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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 d partir de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 /^ / GEOLOGY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. [Extracted from the Geological Magazine, May, i88i.] Trubner & Co., 57 and 59, I.udgate Hill, London. JL. ,. r . , Liiiii, /A ^. \Exlracted from the Geological Magazine, Decade II. Vol. Vli" Nos. 4 and 5, April end May, 1881.] Sketch op the Geology of British Columbia. By George M. Dawson, D.S., A.R.S.M., F.G.S. 1 TWENTY years ago the region now included in the Province of British Columbia was — with the exception of the coast-line — little known geographically, and quite unknown geologically. From the days of Cook and Vancouver, and the old territorial disputes with the Spaniards, this part of the west coast of North America attracted little attention till the discovery of gold in 1858. As among the first in the field geologically may be mentioned Dr. Hector and Messrs. H. Bauerman an:y of the U. S. exploring expedition. Prof. Dana describes some Tertiary plants from Birch Bay. 'I lieso Mere afterwai-ds reported on by Newberry, Boston Journ. of Nat. Hist. vol. vii. No. 4. See also American Journal of Sc. and Arts, 2nd series, vol. xxvii. p. 359, and vol. xxviii. p. 85. Beport on the Yellow- stone and Nixisain expedition, 1869, p. 166. Annals Lye. of Nat. Hist, of N. Y., vol. ix. April, 1868. O. M. Dawson — Oeology of British Columbia. 8 admit of specific determination, represent shells found in the later Tertiary deposits of California, and some of which are still living on the north-west coast ; and the assemblage is not such as to indicat^a any marked difference of climate from that now obtaining.* The Tertiary rocks of the coast are not anywhere much disturbed j or altered. The relative level of sea and land must have been nearly as at present when they were formed, and it is probable that they originally spread much more widely, the preservation of such an area as that of Graham Island being due to the protective capping of volcanic rocks. The beds belong evidently to the more recent Tertiary, and though the palaeontological evidence is scanty, it appears probable from this, and by comparison with other parts of the west coast, that they should be called Miocene. To the east of the Coast or Cascade Range, Tertiary rocks are very extensively developed. They have not, however, yielded any marine fossils, and appear to have been formed in an extensive lake, or series of lakes, which may at one time have submerged nearly the entire area of the region described as the interior plateau. The Tertiary lake or lakes may not improbably have been produced by the interruption of the drainage of the region by a renewed elevation of the coast mountains proceeding in advance of the power of the rivers of the period to lower their beds ; the movement culminating in a profound disturbance leading to very extensive volcanic action. The lower beds are sandstones, clays, and shales, generally pale-greyish or yellowish in colour, except where darkened by carbonaceous matter. They frequently hold lignite, coal, and in some even true bituminous coal occurs. These sedimentary beds rest generally on a very irregular surface, and consequently vary much in thickness and character in different parts of the extensive region over which they occur. The lignites appear in some places to rest on true " unde relays," representing the soil on which the vegetation producing them has grown, while in others — as at Quesnel — they seem to be composed of drift-wood, and show much clay and sand interlaminated with the coaly matter. In the northern portion of the interior the upper volcanic part of the Tertiary covers great areas, and is usually in beds nearly horizontal, or at least not extensively or sharply folded. Basalts, dolerites, and allied rocks of modern aspects occur in sheets, broken only here and there by valleys of denudation ; and acidic rocks are seldom met with except in the immediate vicinity of the ancient Tolcanio vents. On the Lower Nechacco, and on the Parsnip River, the lower sedimentary rocks appear to be somewhat extensively developed without the overlying volcanic materials. The southern part of the interior plateau is more irregular and mountainous. The Tertiary rocks here cover less extensive areas, and are much more disturbed, and sometimes over wide districts — as on the Nicola — are found dipping at an average angle of about thirty degrees. The volcanic materials are occasionally of great thickness, and the little disturbed basalts of the north are, for the ' Report of Progress, Geol. Survey of Canada, 1878-9, p. 84 B. G. M. Damon-^Oeology of British Cohmhia. G. M. Dauwn — Geoloyif of British Cohtnihla. rv. _ M u g ^ lA id u 2 3 B 9 u m < S V t)5 . 