IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■50 i"^™ lln^^l lA^ 11112.0 2.2 IIIIIM U III 1.6 % <^ /2 'ar 1843. Before this time, however, several efforts had been made by men who appreciated its importance, to establish a commission for the Geological and Minerological examina- tion of the Country, but it was only in 1841 that the Legislative As- sembly having voted a sum of £1500 for a geological exploration of the Province, the Governor, Sir Charles Bagot, named in 1842, Mr. W. E. Logan, as Geologist, and Mr. Alexander Murray, as Assistant Geologist, to put the project into execution. The exploration, being thus commenced, was continued under Lord Metcalfe by a second grant of £2000 a year for a period of five years from 1845, and in 1850 the Act was renewed under the administration of Lord Elgin, for a similar period. ' The Geological Exploration of Canada presents peculiar difficulties ; in old countries where civilization of many centuries has developed the mineral resources of the soil, where mines and quarries furnish every where facilities for studying the nature and arrangement of the different formations, where, finally, the labors of the Topographer have preceded those of the Geologist and given exact maps of the country, geological researches become comparatively easy. But, in a new country like Canada, all these things were wanting; the geologist was obliged to precede civilization, and, penetrating into unknown regions, to point out sources of mineral wealth hitherto unknown, preparing thus the way for the industry of civilized men who shall replace the savages. If we add to all these considerations that a geographical knowledge is an itidispen- sible preliminary to investigations of this nature, it has often been neccs. sary to combine topography with geology, and to make at the same time a geographical and geological map of the country, we may form some idea of the difficulties to be surmounted in the Geological Survey of Canada. Canada has an area of about 40,000 square leagues ; and the researches of Messrs. Logan and Murray, aided by those of Mr. Richardson, have already made known the geology of a great portion of this extent. Ac- 416 cording to the evidence given before a Committee of the Legislative Assembly, in October, 1854, it appears that the explorations up to that date, comprehended the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron, as well as all the great western basin of Canada, the valley of the St. Lawrence as far as the Gulf, the valleys of the Richelieu, Yamaska, St. Francis and Chaudicre, that of the Ottawa and its branches as far as Lake Temis- caming, as well as almost all that part of Lower Canada south of the St. Lawrence, including the district of Gasp6. To these geological labours must be added the topographical surveys of several rivers tribu- tary to Lakes Huron and Superior, of a great part of the Ottawa and its branches, as well as the surveys executed by Mr. Murray upon two lines of exploration between the Ottawa and Lake Huron, and the measure- ments of the principal rivers of Gaspe. Ail these topographical labours were only accessary to the Geological Survey, although necessary to its prosecution, and have greatly augmented the task of the Geological Commission. The Annual Reports of the Geological Survey form at present about 1200 pages in 8vo., summaries of the geological researches of each year, with descriptions of the economic materials met with in the progress of the investigation, as well as researches upon the rocks, minerals and soils of the country, by Mr. C. Sterry Hunt, who has, since 1847, been attached to the Geological Commission in the capacity of Chemist and Mineralogist. The inevitable expenses in a country where it has been necessary to carry on at the same time topographical and geological investigations, and to organize expeditions into regions still in a state of nature — have been such, that, notwithstanding the liberal sums accorded by the Pro- vincial Government for these researches, it has not been without con- siderable personal sacrifice on the part of its director, that the Geological Survey has been carried on up to the present time. At the last Session of the Legislative Assembly there was accorded the sum of £2,000 for the publication of a Geological Map of Canada, upon a scale of, 5^-oo(,, (having thus a length of more than six feet by a breadth of three feet,) to be accompanied by a condensed summary of all the Reports which have yet appeared. It is proposed, during the continuation of the Survey, to publish each year, besides the annual Report of Progress, a livraison of ten plates of the characteristic fossils of the different formations of Canada accompanied by a descriptive text, and also to give geological sections, with a minutely detailed geological Map on a large scale, which will be published in several parts to appear successively. The geological commission has secured, for the pateontology, the co- littlt in the catalo, a seal of the especia For structu assistar rocks Sterry Paris a 417 lative o that .^ell as nee as :is and remis- of the logical s tribu- and its vo lines leasure- labours :y to its lological nt about ich year, ogress of ;rals and i47, been mist and ;essary to itigations, Lte — have ly the Pro- [hout con- eological it Session 2,000 for le feet,) to rhich have |Survey, to ivraison of of Canada lI sections, ^'hich will operation of Mr. James Hall, of New York, who will direct the special studies required for the description, and publication of the fossil;*. This distinguished professor, so well known by his researches ujjon the geology of the United States, will soon publish a geological map of that country on the same scale as that of Canada, and as Mr. Logan has adopted the divisions established by Mr. Hall, in the pakeozoic rocks of the United States, their combined labours in these adjacent countries will give to the Geology of North Amcirica, a unity of plan which will greatly "facilitate future geological researches on the American continent. The Map of Canada, which is now being engraved in Paris, will be published before long. The Canadian government wishing to send to the Univen.al Exhibition at Paris a series of the economic minerals of the country, Mr. Logan was directed to collect them, and the minerals here exhibited, allhoui>:h in part, exhibited under the names of difl'erent individuals, were, with a few exceptions, collected by the p(;rsonal care of the members of the Geologi- cal T'ommission. In order to indicate the geological relations of these materials, Mr. Logan has exhibited at the same time a mapu})on a scale of uoo.VoTf) upon which he has brought together for the first time all the details of his geological labours; at the same time, as an explanation both of the map