 
 the bog at a depth of less than 24 inches below high tide mark. 
 Since the upward slope carries the surface of the bog to an 
 altitude of fully 26 feet (as measured by hand-level and rod) 
 above high tide mark, it is probable that the peat here is 28 feet 
 thick. The sounding instrument used was limited to a depth 
 of 21 feet. The 24-foot sounding reported by Chalmers may, 
 therefore, have been entirely above high tide mark. In the 
 half mile between this point and Herring cove, a few borings, 
 at wider intervals, struck sand beneath the peat at depths' 
 below high tide mark, succes-ively, of 24, 18, and 6 inches. It 
 appears, therefore, that the Point Escuminac peat bog occupies 
 a Tather flat basin, whose floor is close to high tide mark over 
 a wide area, yet rarely as much as two feet below that mark. 
 In this respect it seems to agree with the peat bogs at Miscou 
 island and Shippigan. This I am inclined to regr d as signifi- 
 cant. If there had been a subsidence of the coast of New 
 Brunswick in very recent times, while the bog was under con- 
 struction, we should expect to find the fresh-water peat extending 
 down to greater depths; for sphagnum would have accumulated 
 in basins whose floors, in some places, were barely above mean 
 
•cfpoain f viDiNCU op •pbmoimcb or nbw ■BunawicK coavt. 17 
 
 
 tide level, and thu« just above the influence of the tides; and 
 the subsidence of Heveral centuries would probably drown these 
 bog floors to depths distinctly below mean tide level. If, on 
 the other hand, there has been no vertical movement of the 
 coast for several centuries, while peat has Inien accumulating 
 in these bog.s, we can sec why the fresh-water structures ap- 
 proach, but seem in no place to exceed mean tide level.' The 
 latest evidence -n the peat bogs of New Brunswick, therefore, 
 argues rather for modem stability than for mod< i , xulwidence. 
 Old Beachei on Prograding Shorea, wUh Creitlinea Lower than tht 
 Preaent Beach.— \ few places on the coast of New Brunswick, 
 where, instead of retrogression, there has lx>en for centuries a 
 forward construction of the beach, offer opportunity to test the 
 hypothesis of modem subsidence by a comparison of the crest- 
 line altitudes of the older beaches with the newer.' Of two 
 such localities described by Professor Ganong — Miscou Grande 
 Plaine and Portage island, the formei was selected for a visit, 
 partly becau..: of the int^.-est aroused by Professor Gnnong's 
 report on the plant ecology' and partly because the age of 
 the beaches on Grande Plaine can be estimated with some 
 approach to accuracy. 
 
 As both Chalmers and Ganong have statei;, (Jrande Plaine is 
 a long triangular tract of sands at the northwest side of Miscou 
 island. Hither for centuries have l>een swept the beach sand? 
 and gravels that drift northward along the east side of the island. 
 Rounding Miscou point, th? shore drift comes to rest on the 
 more sheltered beach of the Grande Phiine. Each successive 
 storm of the first magnitude causes the construction of a new 
 beach, a little outside of the former one. Thus there has grown 
 up a sandy terrace which is over a mile wide, and is corrugated 
 with ridges and swales. The outer, newer ridges are very 
 
 'A largpr amount of tfstimony on tliU point is, of course, iliwirnblf, Ix-fore drnwinit 
 dennitr cunduHions. Tlie valuii of this evidence depends iilso upon the uHsuiiiption 
 that the sphagnum deposits have ha<i a continuous upward growth, riither than a 
 horiiontal growth out over the surface of pools, in the torn, of a mat, which niiffht 
 aink to the floor of the basin, after a time, in the manner suRKcsfed by Profesaor 
 Johnson. I am unable to say how far the latter process* hoD entered into the forma- 
 tion of the peat deposits here described. 
 
 > D. W. Johnson: The stability of the Atlantic coast. Bulletin of the Geolotpcal 
 Society of America, vol. 23, 1912, p. 740. 
 
 ' W. F. Ganong: The nascent forest of the Miscou Beach plain. Botanical Gaxette, 
 vol, 42, 1909, pp. 81-106. 
 
II 
 
 MCMVH ■ULLBTIN NO. I. 
 