7! > X](3o>{^HHHH s c lA • -5 T3 tA u 1 < 1- 8 c 4) •c H 13 O CS tA 4^ (A la y _4; .2 •2 o J3 S h^ ^ 75 B 2 o B n o U lA B 1) N4 i^ CA ** (J O s tA VI 1 35 •Hi 2 u 1^ 2 -U ^HhH r^ 00 a 6 :j ry ^^^^B^^HH w (—1 c in nt Ci •>^< 1 »u!qvi( ^^H^H 2 o ^^^HlHH CA u ^^^^^■H s 3 1 w u 3 E U cn fo rt *■* 5 ACROS: o u o •3 -2 S. .S .a ■(3 ^ (A 55 13 tA O C b >^ '/} ftj H ■^ i tA )M S U "3 15 u w C tA "5 u w 3 s 3 as u B O «4 b B 19 a lojiiir^i )^i^cC)^^a^^SH c tA •a 4J trt [3 1 o ■g tA B O H u B 2 5 "5 tA .Si 2 2 2i 2 a e O O u O 13 W M fo '»■ lO vc5 }s«oo ^9!3«cl^H^^y J 8 O. M. Dawson — Qeoloyy of British Coliimhia. most part, replaced by agglomerates and tufas, witli trachytes, porphyrites, and other felspathic rocks. It may indeed be questioned whether the character of these rocks does not indicate that they are of earlier date than those to the north, but, as no direct palaeontological evidence ,of this has been obtained, it is presumed that their uiiferent composition and appearance is due to unlika conditions of deposition and greater subsequent disturbance. No volcanic rocks or lava flows of Post-glacial age have been met with, though I believe that still farther to the north-west the rocks are of yet more recent origin than any of these here described, and I have even heard a tradition of the Iiulians of the Kasse Kiver ■which relates that, at some time very remote in their history, an eruption covering a wide tract of country with lava was witnessed. The organic remains so far obtained from these Tertiary rocks of the interior consist of plants, insects, and a few freshwater molluscs and fish scales, the last being the only indication of the vertebrate faima of the period. The plants have been collected at a number of localities. They have been subjected to a preliminary examina- tion by Principal Dawson, and several lists of species published. "While they are certainly Tertiary, and represent a temperate flora like that elsewhere attributed to the Miocene, they do not afford a yery definite criterion of age, being derived from places which must have diff'ered much in their physical surroundings at the time of the deposition of the beds. Insect remains have been obtained in four localities. They have been examined by Mr. S. H. Scudder, who has contributed three papers on thera to the Geological Eeports,' in which he describes forty species, all of which nre considered new. None of the insects have been found to occu, n more than a single locality, which causes Mr. Scudder to observe that the deposits from which th^y came may either differ consider- ably in age, or, with the fact that duplicates have seldom beon found even in the same locality, evidence the existence of diff'jrent sur- roundings, and an exceedingly rich insect fauna. Though the interior plateau may at one time have bec^n pretty uniformly covered with Tertiary rocks, it is evident that some regions have never been overspread by them, while, owing to denudation, they have since been almost altogether removed from other districts, and the modern river valleys often cut completely through them to the older rocks. The outlines of the Tertiary areas are therefore now irregular and complicated.^ Cretaceous. — Lying everywhere quite unconformably below the Tertiary beds are the Cretaceous rocks, which constitute on the coast the true Coal-bearing horizon of British Columbia. These rocks probably at one time spread much more widely along the coast than they now do, but have since been folded and disturbed during the continuation of the process of mountain elevation, and ' Reports of Progress, Geol, Survey of Canada, 1875-6, p. 266; 1876-7, p. 457; 1877-8, p. 175, B. * For additional information on the Tertiary rocka of the interior, see the following Reports of Progress, 1871-2, p. 56 ; 1875-6, pp. 70 and 225; 1876-7, pp. 75 and 112, B. O. M, Damon — Geology of British Columbia. 7 have becu ranch reduced by denudation. Tlieii* most important area, including the coal-iuining regions of Nannimo and Coinox, may be described as forming a narrow trough along the north-east border of Vancouver Island, LSO miles in length. The rocks are sandstones, conglomerates, and 'es. They hold abundance of fossil plants and marine she ' • some places, and in appearance and degree of induration much resemble the true Carboniferous rocks of some parts of Eastern America. In the Nanaimo area the formation has been divided by Mr. J. liichardson as follows, in descending order: — Sandstones, conglomerates, and shales 3290 feet. Khales G60 „ rroductive Coal-measures 1316 ,, 5266 The last named consists of sandstones and