and the collection, we have thought proper to give in the little treatise which follows, a short account of the most interesting facts in the geology and mineralogy of Canada. We have added, moreover, a catalogue of the economic minerals of the country, and a small map, on a scale which is one-sixth of that about to be published. The g(!ology of the neighbouring States is taken from the Maps of American Geologists* especially from that of Mr. James Hall. For the geological facts, and for whatever relates to the physical structure of the country, all is due to Mr. Logan and his geological assistants ; the mineralogy, as well as the chemistry of the melamorphic rocks and the mineral waters, is the result of the reseanhes of Mr. T. Sterry Hunt, who has edited this little sketch. Paris, August 1st, 1855. gyi the co- B" The mounts ed as t\ been nj from th they lej more ai leagues tainous the Lac ward c Ontario of this Matchec 47th deg Superior Toth( able spa< Adirondf exposure his form as it bel Laurenti( tinguishe( SKETCH OF TBI GEOLOGY OF CANADA. THE LAURENTIDES. The province of Canada is traversed, through its whole length,"by a mountainous region, dividing it into two basins, which may be distinguish- ed as the Northern and the Southern basins. These mountains, which^have been named the Laurentides, form the North shore of the St. Lawrence, from the Gulf as far as Cape Tourment, near Quebec ; from which^point they leave the river, and while they follow its general direction become more and more remote, until near Montreal, they are at a distance of ten leagues from tho St. Lawrence. Going further Westward, this moun- tainous region follows tlie line of the Ottawu, and crosses this river near the Lac des Chats, fifty leagues from Montreal. Thence taking a South- ward direction, it reaches the St. Lawrence near the outlet of Lake Ontario and from this yioint running North-westward, the Southern limit of this formation, reaches the South-eastern extremity of Lake Huron, at Matchedash Bay, and forms the Eastern shore of tlu; lake as far as the 47th degree of latitude, where quitting this lake, the formation gains Lake Superior, and extends in a \orth-west direction to the Arctic Sea. To the South of the St. Lawrence, this same region covers a consider- able space between the Lakes Ontario and Chatnplain, and constitutes the Adirondack mountains. With this exception and perhaps also a small exposure in Arkansas and another near the sources of the Mississippi, his formation is not found to the South of the St. Lawrence, and as it belongs especially to the valley of this river and constitutes the Laurentide Mountains, the Geological Commission of Canada has dis- tinguished it by the name of the Laureniian system. Ther tary stn much di east and higher. America Finland Scotland The r schists, fi schists, i compose! times fir masses o are triclii anorthite cleavabk reflection rocks, bi them, in ; considera With tl with cr> formation hundred intercalat quartzite Associatet great part their origi and of iiin pure !i ne; The lira II THE LAURENTIAN SYSTEM. The rocks of this system are, almost without exception, ancient sedimen' tary strata, which have become highly crystalline. They have been very much disturbed and form ranges of hills, having a direction nearly North- east and South-west, rising to the height of 2,000 or 3,000 feet, and even higher. The rocks of this formation are the most ancient known on the American continent, and correspond probably to the oldest gneiss of Finland and Scandinavia, and to some similar rocks in tlie Norlh of Scotland. The rocks of the Laurentian formation are in great part crystalline schists, for the most part gneissoid or hornblendic. Associated with these schists, are found large stratified masses of a crystalline rock, which is composed almost entirely of a lime and soda felspar. This rock is s me- times line grained, but moro often porphyritic, and contains cleavable masses of felspar, sometimes several inches in diameter; these felspars are triclinic. and have ordinarily the composition of andesine, labradorite, anorthite, or of intermediate varieties. Their colours are various, but the cleavable felspars are generally bluish or reddish, and often give colored reflections. Hyparsthene is very generally disseminated in these felsp ithic rocks, but always in small quantity. Titanic iron-ore is also found in them, in a great number of places, sometimes in small grains, but often in considerable masses. With these schists and felspars are found strata of quartzite, associated with crystalline limestones, which occupy an important place in this formation. These limestones occur in beds of from a few feet to three hundred feet m thickness, and often present a succession of thin beds intercalated with beds of gneiss or quartzite ; these latter are sometimes quartzite conglcKpfiiMes, and have in certain cases a base of dolomite, Associated with ^i4«e limestones, are sometimes found beds composed in great part of wollastonite and of pyroxene, species which evidently owe their origin to the metamorphism of silicious limestones. Beds of dolomite and of limestone more or le.s3 magnesian, are often interstratitied with the pure li nestones of this formation. The limestones of this system are rarely compact, and most frequently 422 are coarsely granuteil. They are white or reddish, bluish or grayish, and these colours are often arranged in bands which coincide with the Btratifi- cation. The principal mineral species met with in these limestones, are apatite, fluor, serpentine, phlogopite, scapolite, orthoclase. pyroxene, horn- blende, wollastonite, ([uurtz, idocrase, garnet, brown tourmaline, condrodite, spinel, corindum, zircon, sphene, magnetic and specular iron, and graphite. The condrodite and graphite are often arranged in bands parallel with the stratification. Beds of a mixture of wollastonite and pyroxene are some- times met with, which are very rich in zircon, sphene, garnet and idocrase. The most crystalline varieties of these limestones often exhale a very fetid odour when bruised. The limestones of this formation do not yield everywhere well crystallized minerals ; near the bay of Quinte there are met with beds which still preserve the .sedimentary character, and show only the commencetnent of metamorphisin. The conditions in which they are sometimes found, indicate that the agents which have rendered these limestones crystalline, have been such as to render the carbonate of lime almost liquid, and that, while in that state, it has undergone great pressure. As evidence of this opinion, we find that the limestone often fills fissures in the adjacent silicious strata, and envelopes the detached, and often, folded fragments of these less fusible beds precisely like an igneous rock. The crystalline