..>^J^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. Ic ^ :/_ < <►' fe ^ ^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ lis IIIIIM 1.4 1.8 1.6 ® ^;'^ <^ r.< n / ^^ 0/^^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation S. '^ iV ^\^ \\ ..^ ** V 6^ 23 WEST MAIN STRk£i WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ® CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIViH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques ll Tschnical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes tachniquas at bibllographiquas Tha Instituta has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy availabia for filming. Faaturas of this copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua. which may altar any of the imagas in tha reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. 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Ths following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: planchaa. tableaux, ate., pauvant itra fHmda i daa taux da rMuction diff Grants. Lorsqua la doc*4mant aat trap grand pour 4tra raprodult an un saul clleM. il aat fUmd i partir da I'angla supAriaur gaucha, da gaucha i droito. at da haut an baa. mn pranam la nombra dimagaa ndcassaira. Laa diagrammaa suivanta illuatrant la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 8 6 V 1- -. >" - \fwn re» 4iaxi , v:.^-...y?;''1i»:'^rsl -■■:*■ .'^"V'^^-V?-"^ ^^'■•'^^ liSs ^■ri^t^4<:^ ,.W&i ON THE EARLIP:R CRETACEOUS ROCKS OF THE NORTHWESTERN PORTION OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. Bv GEOH(iK M. Dawson, Assistant Director riooloxical Survey ol Canada. [From the American .Tourxal op Soience, Voi,. XXXVHI, August, 1889.] Art. XIV wcfttern jxn M. Dawson Canada. -Or th(> Earliev Greta ceovs Eoeh^ of the North - 'tlon of the Doiaimon of Canada f hj George JN, Assistant Director Geological Snrvev of of de- In the Report of Progress of the Geological Survey Canada for 1872-73, the late Mr. James Richardson first v.^- scribed an important series of rocks occurring in the Queen Charlotte Islands, whicli Mr. E. Billings, on ^ paleontological grounds, m an Appendix to the same report, characterized as probably lowest (Jretaceous or Upper Jurassic. A further and of Northwestern Canada. 121 more detailed examination of these rocks, was subsequently made by the writer, of which the results were given in the Eeport of Progress for 1878-79; and in 1884, Mr. J. F. Whiteaves published a full account of the fossils collected, and reached the conclusion that the series (which is a very thick one) extended from about the horizon of the Gault upward to approximately that of the Lower Chalk.* The name " Queen Charlotte Islands Group " was proposed for the most fossiliferous member of the section (C), and it was further found that no distinct paleontological line could be drawn be- tween this and two underlying members of the section, D and E.f These thrje lowest subdivisions of the Cretaceous sec- tion of the Queen Charlotte Islands, are here therefoie referred to collectively, for purposes of description, as the Queen Char- lotte Islands formation. 1889.] )rth ■ •RGP] ' of ' of ;de- leen ;ical d as and In reporting upon that portion of the Rocky Mountain range proper, which is included between the parallels of lati- tude of 49° and 51° 30', the writer described the occurrence there of a very massive earlier Cretaceous formation, holding coals, and characterized by a ])eculiar tiora,:|: which was exam- ined and described by Sir J. Wm. Dawson. These Cretaceous i-ocks it was proposed to name the Kootanie series or forma- tion. § * Mesozoic Fossils, vol. i, part 3. f Traus. Royal Soc. Can., vol. i, sec. 4, p. 85. X Annual Report, Geol. Surv. Can., 18S5. ^ By Sir J. Wm. Dawson at the annual meeting of the Royal Soc. Cau., May, 1885. Science, vol. v, p. 531. Trans. Royal Soc. Can., vol. iii. 122 G. M. Dawson — Earlier Cretaceous Hocks Tlie purpose of tlie ])re8ent note is to call attention to cer- tain facts recently developed respecting the equivalency of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Kootanie formations and to the importance of the earlier Cretaceous rocks of which they are representatives, over great areas of the western and extreme northwestern portion of the continent. These facts possess particular interest at the present time from their analogy to those lately developed by Mr. R. T. Hill respecting a similar earlier Cretaceous formation in the southwestern region of the United States.