sliales, and holds valuable coal-seams near its base. In the Comox area seven well- marked subdivisions occur, constituting a total thickness of 4911 feet. Upper eonj^lomerate 320 feet. Upper shales 776 ,, Middle conuflomerate 1 If'O ,, Middle shales 76 „ Lower conf,flomerate 900 ,, Lower shalfs 1000 ,, Productive Coal-measui'es 739 ,, 4911 The fuel obtained from these measures is a true bituminous coal, with — according to the analysis of Di\ Harrington — an average of G-29 per cent, of ash, and 1*47 per cent, of water. It is admirably suited for most ordinary pui-poses, and is largely exported, chiefly to San Francisco, where, notwithstanding a heavy duty, it competes successfully with coals from the west coast of the United States, owing to its superior quality. The output of 1879 amounted to 241,000 tons, and is yearly increasing. In addition to the main area of Cretaceous rocks above described, there are rumerous smaller patches, holding more or less coal, in different parts of Vancouver Island, several of which may yet prove important. In the Queen Charlotte Islands, Cretaceous rocks cover a consider- able area on the east coast, near Cumshewa and Skidegate Inlets. At Skidegate they hold true anthracite coal, which, besides being a cironmstance of considerable geological interest, would become, if a rcu,ily workable bed could be proved, a matter of great economic impo' ^ance to the Pacific coast. At Skidegate, where these rocks are most typically developed, they admit of subdivision as follows, the order being, as beiore, descending : A. Upper shales and sandstones 1500 feet. B. Coarse conglomerates 2000 C. Lower shales with coal and clay ironstone oOOO D. Agglomerates 3500 E. Lower sandstones 1000 ft >> 13,000 8 G. M. Dawson — Geology of British Columbia. The total thickness is thus estimated at about 13,000 feet. With the exception of the agglomerates, the rocks in their general appearance and degree of induration compare closely with those of Vancouver Island. The agglomerates represent an important intercalation of volcanic material, which varies in texture, from beds holding angular masses a ynrd in diameter, to fine ash rocks, and appears at the junction to blend completely with the next overlying subdivision. These beds ai-e generally felspathic, and often more or less distinctly porphyritic. At the eastern margin of the formation the rocks lie at low angles, but become more disturbed as they approach the mountainous axis of the Islands, showing eventually in some cases overturned dips. It is in this disturbed region that the anthracite coal has been found, and from the condition of included woody fragments in the eastei'n portion of the area, it is probable that any coal seams discovered there would be bituminous, like tliose of Vancouver Island. Though it was originally sujiposod tliat the anthracite occurred in several beds, it has, I believe, now been shown ' that this appearance is due to the folding of a single seam which immediately overlies the agglomerate beds of subdivision D. The coal is associated with carbonaceous shales holding a species of Uiiio, but is succeeded, in ascending order, by beds charged with marine fossils, and frof-h- water conditions are not known to have recurred at other horizons. It was where opened nearly vertical, and about six feet in thickness, but became thinner, and after about fcOO tons of anthracite had been obtained, the mine was abandoned; the locality, however, still appears worthy of further and closer examination.'^ In regard to the geological horizon of the different Cretaceous areas above described, the most complete information has been obtained for the Nanaimo and Comox basins. Large collections made by Mr. Richardson, in connexion with the work of the Geological Survey, have now been described by Mr. J. F. Whiteaves.'' These fossils are all from the lower portion of the formation, which is conclusively shown to represent the Chico group of the Californian geologists, which, with the locally developed Martinez group, is considered to be equivalent to the Lower and Upper Chalk of Europe. The highest subdivision of the Californian Cretaceous, the Tejon group, is supposed to represent the Maestricht, and in the absence of fossils from the upper portion of the Vancouver Island formation, it is possible that it may be equally young. The flora of the Vancouver Cretaceous consists largely of modern angiospermous and gymnospermous genera, such as Qnerctis, Flatamis, Fopiilus, and Sequoia ; several of the genera and a few of the species being com- 1 Report of Pro{rresa,Geol. Survey of Canada, 1878-79, p. 72 B. 2 For further infonnatiou on the Cretaceous rocks of the coast, see Dr. Hector's report in Palliser's Exploration in North America, and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvii. p. 428. Reports of Progress, Oeol. Survey of Canada, 1871-2, p. 75; 1872-3, p. 32; 1873-4. p. 94; 1874-5, p. 82; 1876-7, p. 160; the last reference being Mr. J. Richardson's complete report on the Nanaimo and Comox Basins, also pp. 119 and 144, 1878-9, p. 63ii, a detailed report on Queen Charlotte Islands by the "A-riter. * Mesozoic Fossils, vol. i. part ii. G. M. Dawson — Geology of British Columbia. 