schists, felspars, quartzites and felsj)ars which we have described, make up the stratified portion of the Laurentian system, but there are besides, intrusive granites, syenites and diorites, which form important masses ; the granites are sometimes albitic. and often contain black tournoline mica in large plates, zircon and sulphuret of molybdenor. Among the economic minerals of this formation, the ores of iron are the most important, and are generally found associated with the lime- stones. The magnetic iron ore wiiich supplies the forges of Marmora, C. W., is brought from Belmont, where it forms a succession of beds as- sociated with crystalline limeij^tone and a greenish lalcons slate. The strata are here arranged in the form of a basin, and the iron ore predomi- nates for a thickness of more than 100 feet. A few miles distant from this locality, in the Township of Madoc, there has been wrought a bed of magnetic iron ore which occurs in a micaceous schist and has a thick- ness of 25 or 30 feet. The ore, which is very fine grained, often possesses magnetic polarity, and contains a mixture of small quantities of actyno- lite with a little yellow uranite ; it furnishes an iron of superior quality. Many other masses of this kind of ore are found in the surrounding region ; that of South wSherbrooke has a thickness of 60 feet, and that of Crosby on the llideau is nearly two hundred feet thick. At Hull on the Otta\ stratf lity. time? A ( inagn this s] stone Murra of a ] Lake The ealcan dissoni in thic] alread\ met wi dircctic small q ous, yic of ore. I Vei in the apjiears Lanor; there i cubic ai there i« portion York h Gra| line lim ness. which descripi a. Ihieki orthoda phite ha these lin that of metallic n; w 423 ih, and tratifi- es, are 1, horn- Irodite, aphite. nth the i some- let and I exhale 1 do not ,te there nd show that the een such B in that nion, we IS strata, iiese less we have stem, but lich form n contain ybdenor. iron are the lime- Marmora, beds as- alo. The 3 predomi- tant from ght a bed as a thick- possesses of actyno- or quality, irrounding and that of lull on the i Ottawa, a bed of ore 100 feet thick is exposed by an undulation of the strata forming a sort of dome, so that tlie ore is wrought with great faci- lity. These ores are for the most part pure magnetic oxyde of iron, some- times mixed with a few hundreths of mica or quartz. A compact variety of oligist ore, (rod hematite,) often replaces the magnetic ore in this formation. At Maenab upon tiie Ottawa, a bed of this species twenty-five feet in thickness, is found in tlie crystalline lime- stone ; the ore is mixed with a little silica and carbonate of lime. Mr. Murray of the Geological Commission, has lately recognized the existence of a large extent of eryrstalline oligist on; upon one of the islands of Lake Nippissing. The limeslone of \\w Laurentian sy.stem are often traversed by veins of calcareous spar and sulphate of baryta, containing sulphuret of lead in disseminated masses, or in vcmn which are often two or three inches in thickness. One of thes(/ localities inihe township of Lansdowne is already explored ; what appears to be a (continuation of the same vein, is met with in the township of Bedford ; these localilies are in a general direction N.E. and S.W. The galena is sometimes accompanied with small (luantitiesof blende and iron j)yritcs ; it is very slightly argentifer- ous, yielding by coupellation only about two ounces of sHver to the ton of ore. Veins containing copper pyrites have been observed in several localities in the Laurentian system ; but the t[uantity of metal which ihey contain, appears very inconsiderable. One of these localilies is in the Seigniory of Lanoraie, in the county of lierthier, and near to it in the same Seigniory there is a vein of quartz 40 feet wide containing a great quantity of, cubic and magnetic pyrites. In ihe neighbouring Seigniory of Daillebout there is found a considerable vein of cubic iron pyrites, containing small portions of cobalt and nickel; this same formation in the State of New York has furnished crystallized sulphuret of nickel. Graphite is very frequently disseminated in small plates in the; crystal- line limestone, and also forms veins, sometimes of considerable thick- ness. Near Grcnville, on the Ottaw;i, arc two of these veins, one of which was wrought some years since. The graphite, according to the description of Mr. Logan, there forms three detached vcuns, each having a thickness of about five inches, and is accompanied by wollastonite, orthodase, idocrase, garnet, zircon, and sphene. Fine specimens of gra- phite have also been found in several other localities. The gra^jhite of these limestones being very crystalline and lamellar, cannot be sawn like that of Cumberland, and besides, its colour is grayish and its lustre metallic, so that it is nc t suited to the manufacture of {)eneils. Ft may, 424 however, bo very woU employed for the fabrication of n^fractory crucibles. The sulphiite of baryta which is now very much employed in the fabrication of paints is common in tin? Laurentian formation. The gangue of the lead veins already mentioned, often consists of this mineral, and in a portion of that of Landsdowne in which the galena disappears, the vein which has a breadth of about two and a half feet, is filled witli pure sulphate of baryta, often in large crystal. Uathurst and Macnab are also localities of this mineral. The titaniferous iron-ores of this formation merit the attention of mi- neralogists by their abundance as well as by their associations ; although these minerals are not adapted to the production ol iron, when they con- tain a large proportion of titanic acid, they may becoine important as sources of titanium. 'J'he principal deposits of titanic iron in Canada, are at Baie-St.