 MUtdy and have rather pronounced back Mlopen. Their r '<■%%. 
 Hnea, which commonly stand four or five feet above the inter- 
 
 a//fc» PONT 
 
 ISHT HOUSt 
 
 ;*//«;"'. Dune Kidges 
 yjym. eraveliy beaches 
 <9 Walrus bones 
 
 SCALE 
 
 Fio. 8. M«p of the northwest part of Hinrou island, .ihowina the old beaches 
 of Grande Plaine (with slight modifications from W. F. Ganong). 
 
 vening hollows, are surprisingly iniform for dune ridges. Meas- 
 urements along the cre-t r* the outermost or newest ridge, in 
 
•orvoMW tmriDBMcM or •vmibbnii or nbw •kom»wick comt. 
 
 10 
 
 AuKuiit, 1911, gave altitude of 8-37, 771, 8-81, 8-97, 9-77, and 
 10-63 feet aU>ve high tide mark. In the hollowH, well within 
 the vertical range of storm wavc«, gravcU are common. The 
 ridgpit them<»clveM, however, no for &» they exceed the altitude 
 reached by the present xtorm wuven (5 65 feet above the high 
 tide mark) appear to be of wulian origin. Passing inland 
 acroHf) thifi zone of dune ridges, which on the old trail to Lake 
 Frye con»i»tM of twelve di^tinct meml)er«, one finds iMihind 
 them II large numbiT of flutter ridgex, formerly well clothed 
 with forest, now to a large extent Inid bare by the lumberman. 
 As ProfenHor Oanong hiw pointed out,' the crests of these 
 inner ridgcH ore Homcvhot lower than those neor the shore. 
 Herein lie.-* what appears to Ik- evidence of coastal nubsidence. 
 That the inner ))eacbeH are ut least a few centuries old \a inferred 
 from the presence on them of bones of w.ilrus, which were hunted 
 here in great numbers by the early French settlers, and exter- 
 minated shortly before the close of the eighteenth century.* 
 Professor Ganong's walrus bone locality is about half a mile 
 in from the sea, on the oute- members of the inner group of 
 beaches. From the published descriptions one would be led 
 to suspect that enough subsidence of the (toast had taken place, 
 in the century and a half since the slaying of the walrus, to give 
 the crests of these old beaches a perceptibly lower altitude than 
 the crest of the present bca<h. 
 
 In considering first the testimony of these walrus bones with 
 reference to the age of the lieachf on which they occur, we 
 may accept without hesitation tht view that the inner beach 
 ridges were formed prior to the close of the eighteenth century. 
 Furthermore, the absence of such bones from the outer ridges 
 seems to show that these have been built since the days of 
 walrus hunting, or since the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
 However, it ■. possible that the ridges which have furnished 
 the bones are of much earlier date than the walrus hunting 
 period, since, as Dr. John M. Clarke has pointed out to me, con- 
 
 ' W. K. fianong: On the physical Rflogrsphy o' Miscou. Bultrtin at the NktunI 
 History Society of New Brunswick, vol. 5, 1905. p. 459. 
 
 « W. V. Ganong: The walrus in New Brunswick. Bulletin of the Natunil Hi.story 
 Society of New Drunawick, vol. .1, 1903, pp. 240-241. Also, R. M. Chalmers; Geolog- 
 ical .Survey of C»i»da, Annual Report, 1887, Part N, p. 27. 
 
20 
 
 MCBCUII BCLLEnN NO. 1. 
 
 temporary accounts of walrus hunting tell of the practice of 
 driving the beasts from the waters or the floe ice up on to the 
 low shore platforms and even into the woods, where they were 
 shot at leisure. Possibly, then, some of the outer, barren 
 beaches were already in existence when the walrus were slain 
 in the woods close behind them, and the fossiliferou.s ridges are, 
 therefore, older than we have assumed. Keeping this possi- 
 bility in raind, we may say that the ridges in question date 
 back at least to 1775. If, now, we assume that the growth of 
 the beach plain, in the long run, has been steady, we may 
 estimate that the age of the innermost beaches, which are as 
 far behind the bone-bearing ridge-s as these are behind the 
 modern beach, is probably not less than 300 years. 
 