9 mon to it and to the Dakota group of the Middle Cretaceous of the interior region of the continent. The hotanical evidence, while yet imperfect, is therefore by no means in contradiction to that afforded by the animals and the stratigraphy. A number of fossils from the Queen Charlotte Islands have also been described and figured ' from Mr. llichardson's collections made during a visit to the islands in 1872. Additional collections made by the writer in 1878, while considerably increasing the fauna, will enable more exact conclusions as to the horizon of the beds to be arrived at. There are few cases of specific identity between the forms in the Vancouver Cretaceous, previously described, and those of the Queen Charlotte Islands, the latter representing a lower stage in the Cretaceous formation. The plants found in these rocks, em- bracing numerous coniferous trees and a species of Cycad, also indicate a greater age than tiiose of Vancouver. The coal-bearing beds at Quatsino Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, have also yielded a few fossils. These consist chiefly of well-characterized specimens of Aucella J'iochii, which occurs but sparingly in the Queen Charlotte Islands, and brings the rocks into close relations witli the Aucella beds of the mainland of British Columbia, and in Mr. Whiteaves' opinion probably indicate an *' Upper Neocomian " age. Tlie rocks of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Quatsino may therefore be taken together as represent- ing upper and lower portions of the so-called Shasta group of California, which in British Columbia cr.a now be readily distin- guished by their fossils. On the mainland, developed most characteristically along the noi'th -eastern border of the Coast Range, is a massive series of rocks first referred to by Mr. Selwyn, in the provisional classification adopted bjj^ him in 1871, as the Jackass jNIountain group, from the name of tlie locality in which they are best displayed on the main waggon-road. I'he age of these rocks was not known at this time, but fossils have since been discovered in the locality al)ove mentioned and in several others, the most characteristic forms being AiiceUa Fiochii and Jielemnites impressns. Tlie I'ocks ai'e generally hard sandstones or quartzites, with occasional argillites, and very thick beds of coarse conglomerate. A meusurcd section on the Skagit includes over 4400 feet, without comprising tiie entire thickness of the formation. Behind Boston Bar, on the Fraser Biver, tlie formation is represented by nearly .0000 feet of rocks, while on Tatlayoco Lake it probably does not fall short of 7000 feet. At the last-named place these beds are found to rest on a series of felsi)athio rocks, evidently volc;inic in origin, and often nioie or less distinctly porphyritic. On the Iltasyouco Kiver, near the 51st parallel, and in similar relation to the Coast Kange, an extensive foriiiatioii characterized by rocks of volcanic origin, and often porphyritic, has also been found. Its thickness must be very great, and has been roughly estimated at one locality as 10,000 feet. It has been supposed, on lithological grounds, to represent the porphyritic ' Mesozoip Fossils, vol. i. part i. 2 10 Q. M. Datcson — Geology of British Columbia. formation of the vicinity of Tatlayoco Lake, and fossils found in it have been described as Jurassic.^ From analogy now (teveloped with the Queen Charlotte Island fauna, however, Mr. Whiteaves believes that these beds ai*e also Cretaceous. Still further north the Cretaceous formation is not confined to the vicinity of the Coast Kange, but spreads more widely eastward, being in all probability represented by the argillites and felspathio and calcareous sandstones of the Lower Nechaoco ; and, as the explorations of 1879 have shown, occupying a great extent of country on the 5oth parallel about the upper part of the Skeena and Babine Lake. They here include felspathic rocks of volcanic origin similar to those of the Iltasyouco, which are most abundant on the eastern flanks of the Coast Kange, and probably form the lower portion of the group. Besides these volcanic rocks, there is, however, a great tliickness of comparatively soft sandstones and argillites, with beds of impure coal. The strata are arranged in a series of folds more or less abrupt, and have a general north-west and south- east strike. It is not impossible, from the general palseontological identity of the rocks of the interior with the older of those of the coast, that the Skeena region may eventually be found to contain valuable coal-seams, but this part of the country is at present very difficult of access, and there is no inducement to explore it.'