-Paul, where a singh^ mass of 90 feet in breadth and 300 feet in length occurs with many other smaller ones in a rock which is chiefly composed of a triclinic felspar. The ore which is granular has the composition of the ilmenite of the Ural Mountains ; it gave to Mr. Hunt titanic acid 48,00, protoxyd of iron 37,00, peroxyde of iron 10,42, magnesia 3,00=99,08 ; it contains in some parts, a considerable proportion of orange-red transparent grains which are pure titanic acid and belong to the species rutile or brookite. The felspathie rocks of this formation in several other localities, contain titanic iron often in small masses an inch or more in thickness and always marking the lines of stratification. If, in the progress of chemical science, titanium or its compounds should ever become important in the arts, these localities of Lower Canada will afford inexhaustible supplies fif titanic iron-ore. The crystalline limestone near Grenville furnishes a great quantity of mica in large crystals, capable of being divided into very thin plates, having a length and breadth of from twelve to twenty inches, and perfectly homogeneous and transparent. This locality is already wrought, and the mica is largely employed in the construclion of stoves and lanterns. The gneiss and quartz rock of the Laurentian syst(^m furaish in many localities excellent building materials, but, as these rocks occur for the most part in regions as yet but little inhabited, and as they ai;e besides, more difficult to work than the silurian limestones, these harder materials are as yet but little explored. The Laurentian limestones furnish a white marble which is often marked with bluish or grayish undulation, as for example that of Arnprior ; or it is mixed with grains of green serpentine as the marble which is wrought at Grenville. These limestones are 425 fine-grained, but the dolomite of lake Mazinavv may be compared with the marble of Carrara. Among the min(;rals in thix formation having an economic!] value, we must not forget the phosphate of lime ho j)reeiouH for agriculture, which is often met with in these crystalline lime stones. In the township of Burgess, there is a remarkable locality of this mineral in abed of coarse- grained reddish limestone, containing also large crystals of mica. The phosphate of lime of a pale green colour, often forms long prisms two or three inches in diameter ; the angles of these crystals are never very well defined, and the mineral often takes th(! shape of rounded masses, giving to the limestone that aspect of a conglomerate, and recalling those beds of Silurian limestones which we find filled with coprolites composed of phosphate of lime. The proportion of phosphate of lime in the limestone of Burgess, may be estimated at about one-third of the mass. As stones capable of being employee! for the purposes of ornament, we may cite from this formation the aventurlne felspar to which Thompson gave the name of perthile, but which is an orthoclase, and the pcristC' rite of the same author which is a white translucent albite, remarkable lor its beautiful reflections of blue, yellow and green, resembling those of labradorite. A beautiful variety of this latter species, which we have already stated to be abundant in the hyperstenic rocks, is found in several places in erratic blocks, and exists in place, in the seigniory of Mille- Isles. In the township of Burgess a red variety of corumdum resembling the ruby, is found in small quantities, and the red zircons of Grenville are sometimes transparent and of a fiae colour, constituting veritable gems. The sandsti ofgree: As thei aflbrdc system upon L silex, r Thes repose becom( of a re sandstc green st mation Superk numbe In th sandstc on lak crates i format i limesto Logan ! irrupt io dykes i eruptior recent. quartz, zeolites, thompst prelnite traverse Ill THE rniRUiMAN Ok CAMBRIAN SYSTEM. The shores of lakt friiron and Siipf-rior olll-r a Murirs of schists, sandstones, liinestones and ' "nj^lonierates inttir?^tratifii'd with heavy beds of greenstone, and resting unconforinahly upon the Laiiniitian formation. As these rocks underly those of the siiurian system, and have not as yet aflorded any fossils, they itiay probably be referred to the Cambrian system (lower Cambrian of Sedgwick.) The schists of this system upon Lake Superior are bluish in colour, and contain beds of elurty, silex, marked by calcareous bands, and holding anthracite in its fissures. These are covered by a considtirabk^ thickness of trap, upon which repose massive beds of red and white sandstone which sometimes becomes conglomerate and contains pebbles of (piartz and jasper. Beds of a reddisli argillacous limestone are often interslratifietl with these sandstones, which are intersected and overlaid by a s(!Cond (eruption of greenstone of great thickness and columnar in its siniclure. This for- mation, which, according to the observations of Mr. Logan, has, on lake Superior a total thickness of about 12,000 fe(!t, is traversed by a vast number of trappcan dykes. In the corresponding formation on the north shore of lake Huron, the sandstones are more vitreous and the conglomerates more abundant than on lake Superior; they are, however, associated with conglom- erates and schists similar to those we here just described, and the formation ofiers great intercolated masses of gre«'nstone. A band of limestone, fifty feet in thickness forms a part of this series to which Mr. Logan assigns a thickness of about 10,000 feet. He has shown after the irruption of the interstratificd greenslon(>s, that of two systems of trap dykes and a third t)f granite, intermt^diate in time between the two eruptions of trap. The formation of the metalliferous veins is still more recent. The principal mineral species of these veins are native copper, quartz, calc-spar, dolomite, iluor, and sulphate of l^aryta with several zeolites, of which laumonitc is the most common, heulandite, stilbite, thompsonite, apophyllite and analcime are also met with, as well as prelnite and datholite. These veins are only metalliferous where they traverse the beds of greenstones. 428 The most important localities of native copper are the islands near Nepigon Bay, lake Superior. Upon the island of St. Ignace a vein coincident with the stratification, has been traced from one end of the island to the other. This vein affords, whenever it has been explored, native copper often finely crystallized and associated with gray copper ore. Native copper has also been wrought on Michipicofen islands, at Maimanse and at Mica Bay, on the Eastern shore of the lake, where it is associated with gray sulphuret of copper and with copper pyrites. Native silver, often well crystallized, accompanies ihe copper in all the localities indicated in Michipicoten and St. Ignace islands. At Prince's mine on Spar Island, this metal is found in a vein of quartz and calcareous spar accompanied with sulphuret of silver and copper, blende, galena, malachite and arseniated cobalt. The native silver occurs in the form of little laminaj in the calcareous spar; several essays upon a mass of -several hundred pounds weight, have yielded from three to four per cent of silver, containing traces of gold. Upon Michipicoten Island arsenical nickel is found with an arseniuret of copper (domeykite) and a green hydrated silicate of nickel and alumina containing 31 per cent of oxyd of nickel. Nickel is also found at Wallace mine on lake Huron as an arsenical sulphuret associated with pyrites ; this ore furnishes 13 per cent of nickel with a liale cobalt. The veins as yet examined on Lake Huron do not contain native copper ; copper pyrites are there the predominant ore, but the Bruce mines have furnished considerable quantities of gray sulpliment, and of varie- gated copper ore In a