* The region in which the Kootanie was iirst recognized as a distinct lower portion of the Cretaceous, embracing that por- tion of the Rocky Mountains above defined, with the adjacent foot-hills, has a length of about 140 miles with a wiiUh of forty miles or more. The Kootanie formation here constitutes a great part of the area of the several Cretaceous troughs or infolds and comes to the surface as well in several or many places in the foot-hills to the east. The Cretaceous rocks of this part of the mountains are known to extend upward from the Kootanie so far as to include the base of the Laramie. The thickness of the upper members of the series has not been ascertained, but that of the Benton (possibly including part of the Niobrara) is about 1400 feet, while the maximum known thickness of the lower part of the series, referable to the Dakota and Kootanie, is about 11,950 feet. Of this thickness, over 7000 feet is shown by its fossils to belong to the Kooianie, while the line between this formation and the Dakota remains to be drawn in a series of beds above, from which no fully distinctive fossils have been collected.^ In the report for J.885, above cited, it is stated that one of the clia.i.cteristic fossil plants of the Kootanie had previously been found in northern British Columbia, at a distance of 580 miles to the northwestward of the part of the Rocky Mountains there under description. The flora of the Kootanie was char- acterized as Lowest Cretaceous and placed on ajiproximately the same horizon with that of the Queen (Charlotte Islands formation (more particularly of subdivision C, of that section) by Sir J. Wm. Dawson.:|: Up to this time no recognizable fossils other than plants had been obtained from the Kootanie, but marine moUusks have since been discovered by Mr. R. G. McConnell in beds which are (at least locally) at the very base of the formation and which underlie the principal plant-bearing beds by at least several hundred feet. These are referred to in Mr. McCon- *See this Journal, vol. xxxiii, p. 291 ; vol. xxxiv, p. 287; vol. xxxvii. p. '2S2. f Thoufzh fossil plants apparently referable to the Dakota have been fouml in the higher betls, in two places. ^ Trans. Royal Soc. Can., vol. iii, see. 4, p. 20. i of Northwestern Canada. 128 nelPs report,* and tlie identity stated, on tlie authority of Mr. Whiteaves, of three forms with species of the Queen Char- lotte Islands formation. Mr. Whiteaves' subsequent detailed study of these fossils fully confirms and further carries out the correspondence between the two faunas, as explained by hira in a report now in process of publication. f Thus the very important fact is established ot the existence of an identical earlier Cretaceous horizon on the West Coast, and in, and even to the east of, the eastern range of the Cordillera System. Turning now to the portion of the Cordillera region which intervenes between the above-mentioned widely separated localities, including that part of British Columbia to the south of the 56th parallel of latitude, we find there further evidence of the same great earlier Cretaceous formation. — The Iltasyouco beds (probably 10,000 feet in thickness) holding a fauna which was originally regarded as Jurassic, are now definitely referred to the Queen Charlotte Islands formation.:}: Further, the association of Aucella Mosmiensis^ var. concentrica, with the fossils of the last- mentioned formation in its typical locality, with the recent discovery by the writer of the same form, in great abundance, in beds of identical age in the northern part of Vancouver Island, leads Mr. Whiteaves to the belief that this species may be regarded as a characteristic one of the same general horizon. § This view of the taxonomic value of the Aucella involves the conclusion that certain rocks in which it is the only abundant fossil, and for which provisional local names have been used in different parts of British Columbia, should likewise be regarded as representing inland extensions of the Queen Charlotte Islands formation, a 'conclusion in complete harmony with the stratigraphical and lithological evidence. The rocks referred to include the Tatlayoco Lake beds (7000 feet), Jackass Mountain beds (5000) and Skagit River beds (4'100 or more) to which may be added (though as yet on little evidence other than lithological) the Nechacco series and the Cretaceous rocks known to hold coal on the upper part of the Skeena River, jj To the south, in the vicin- ity of the West Coast, this earlier Cretaceous formation is doubtless represented by certain members at least o£ the Shasta group of California and Oregon. In connection with the Yukon Expedition, in 1887 and 1888, important new observations bearing on the extent of the earlier * Annual Report, Geol. Surv. Can., 1886, p. 17 D. •f Forming, part 2, Contributions to Can. Paleontology. i Mesozoic Fossils, vol. i, p. 258. g A conclusion explained at length in the forthcoming publication by Mr. Whiteaves already referred to. I These rocka may be found described in the reports of the Geological Survey of Canada as follows: 1875-76, p. 253, 1876-77, p. 90, 1877-78, p. 105 B., 1879- 80, p. 102 B. 124 G. M. DawHon — Earlxr CvefawouH Mockn OrutaceoiiH ntcks liave In'tii inade. At Kink IJapid, on the Lewes River (lut. <;">° 2(>' l<>n«;. V.U)" lo') and at J.ake Labar^re, further up on the kwwv river, the writer found fossihferous Cretaceous rocks wiiicli Mr, "VViiiteaves regards as probably also the same in age as those of the (^ueen Charlotte Islantis formation.