* Itocks of the Van'-ouver and Coast Ranges. — Previous to the deposit of the Cretaceous, the older formations had been folded and dis- turbed, and were in degree of alteration much as at present. While tbei'e is therefore no difficulty in distinguishing the Cretaceous from tlie Pre-cretaceous rocks, the subdivision of the latter becomes in many instances a difficult matter, the generally wooded and inaccessible character of the country adding to the obscurity in many districts. Without therefore entering into detail in regard to the various groups, which it has been found necessary provisionally to constitute and name, I shall attempt to give a short connected sketch of these older rocks, beginning with those of the Coast. In 1872 Mr. Kichardson described a section across the centre of Vancouver Island,^ comprising a great thickness of beds which have been closely folded together and overturned. These consist of lime- stones, generally cijstalline, but varying in texture and colour, interbedded with compact amygdaloidal and slaty volcanic roc s of contemporaneous origin. These are classed generally as " diorites " in the report cited, but admit of separation into several different species of igneous rocks, not here necessary to detail. Argillites also occur, but are apparently not prominent in the section. Fossils are found abundantly in some of the limestones, and though invariably in a poor state of preservation, the late Mr. Billings was able to distinguish, besides crinoidal remains, ' Report of Progress, Geol. Survey of Canada, 1876-77, p. 150. ■^ I am indebted to Mr. J. F. "NVhiteaves for facts in regard to the palreontological evidence of the horizons of the subdivisions of the Ci'etaceous, communicated in ad- vance of the publication of part iii. of tlie Mcsozoic Fossils. ^ lleport of Progress, Geol. Survey of Canada, 1872-73, pp. 52-56. J O. M. Dawson — Geology of British Columbia. 11 a Zaphrentis, a Diphiphyllum, a Productus, and a Spiri/er, and pronounced the beds to be probably Carboniferous in age. Kocks belonging to the older series, unconformably underlying the Cretaceous, have now been examined in many additional localities on Vancouver Island, and, while no palaeontological facta have been obtained to prove that they are older than those of the section above described, much circumstantial evidence has been collected to show that rocks even much more highly crystalline than those of the above section, and which, judged by standards locally adopted in Eastern America, would be supposed to be of great antiquity, represent approximately, at least, the same horizon. At the south-eastern extremity of the island, i.i the vicinity of Victoria, a series of rocks occurs which was placed by Mr. Selwyn, in his provisional classification of the rocks of British Columbia, under the title of the Vancouver Island and Cascade Crystalline Series.^ Mr. Selwyn, in speaking of these, remarks on their lithological similarity to the Huronian rocks, or those of the altered Quebec group of Eastern Canada. A somewhat detailed examination of this series has since been made, and shows it to be built up in great part of dioritic and felspathic materials, which in places become well characterized mica-schists, or even gneisses, while still else- where distinctly maintaining the character of volcanic ash-beds and agglomerates. With these are interbedded limestones, and occa- sionally ordinary blackish argillites. No more certain paloeonto- logical evidence of the age of these beds than that afforded by some lai'ge crinoidal columns which occur in the limestones, haf^ yet been obtained. These, however, suffice to show that they cannot be referred to a pre-Silurian date, and it is highly probable that they are actually a more altered portion of the series represented in the first described section, from which their greatest point of difference is found in the smaller proportionate importance of limestones. They occur in the continuation of the same axis of elevation at no very great distance, and the greater disturbance which tliey have suffered would serve to account for the higher degree of alteration in materials so susceptible of crystallization as those of volcanic origin. Elsewhere, in the vicinity of Vancouver Island, rocks