gaugue of quartz with heavy spar and dolomite. At Wallace's mine, at Root River, and at Echo Lake, there are also large veins where the metal is found in the form of copper pyrites. This Huronian formation Is known for a distance of about 150 leagues upon Lakes Huron and Superior, and everywhere offers metalli- ferous veins, which have as yet been very little explored. It cannot, however, be doubted, that this region contains metallic deposits, which win one day become sources of great wealtii to Canada. The coal formation of the neighboring State of Michigan will then furnish the com- bustible required for melting the ores. near vein .f the ored, opper is, at e it is fative ilities ne on s spar alena, ■i form ass of !r cent enical green f oxyd I as an 13 per native I mines f varie- lomite. io large mt 150 iietalli- cannot, , which le coal ae com- IV. THE PALAEOZOIC FORMATIONS. Upon the islands of the north of Lake Huron a series of fossiliferous strata is found to repose horizontally upon the inclined strata of the Huronian formation, but, further south, these fossiliferous rocks rest directly upon those of the laurentian system, throughout the whole of their outcrop in the valley of the St. Lawrence. These fossiliferous strata correspond to the oldest fossiliferous rocks of Europe designated by Murchison as the Silurian system, but forming the upper cambrian of Sedgwick. To this formation succeeds the upper silurian system of Murchison (Silurian of Sedgwick) and the devonian ; these groups, with the excep- tion of a small area of the carboniferous system, occupy the whole of the Canadian portion of that great basin which is bounded to the north by the Laurentian and Huronian systems. Mr. Logan has shown that the basin thus indicated may be divided into two parts by an anile! inal axis, which, following the valley of the Hudson and of Lake f'hamplain, enters Canada near Missisquoi Bay, and thence, running Noil h-West, reaches the St. Lawrence near Descham- bault, ten leagues we^^l of Quebec. The western portion would then form a subordinate basin containing the Apalachian, Michigan and Illinois coal fields, while the eastern portion would embrace the coal fields of New Brunswick and ^lassachusetts. The rocks of these two basins present remarkable diflerences in their chemical and physical conditions. The formations of the western basin are nearly horizontal, and ofl'er a perfect conformity, while in those of the east, there is discord- ance between the upper and lower silurian, and between the devonian and carboniferous formations. The strata of the eastern basin are more- over very much folded and contorted, and have in some parts undergone profound chemical and inineralogical changes. We shall first give a description of the sedimentary deposits of the western basin. Re base* quart comii this f( some It is^ most { all its (lime, that of a gern positio Th name whic of whi feel on from 5 have impres dreuil, tion of dimini Upor ferous terized species lime st( divlsior Trenton THE WESTERN BASIN. liferous of the directly outcrop respond irchison 3gwick. irchison e excep- jvhole of he north divided y of the loi Bay, escham- ald then an and he coal lese two )hysical rizontal, (liscord- evonian ire inore- ndergone st give a Reposing upon the Laurentian and Cambrian {rocks)^ and from the base of the palaeozoic series is found a sandstone, which is often purely quartzose, but sometimes {colored) by a mixture of oxyd of iron, and be- coming slightly calcareous in its western prolongation. The fossils of this formation are few in number, being limited to two species of Lingula^ some fucoids, and those impressions which have been named Scolithus. It is worthy of remark that the germ Lingula which characterizes the most ancient formations, still exists in tropical seas, and that the shells of all its species, both recent & fossil, are composed in great part of plurplatic (lime,) having a composition different from other shells and identical with that of the bones of vertebrate animals. The different species of Orpicula a germ closely allied to Lingula and the conulariao&ex a simular com- position. This sandstone to which the Geologists of New York have given the name of the Potsdam Sandstone often bears the foot prints of an animal which is regarded by Prof. Owen of London as a species of Crustacea of which we have perhaps no living analogue. The impression of the feet on each side are very near to each other, but the width of the tracks from 5 to Vl inches, and there is an intermediate groove which appears to have been made by the tail of the animal. Prof. Owen has given to these impressions the name of protechnites. They are very abundant at Vau- dreuil, St Anne and many other localities. Tiie thickness of this forma- tion of sandstone in the Eastern part of Canada is about 300 feet, but it diminishes towards the Wc^;t. Upon the Potsdam Sandstone reposes a formation known as the calci- ferous sandstone having at the East u thickness of 250 feet and it is charac- terized by peculiar organic remains among which are fucoids and several species of gasteropods. To the calciferous sandstone succeeds a mass of lime stone in which the New York Geologists have recognized four divisions designated by the names of Chazy, Birdseye, Black River and Trenton, each of these is characterized by particular fossils At Montreal 432 this group has a thickness of about 1200 feet, and presents at its base massive greyish beds ; towards the upper part the limestones became black and bituminous, and are intercalated with black shales which form the commencement of the succeeding formation. Towards the west, these limestones are less abundant and the divisions not so well marked : upon the Manitoulin Islands, according to Mr. Murray, their total thickness does not exceed 300 feet. These limestones are often very rich in fossils, which are sometimes silicified ; near Ottawa the casts of Orthoceroe and of some other fossils occur in a granular ferruginous dolomite, while the (encasing) limestone contains no carbonate of magnesia. In the Chazy limestone near Haw- kesbury as well as in a bed of sandstone at AUumette Island, belonging probably to the summit of calciferous sandstone there, are found rounded masses from one to three-fourths of an incii in diameter, consisting in great part of phosphate of lime, and apparently composed of the exuviae of ani- mals subsisting on the phosphatic shells just mentioned which are very abundant in these same beds. Fragments of Lingula are often visible in the interior of these coprolites, which yield by analyses, from 36 to 46 per cent, of phosphate of lime, with a little fluorid and carbonate, and portions of magnesia and oxyd of iron. The residue is silicious sand, with two or three per cent, of organic matter, which