* Mr. MeConnell has, further, diseovered fossils belonging to the same fauna on Itat Jtivor (Rocky Mt)uutaiu8, hit. 07° 10'), on Porcupine River (hit. 07° 28' long. 137° 47') and on the main Pelly or Yukon River (lat. 05° 15', long. 141° 40'). The characteristic Ant'ella above referred to is, however, the only species represented in two of these localities. The various widely scattered observations above enumerated, now enable us to state, that a great earlier Cretaceous fi)nna- tion, beneath the horizon of the Dakota, is more or less con- tinuously developed over a vast tract of country, tlie eastern edge of which lies to the east of the present line of the Rocky Mountains from the 49th parallel to the Arctic Ocean, and which is represented to the west as far as the vicinity of the mouth of Fraser River, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and in the Yukon Valley beyond the 141st meridian, in the interior of Alaska. Its existence may also be traced on the Alaskan Coast to the peninsula of Aliaska, in longitude 160° 31' or farther.! It is impossible at present to define precisely the eastern margin of this formation, as in the area of the Great Plains sections are very seldom cut down to the base of the Cretaceous. From wliat is known, howp\ er, it appears prob- able that this line lies not far to the east of that of the Rocky Mountains, leading to the inference that some causal connec- tion of an erogenic kind may exist between the eastern limit of these very massive Cretaceous accumulations and the posi- tion of this eastern member of the Cordillera. There is, how- ever, in the southern interior of British Columbia, an extensive tract which includes the Selkirks and associated ranges, in which no Cretaceous rocks have been met with, and which it would ap])ear, on this and other grounds, has been a land area throughout the Cretaceous ])eriod and a mountain system ante- dating those of the Rocky Mountains proper, the Coast Ranges of Jh-itish Columbia and the Cascades of Oregon and Washing- ton, in the flexures of which ranges Cretaceous rocks are in- volved. It is further ])robable that other yet undefined insular areas existed in the Cordillera region to the north and west, but the evidence now available shows, that to the north of the 54tli parallel, in l)oth the Triassic (" Alpine Trias ") and Cre- taceous periods, the Paeitic spread eastward in a more or less ♦Annual Report, Gcol. Stirv. Can., 1887, pp. 14(j 13., 150 B. f By eolleotioiis made by Mr. W. H. Dall and other.s as detailed by Dr. C. A. White in Bulletin U. S. Gool. Survey. No. 4, 1884. Iff jVo/'thnYMfirti Caiiiidii. 125 (ionnoct«Ml muiinor completely aci(»H8 flic preHetit ponition of the (Jordillera lu.'lt.* Til the (^ueeii (Miiirlutte Ishiiuls, iiiaHHive conylomeratOH im- mediately ()verli(! that part of the KiM-tion which has heeii referred to as the Cjiu'cii Charlotte Islands foniiatidii. These, it has been sii^^ested i>y Mr. Whiteaves, r(!j)reseut the hori;con of the Dakota, aiul this refereiiee is there str('ii<;thened hy the fact that the conu;lomerates (ti(KK» UwA in thickness) ar(f in turn overlain l»y shales holding; /norrronntu jirohhiiKitlciix. This occurrence of conglomerates appears, however, to have more than 1. local significance, for similar (!on^lomerates are now known to occur in the same (overlying) p(»sition relatively to the earlier (Jretaceous famia in tlie northern j/u; i of Van- couver's Island, on the Lewes River, in the upper part or at the summit of the Tatlayoco, Jackass Mountain and Skagit series })reviously referred to, and are ai. Nearly all of Wwsv rt'prcsiMit plai'i's from wliicli L'liaraoU'rislic fossils liavo been oliliiitH'd. 'I'lii' L'asli'rii extension of tln' Paeitie Ocean in the earlier part, of tlie (Cretaceous period is approximately shown liy that of the nushailed [lart of the map. ^ O 5 e 3 =2 O O =1 M -I O oo OS ao S «8 ^ ^' >-> J^ O O ® l- a > 05 &. m — IS o .S 0) o CS _ CLMiJ O d) >- 3 2 ** o o d, a> ±> " .H V * « e 2 ^ ^ -is O Sv- < a M O O OJ CS ^ o o ^ ^ O O o a-T3 •d o p CS ^ r1 r a ii ki 9' o o a n V es as c "S O o s di y{ ^ a — ' » o 5 CO tJ _ * — Si « ^ CO ^ 0) o i'd 4) n 01 ^ti O) to — B ij ..._g.4 > =: g; i-( — o o : CO - -^ .— . .^ S5,^-§>ic5 <0 HI o ® ■73 i CO d, Q. s -ii - m I- O a, ea = o o tc p o a >, cB 5 r V7 C8 , >5^2lS S'i •r § dH m" « ^ S? i^i' _*2 o,f-iX "C o B © CS o CS g 3.S o o 0) 2 a _o be © © o f > •^