holding fossils, which seem to be Carboniferous, and formed in part of volcanic materials, occur ; and on Texada Island, beds probably of the same age are found, consisting of intersti'atified limestone or marble, magnetic iron ore, epidotic rock, diorite, and serpentine. Passing north-westward, along tlie same mountuiuous axis, to the Queen Charlotte Islands, we lind the rooks there underlying the Cretaceous Coal series to present, in the main, features not dissimilar to those of Vancouver Island. Massive limestones, generally fine- grained, grey, and often cherty, are folded together with felspathic and dioritic rocks, sometimes so much altered as to have lost the evidence as to whether they were originally fragmental or molten. ' Report of rroj^iess, Geol. Survey of Caiiii:lii, 1871-2, ]>. 52. 12 G. M. Daicson — Geology of British Columbia. In other places they are still well-marked rough agglomerates, or amygdaloids. No characteristic fossils have been obtained from these rocks, but at the summit of this part of the series, and adhering closely to a limestone which apparently forms its upper member, occurs a great thickness of regularly-bedded blackish calcareous argillite, generally quite hard and much fractured, but holding numerous well-preserved fossils, including Monotis i title the older rocks of Vancouver Island, above described, and t ose which form the greater part of the Cascade or Coast Eanges. '''he progress in the investigation of the country seems to favour tL 'orrectness of this view, and to show a blending and interlocking of such characters of difference as the typical or originally examined localities of the two series present. Tracing the rocks eastward from the shores of Vancouver Island, we find them becoming more disturbed and altered, the limestones always in the condition of marbles, and seldom or never showing organic traces, the other rocks represented chiefly by grey or green diorites, gneisses — generally hornblendic — and various species of felspathio rocks, such as may well be supposed to have resulted from the more complete crystallization of the volcanic members of the series. Recurring in a number of places, and folded with these rocks, is a zone of micaceous schists or argillites. The rocks classed as the Anderson River and Boston Bar series - in the provisional classification represent one fold of these schists, which may be supjiosed to be more or less exactly equivalent to the Triassic flaggy argillites of the first mountainous axis. The Coast ]?ange constitutes an uplift on a much greater scale than that of Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands to the south- west of it, a circumstance which appears to have resulted in a more complete crystallization of its strata, and has also led to the intro- duction of great masses of hornblendic granite. These may in many places represent portions of the strata which have undergone incipient or complete fusion, in place. There is every evidence that in the Appalachian-like folding of this region the same rocks are ' lleports of ProoToss, Gool. Survey of Canada, 1878-9, p. 46 B ; 1876-7, p. 95. * Kc'port of I'logress, Gcol. Survey of Canada, 1871-2, p. 62. Q. M, Dawson — Geology of British Columbia. 13 many tiraes repeated. East of the lower part of the Fraser River the folds have been completely overturned to the eastward. These rocks of the Coast liange have with other features of the country a great extension in a north-east and south-east bearing, stretching, with an average width of 100 miles at least, from the 49th parallel to Alaska, a distance of 500 or GOO miles. Pre- Cretaceous Rocks of the Interior. — North-east of the Coast Eange the older rocks of the interior plateau are more varied, but have in their diti'erent developments characters in common with each other and witii those of the Coast liange, which draw them closely together. These rocks, which were included under the Lower and Upper Cache Creek groups of the original classification, may be said as a whole, in their present state, to consist of massive limestones, diorites or allied materials, felspathic rocks, compact agglomeritic or slaty quartzites and serpentines. The last-named rock occurs in association with the contemporaneous volcanic materials, and doubt- less represents the alteration product of olivine rocks. It is in beds of considerable thickness and wide-spread, and is of interest as being of a period so recent as the Carbon itero us. The limestones are not unfrequently converted to coarse-grained marbles, and together with the quartzite appear in greatest force on the south-western side of the area they occupy. Tliey have now been traced, maintaining their character pretty uniformly