exhales ammonia with an animal odour when the coprolites are tested. The formation which rests upon the Trenton limestone ig known by the name of the Uiica Slates ; these slates are black, bituminous and very fragile, containing abundance of graptolites, and having a thickness of from 60 to 100 feet. To the Utica slates succeeds a series of bluish or grayish schists, inter- calated with thin beds of sandstone and limestone. This series which is often very fossiliferouG belongs to the Hudson River group of the New York Geologists, and attains in Lower Canada a thickness of about 1500 feet ; on Lake Huron, however, it is reduced to about 200 feet. Resting upon this last series we find in the western part of Canada, a red argillaceous sandstone, known as the Medina sandstone and regarded as the base of the upper silurian system. At the western extremity of Lake Ontario, this sandstone has a thickness of 600 feet, but it becomes thin- ner towards the west, and appears to be wanting in the eastern basin. It is followed by a series of limestone and fossiliferous shales of no great thickness, known as the Clinton Group ; and overlaid by massive beds of bituminous limestone, known as Niagara limestone. This formation pre- sents an elevated plateau at the Falls of Niagara, while foUowingat a little distance the S. W. shore of Lake Ontario, is prolonged to Cabots Head, \ Til polisj a gn^ founc furnij remal marl j)act of thi wheii tainel furnil chara trace! Loud Rivej 433 its base became 1 which irds the so well ^Y: their melimes er fossils mestone ar Haw- elonging rounded y in great 8B of ani- 1 are very n visible i 36 to 46 nate, and ■)us sand, ammonia formation the Viica iontaining ) 100 feet. ists, inler- ies which f the New ibout 1500 Canada, a J regarded ly of Lake omes thin- i basin. It of no great live beds of mationpre- igat a little ibots Head, 1 upon Lake Huron, and thencu to the Manitoulin Islands. The upper beds of this formiition, often contiiin cavities filled with crystals of cal- careous spar, dolomite, sulphate of baryta, (lour, celcstine, selenite and anhydrite, sometimes with blende and galena. The combined thickness of the Clinton and Niagara groups on Lake Ontario if^ about 200 feet, but uj)on the Manitoulin Islands it rises to nearly GOO feet. To this formation succeeds a formation of shales and limestones known by the names of the Oypsiferous Group and the Onondago Salt Group wliicli is followed by beds of limestone containing Dellhyris and Peniamerufi. These lime- stones form the summit of the upper silurian system, which attains be- tween the Lakes Erie and Ontario, a total thickness of about 1 100 feet. The base of the Devonian Si/sfem, in the State of New York, is the Or iskany sandstone represented in Canada by a white qnartzose sandstone of little thickness upon which rests the cor niferous limestone of the New York Geologists, the two forming together what they have n.jued the upper Helderberg series. To these rocks succeed black bitruuinous shales known as the Hamilton Group. This is the highest formation met with in Western Canada, but in the neighboring Slates of Michigan and New York, we meet with the upper portion of the Devonian system in the form of massive sandstones intercalated with shales, and divided by the \ew York Geologists into the Portage and Chemung Group^ and the Catskill Mi'Untain Group. This last is regarded as the equivalent of tlu; old red sandstone of England, and immediately underlies the carboniferous sys- tem. The fossiliferous limestones of Montreal and St. Dominicpie take a fine polish and are employed as marbles; they exhibit white fossil form upon a gray or bluish gray ground. At Missisquoi Bay, and at Cornwall, is found a fine black marble, which belongs to the Trenton litno'one. St. Lin furnishes large slabs of a beautiful reddish gray marble, fiUc with organic remains, especially with corals which have a bright red olour. This marble belongs to the Chazy division, which at Pakenham, gives a com- pact chocolate-brown marble susceptible of a very fine polish. The rocks of the Hudson River Group and the Trenton limestone furnish every- where good material for building and paving The Chazy limestone con- taines an argillaceous bed which is largely wrought on the Ottawa, and furnishes the hydraulic cement of Hull, which is much esteemed. This bed characterized by the proximity of a layer filled with Cj/t/iere, has been traced over a large area and furnishes a hydraulic cement at Kingston and Loughboro'. At Quebec a black limestone belonging to the Hudson River group, yields also a very valuable cement. The Thorold cement 434 so widely used, is derived from the base of the Niagara limestone while the gypsiferous formation at Cayuga, at Paris, upon the Grand Kiver, and at Point Douglas on Lake Huron fuinishes a cement which hardens very rapidly under water. The chazy limestone in the vicinity of Marmora, contains beds of a superior lithographic stone in large quantities. The same stone may be traced at intervals as far as Lake Couchiching a distance of about 75 leagues. The gypsum qu ^rries of the upper Silurian rocks are very important, and are found all along the outcrop of the so called gypsiferous forma- tion. The principal quarries wrought are in the townships of Dumfries, Brantford, Oneida and Cayuga. The gypsum is chiefly employed in the country as a maniire or calcined as plaster of Paris. But apart from the domestic consumption, the townships of Oneida and Cayuga furnished last year 7000 tons for exportation to the United States. These gypsums are of recent origin ; they occur in the form of mounds, which penetrate the ])alteozoic strata, and even the overlying clays of recent date. The beds of limestone which surrounds them are upraised, broken, and in great part absorbed. Mr. Sterry Hunt, of the Canadian Geological Com- mission has shown that these phenomena are due to certain springs con- taining free sulphuric acid which acting upon the carbonate of lime have changed it into gypsum. {See Oomptes Rendus deVAcademiedes Sciences, 1855, 1st Semeslre p. 1348.) Tlie Utica slates which are some- times liiglily bituminous are worthy of attention as sources of oils and bituminous matters, but as yet no experiments have been made with them from an industrial point of view. The Hamillon shales are still more bituminous and furnish in many parts of Western Canuada, springs of petroleum, as those upon the Thames and in Enniskillcn where there are several superficial layers 'of asphalt, wliich apj)ears to have been produced by the transformation of petroleum. The largest deposit of asphalt covers three acres, and there is another of half an acre with a thickness in some parts of two feet. This matter furnishes by distillation among other products a great quantity of naphtha. gi