 Lines of levels were run from the shore across the plain to 
 Lake Frye, to determine what difference in height, if any, exists 
 among the beach ridges. The mea.surements follow:— 
 
 Last high tide mark on the beach, on August 3, 1911, at 9 a.m Ziro 
 
 (.ut at upper reach o( storm waves. . . 5-64 foet 
 
 CrcBtoflirst or outermost rid(?e, sandy.. , 904 
 
 " second 
 third 
 
 fourth 
 
 fifth 
 
 sii'.h 
 
 seventh 
 
 eighth 
 
 ninth 
 
 tenth 
 
 eleventh 
 
 twelftli 
 
 thirteenth 
 
 fourteenth 
 
 fifteenth 
 
 sixteenth 
 
 seventeenth 
 
 eighteenth 
 
 nineteenth 
 
 twentieth 
 
 twenty-first 
 
 twenty-second 
 
 twenty-third 
 
 twenty-fourth 
 
 twenty-fifth 
 
 twcnty-siith 
 
 twenty-seventh 
 
 twenty-eighth 
 
 gravelly 
 
 sandy.. 
 
 8 91 
 6-70 
 5-89 
 812 
 5 54 
 507 
 3-91 
 7-81 
 5 50 
 609 
 7-44 
 4-36 
 3-70 • 
 3-61 ' 
 3 56 ' 
 4-60 ' 
 4-64 • 
 3-97 • 
 3-92 ' 
 «-25 ' 
 3 04 ' 
 3-26 ' 
 3-25 ' 
 3-21 ' 
 3 43 ' 
 414 ' 
 4- 19 ' 
 
 As the measurements show, the outer ridges, from the first to 
 the twelfth, are on the average nearly three feet higher than the 
 inner ridges, from the thirteenth to the twenty-eighth. This 
 
SUPPOSBD BVIDENCES OF BUB8U)«NM OF MSW BRUNSWICK COABT 21 
 
 decrease in altitude, however, is by no means uniform. Indeed, 
 there is a rather sharp distinction between an outer, higher, 
 and more variable group, and an inner, lower, and more uniform 
 one. Of the ridges numbered from thirteen to twenty-eight, 
 the extreme crestline measurements are 3-04 and 4-64 feet— 
 a difference of scarcely 18 inches among them. There is also a 
 close approach to perfect horizontality in the crestline of any 
 single ridge of this group. As Professor Ganong remark:^, the 
 difference between the vegetation of the outer and the inner 
 ridges is very great.' There is an equally striking difference in 
 their structure. Ridges one to twelve inclusive are dune 
 ridges, of unusual linear uniformity and symmetry, to be sure, 
 but built throughout of wind-swept sand. In the hollows 
 between them, gravel frequently appears; but in no place, so 
 far as I could see, above the altitude which is reached by storm 
 waves on the present beach, i.e., 5-64 feet above high tide mark. 
 Ridges thirteen to twenty-six, on the other hand, are gravelly, 
 with pebbles of good size on the very surface. Many of them are 
 typical shingle beaches. Ridges twenty-seven and twenty- 
 eight have a veneer of sand, perhaps a foot thick, above the gra- 
 velly foundation. As a record of the former sea-level, therefore, 
 ridges thirteen to twenty-six are as valuable as a modern 
 storm beach; while ridges one to twelve, being dune ridges, have 
 relatively little significance. They are, on the average, about 
 three feet higher than the older ridges, not because the coast has 
 mbsided about three feet since the older ones were buUt, but because 
 the wind has heaped up sands on top of the outer gravel beaches 
 to an average depth of three feet. Any conclusion regarding 
 modern subsidence here must rest upon a comparison of the gravel 
 beaches with each other and with the gravel beaches along the 
 present shore. As already stated, the gravel ridges thirteen 
 to twenty-six are practically equal in height; and such small 
 differences as are brought out by the measurements are distribu- 
 ted unsystematically through the group. All the "ests are 
 vertically within the range of storm waves of to-day— 5- b4 
 feet above the high tide mark on the present beach. The most 
 significant comparison is that of the old ridges with a modern 
 
 ~\\. F. Canons: Op. cit. Botanicnl Gazette, vol. 42, 1906, p. 95. 
 
22 
 
 urUCU BULLETIN NO. 2. 
 