near careol matte thickj and have centrd Medii B while rer, and ;ns very ids of a may be bout 75 iportant, i forma- amfries, id in the from the irnished gypsums )enetrate te. The , and in ;al Com- ings con- of lime iemie des ire some- oils and ide with in many ipon the layers 'of nation of md there two feet, t quantity VI. THE EASTERN BASIN. We have already indicated the existence of an anticlinal axis which divided in two parts the palaeozoic region of Canada. Upon the line of this axis the most recent formation (with the exception of the quaternary deposits) is the lower portion of the Hudson River group, distinguished by the name of the Lorraine or Richelieu shales. In the Yamaska valley an outcrop of the Trenton limestone marks this anticlinal line which separates the two basins. Not far to the east of this limestone, we fmd reposing upon the Richelieu shales a series of sedimentary rocks which constitute the upper part of the Hudson River group, but which aie entirely wanting in the western basin from which they huve probably been removed by denudation. This series is coin[)osed of massive grayish sandstone, often calcareous, associated with schists, gray, green, and red near the summit, and with other schists black bituminous and graptolitic. In some parts of this formation the sandstone becomes con- glomerate and encloses great fragments of the inferior tbssiliferous forma- tions. More frequently however these sandstones pass into a bituminous limestone containing fossils, and mixed with magnesia, oxyd of iron or silicious sand. These limestones are intercalated with silicious and bituminous dolomite which weathers yellow and contains a portion of car- bonate of iron ; the dolomite a[)pcars in some parts to be replaced by a ferruginous and silicious carbonate of magnesia. This series of rocks forms the heights of Point-Levi and Quebec, where it has a thickness of 1000 feet. To this Quebec formation, succeed red and green schists holding little bands of calcareous matter, and intercalated, especially near the summit, with great masses of quartzose sandstone, often cal- careous, and coloured reddish or greenish by a mixture of argillaceous matter. This series of sandstones and schists which may have a total thickness of 300 feet, has been named by Mr. Logan the Sillery group, and appears to be the equivalent of that which the New York Geogolists have designated as the Shawangunk or Oneida conglomerate, which in central New York is interposed between the Richelieu shales and the Medina sandstone. This Sillery group like that of Quebec is wanting 43() in Wostern Canada, but to the east tlie two may be traced as lar as the southern extremity of the Apalhichian coal basin. The Sillery group offers but very few organic remains ; at Riviere Quelle, however the sandstone has furnished bodies composed of phosphate of lime, and resembling fragments of bones. In the same locality also a bed of conglomerate with a calcareous base contains a great number of what appear to be coprolites ; they arc composed of phosphate of lime with a little corbonate, some animal matter, and 10 or 1 2 per cent, of oxyd of iron, and are intermingled with a large quantity of iron pyrites in small radiated globules. This association appears to be due to the re- ducing action of organic matters upon a neutral proto-sulphate of iron which would furnish at the same time bisulphuret and oxyd of iron. The graptolitic shales of Point- Levi also contain coprolites. Upon the Quebec and Sillery groups, which form the northern shore of the peninsula of Gaspe, repose unconformably about 200 feet of fossililerous limestones and shales which represent the upper silurian system, and to tiiese succeed 7000 feet of devonian sandstones interstra- tified with red shales. Upon the Southern shore of Gaspe the upturned edges of these devonian strata are overlaid by 3000 feet of horizontal beds of ;i sandstone, the mill stone grit which forms the base of the New Brunswick coal-field, but they are themselves destitute of coal. The fossiliferous limestones of Gaspe mny be followed to the S. W. as far as Lake Mempluainagog upon the line of tlie United States, and from thence they continue southwards in the valley of the Coiniccticut until they are concealed by the triassic sandstones of Massachusetts, affording a continuous outcrop of 700 miles. The devonian system, which is purely silicious in Gaspe, presents towards the S. W. some beds of limestone, which are found associated with the upper silurian limesKmes, in the line of the great valley just indicated. a belt 1 north-v whole " precise that t metam The cJ remar and ta With which are ac( The the eh nointr which actions of mi} analysi and th nesites oxvd serpen s far as ? Ouclle, plmte of Iso a bed mber of of lime cent, of n pyrites to the re- > of iron of iron. rn shore feet of Silurian interstra- upturned lorizontal the New W. as far Din thence they are ontinuous ilieious in are found reat valley vir. THE METAMORPHIC IlOCKS. The rocks of the eastern basin have been disturbed by successive fold- ings and dislocations, and form a series of parallel niontain ranges which belong to the Apallachien pystcin and which, traversing the province of Canada, in a south-west direction, may be traced as far as the State of Ala- bama, in latitude 34° N. Some of these mountains in Canada attain a height of over 4000 feet. The rocks of this mountainous region have been very nuich metamorphosed and rendered crystalline by chemical action, so that the fossils are for the greater part obliterated. The rocks thus altered belong to the Hudson River group and to that of Siliery, and they form a belt having an average breadth of about 40 miles, which limits to the north-west the valley occupied by the supeiior liiiiGstoiics throughout its whole length. The direction of this mctamorphic belt does not coincide precisely with that of the undulations of the region, from which it results that the latter, in their northern prolongation, pass out of the limits of the metainor[)hic region and present the strata with their characteristic fossils. The changes which these sedimentary strata have undergone are often very remarkable, some of the beds have been converted into chloritic, micaceous and talcous schist and others into felspalhic, hornblendic and e])i(lotic rocks. With the talene schists and agillites are intercalated beds of serpentine, which have already been traced for a distance of 150 miles in Canada and are accompanied by limestone, dolomite, magnesite and diallage. The investigations of the Geological Commission go to show that during the changes which these sedimentary rocks have undergone, there has been no introduction of foreign materials, but that on the contrary all the minerals which are found in these crystalline strata have been produced by the re- actions and chemical combinations of the matters already existing in a state of mixture in the sediments. The unaltered argilaceous schists yield by analysis four or five i)er cent, of alkali which suffices to form the felspar and the micas foimd in the crystaline schists; the tlolomites and the mag- nesites always contain a large amount of silica and very often a portion of oxyd of chromium which under the form of chromic iron characterises the serpentines of this region. The sedimentary origin of these serpentines is i! 438 very evident and they are probably the result of an action between silica and carbonate of magnesia in presence of water, and aided by a somewhat elevated temperature. Bischoff has shown that silica even in its insoluble modification decomposes the carbonate of Hmc, magnesia and iron, in con- tact with water at 100'' centigrade. A similar reaction with highly silicious magnesites would furnish a hydrated silicate which is no other than ser- pentine, and with the dolomites would result amphiboles and diallages. Magnesites containing less silica would yield talcs and steatites, while dol- omites containing too little silica to form amphiboles would give rise to the mixtures of serpentine with carbonate of lime so common in these strata. Among the unctuous schists possessing a pearly lustre there are many which arc not magncsian but owe their physical characters to a micaceous mineral, which in certain cases at least is a hydrous silicate of alumina, idential with the pholerite of cuillemin. It is worthy of remark that the principal minerals of these metamorphic rocks are hydrated, as for example, the serpentine, talc, chlorite and pholerite ; the diallage is also hydrated. Among the anhydronus specise which these rocks contain, wc may mention pyroxene, orthoclase,epidote, and more rarely garnet, sphen.' and tourma- line. As we approach the north-western limit of the metamorphic region, it is easy to observe the gradual transition by which the schists lose their chloritic and nacreous aspect, and assume their original sedimentary charac- ter. Beyond the limits of the metamorphism, but in a region where the rocks are still much disturbed, there are found fissures filled with a black, bituminous and very fragile material, which sor.jetimes forms botryordal massrs. This matter loses by a strong heat 20 per cent, of volatile by hy- drocarbons and leaves a pulverulent charcoal which burns with difficulty being only a few thousanthes of ash. This substance which is very common in the formations of Sillery and Quebec appears to have been derived from the bitumen of the palaeozoic rocks, which volatilized by heat has been con- densed in fissures, where it has subsequently undergone such changes as have caused it to lose its volatility, and converted it into a coal-like material. In the County of Ga-:pe, the limestone of the upper silurian sytem, which have suffered no mineralogical changes, rest upon the metamorphosed strata of lower silurian, and frequently enclose fragments of these latter, but towards the south-west, the fossils of these limestones show proofs of a commencement of such metamorphisii ,and in the valleys of the river St. Francis and of Lake Memphramagog, the limostone become crystalline and mhaceous, although the fossils of the upper silurian and devonian epochs may be still recognized upon weathered surfaces and in thin sections dolo inch d.39 of the limestones. Towards the south-eiist those crystaHiiie limestones are overlaid by micaceous schists more or less calcareous, associated with chiastolite slates, quartzites and hornblendic rocks containing garnets, the whole being altered palaeozoic strata, and penetrated by {i;runites of the devotiian epoch. The facts which we have cited shew that the metamor- phic action in this region, as well as the force which produced the undula- tions of the strata was prolonged up to the end of the palaeozoic epoch. The crystalline strata just described contain many metallic veins which traverse both the upper and lower silurian rocks, and these veins, together with the mineral contents of the metanjorphic strata themselves make tliis region very interesting in an economic p; int of view. A series of highly ferruginous slates of the Hudson River group, yield in the townshi|)s of Bolton and Brome beds of iron ore, in which the metal in the form of magnetic oxyd or peroxyd is disseminated in crystals or more often in grains and scales in a chloritic schist associated with dolomite. These beds have a thickness of from six to fifteen feet and yield from 20 to 50 per cent, of metallic iron. They often contain titanic acid, but generally in small quantity. The titanium also appears in the form of crystals of sphone in a vein traversing one of the beds of magnetic iron ore, and in another locality as crystallized rutile upon specular iron ; chemical analysis shews the presence of titanium in the unaltered ferruginous slates of the altered region. These deposits of iron ore arc very abundant, but from the mixture of chlorite and the presence of titanium, they cannot be compared with the usposits of the same species in the Laurcntian rocks. The same ores are met with in many other localities in this formation A remarkable locality of magnetic and titaniferous iron occurs in Vaudreuil and Beauce, where the two species intimately mixed, form a l)ed fifty feei thick in serpentine. The ore is granular and after having been pulverized may be separated by the magnet into two portions ; the magnetic portion which forms about two-thirds ol the mass is pure magnetic oxyd of iron, while the resitlue is ilmenite containing 48.6 per cent of titanic acid. The serpentines of this region contain in many places disseminated grains of chromic iron ore, of which a bed of twelve inches occurs in Bolton, and one of fourteen inches in Ilam. These ores contain from 4G to 50 per cent, of oxyd of chromium. Chromic iron also occurs disseminated in the dolomites and magnesites. The copper ores of this metamorphic region are found in veins which are generally concordant with the stratification, and are associatetl with the dolomites t)f the Quebec formation. In Upton there is a vein twelve inches wide, of argentiferous copper pyrites, in a ganguc of quartz, and 110 niiothcr similar vein near Sherhrooke contains, besides silver, traces of jrold. In Leeds and InverricHs are t'onnd considerable veins of snipiniret of cop- per, varie,!j;ated copper ore, with a franirno of cpiart/ and dolomite. In Leeds a bed of ferrnj^inons dolomite contains snl|)luiret of copj>er and specular iron with n little native i^old. Small (printities of copper ore are met with in varions other localities ; they are often disseminated in beds of dolomite, with blende and jfalena. The sei