 Jtorm beach which encloses Lake Frye at its northern end. 
 This beach has a rrestline altitude, determined by instrumental 
 leveUmsr, of just 4 feet above high tide— the old ridges from 
 thirteen to twenty-six have an average crestline altitude of 3-82 
 feet. If the facts on Miscou Grande Plaine can be used as 
 evidence in this disputed question, therefore, they testify that in 
 the last three centuries or so, there has been no measurable 
 subsidence nor elevation of the coast. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Summing up the several lines of physiographic evidence 
 which have been presented by earlier writers, in support of the 
 view that subsidence is now in progress on the coast of New 
 Brunswick, we may draw the following conclu-^ions :— 
 
 (1) The rapid recession of cliffs and beaches along the coast 
 at the present tu.ie proves nothing cither for or against modern 
 subsidence. If the coast had been stable for centuries, the same 
 chff-cutting would be expected as has been described by investi 
 gators of the cartography and history of this coast. 
 
 (2) The presence of estuaries of the drowned valley type 
 proves that there has been submergence, and, in view of the 
 depth of the drowning over a wide area, coastal subsidence at 
 some time in the past. It proves nothing about modern or very 
 recent movements of the coast. In fact, the vallevs in question 
 seem to be products of pre-Glacial or interglacial stream erosion 
 drowned very deeply during the Champlain submergence, and 
 only partially lifted out again by the subsequent upwarping of 
 the H" ))n. 
 
 (3) Barrier beaches are not evidence of coastal subsidence. 
 They are normal features in the simplification of a shore-line 
 which is initially irregular, whatever the cause of that irregularity 
 may be. It is as natural to interpret the lagoons behind them as 
 bays, shut off by reefs which have grown up h^tween headlands 
 as It IS to regard them as river mouths which nave been drowned 
 since the barriers were formed. Indeed, the former explanation 
 IS the more natural one, since it involves only those processes 
 of shore drift and deposition which can be seen actually in 
 
8CPP08BD EVIDE. OEB OF BCBSIDENCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK COAST. 
 
 23 
 
 progress, while the latter supposes a downward movement of the 
 land which demands further demonstration. Inasmuch as 
 barriers arc known to have been constructed on the shores of 
 lakes in which no relative subsidence has occurred, and the pro- 
 cesses of shore drift, working alone, are competent to account 
 for them, the assumption that where such barriers occur tiie 
 coast has been subsiding is entirely gratuitous. 
 
 (4) The disappearance of the hooked ends of rc-ourved spits 
 beneath the surface of lagoons is not an evidence of coastal 
 subsidence. On the contrary, this is the form winch hooks 
 necessarily assume on shores where no chiiiige of level is m 
 
 progress^^. . , 
 
 (5) An examination of localities where trees have been said 
 to be dving from invasion by high tides does not afford as good 
 evidence as one might expect. If, as one may fairly question, 
 the dead trees at Pokcmouchc and Saint Simon rivers register 
 a submergence of the low upland border by salt water this 
 submergence may be due to recent increase in range of tide, 
 which in some estuaries might be considerable. On the other 
 hand, if this coa.st were subsi. iig fast enough to kill the trees, 
 this sort of evidence should be apparent in favourable situations 
 throughout the region-whi.h is distinctly not the case. 
 
 (6) The peat bogs or barrens of sphagnum and associated 
 fresh-water plants, whose bottoms have beon reported to reach 
 ten or fifteen feet depth below high tide mark, appear to extend 
 only two or three feet, at most, below that level. Inasmuch as 
 these bogs seem to have grown up in enclosed inland basins 
 before the sea encroached upon them, it is not impossible that the 
 basin floors, originally a few feet below high tide level, but not 
 below mean tide level, were cov, rr-^ with fresh water. The 
 fact that, so far as observed, anJ licasured, the bog deposits 
 approximate but do not exceed the depth of mean tide level .;' 
 itself reason for favouring the view that neither subsidence nor 
 elevation has taken place during their growth. 
 
 (7) A detailed survey of the beaches on Gra. Je Pluine, Miscou 
 island, which seem to register a period of at least three hundred 
 vears, indicates that so far as these are true wave-built beaches 
 they testify to coastal stability rather than coastal subsidence. 
 
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