throughout, from the 49th to the o3rd parallel. Schistose, or slaty argillite rocks, which may represent those already described as folded with the Coast Kange series, also occur, and a portion of these at least probably belongs to the over- lying Triassic or Jurassic division. In regard to the evidence of the age of the great mass of these rocks, forming the so-called Upper and Lower Cache Creek groups, the following points may be mentioned. A portion at least of the formation was in 1871 shown, by fossils collected by Mr. Selwyn, to belong to a horizon between the bas(3 of the Devonian and summit of the Permian. Additional fossils have since been procured, of which the most characteristic is the jjeculiarly Carboniferous foraminifer Fusidina. This has now been found in several localities, scattered over a wide area, and is associated at Marble Canon with the remark- able Loftusia Co'umhiana.^ In the southern portion at least of tlie interior plateau region there exist, besides the Palaeozoic rocks just described, and in addition to the probably in part Triassic argil! ites, extensive but as yet undefined areas of Triassic rocks of another character. These are in great part of volcanic origin, and have been designated the Nicola series. They have generally a characteristicallj^ green colour, but are occasionally purplish, and consist chiefly of felspathic rocks and diorites, the latter often more or less decomposed. The rocks are in some cases quite evidently amygdaloidal or fragmental, and hold toward the base beds of grey sub-crystalline limestone, intermingled in some places with volcanic material, and containing occasional layers of water-rounded detritus. The distinctly unconformable junction of this ' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 1879, p. 69. 14 G. M. Dawson — Geology of British Columbia. series "with the Cache Creek rocks is seen on the South Thompson, a few miles above Kamloops. In tlie Gold Range which borders on the interior plateau to the north-east, the conditions found in the Coast Kange appear in many respects to be repealed. The roclcs jnst described, but with less quartzite and limestone, and probably an added proportiOii of volcanic material, are found in a more or less hig: ly iiltcrcd state as gneisses, dioritic, hornblendic, and micaceous schists, and coarsely crystalline marbles, while a belt of scbi^tose and argillaceous beds, probably the same with that already several times referred lo, and newer than the rocks just mentioned, is tightly folded with them, giving to this axis of elevation its famed auriferous character. No fossils have yet been found in the crystalline rocks of this range, liespecting the proved existence in it of a series of rocks older than elsewhere known in the province, the facts are given on a succeed- ing page. For the ^egion to the north-east of the Gold Eango, including the eastern flanks of the range, and the country between it and the Kooky Mountains proper, little information has been obtained. It is one exceedingly difficult of access, owing to its mountainous and densely-wooded character ; but the transition from the much-flexed rocks of the first-mentioned range to the comparatively little bent though much broken masses of the Eocky Mountains is probably pretty abrupt. Structure of the Roclaj Ilonniains. — In the Rocky Mountains we have the broken margin of the undisturbed sheets of strata which underlie the great plains, projecting in block-like masses. In British America our geological knowledge of the range is confined to the observations of its extreme northern part hy Sir J. Richardson, of its southern portions by Dr. Hector, a traverse on the Peace River by Mr. Selwyn, and my own observations in the last-named locality and on the 49 th parallel. The most complete section is that in the vicinity of the 49th parallel,* to which I shall briefly refer, and then indicate points of difference between the rocks shown in it and those of the north- western continuation of the range. The total thickness of the beds here seen is about 4500 feet. The lowest are impure dolomites and fine dolomitic quartzites, dark purplish or grey, with a thickness of 700 feet or more. These may he of Cambrian age, and are supposed to represent the Pogonip formation of Clarence King's 40tli parallel section.'* Overlying this is a pale grey chertj' magnesian limestone, with magnesian grits, estimated at 200 feet in thickness, which is supposed to represent the Ute- Pogonip limestone of Silurian age of the 40th parallel section. Next in order is 2000 feet or more of sandstones, quartzites, and slaty rocks of various tints, but chiefly * Though tlie investigation of the rocks of this part of tlie Rocky Mountains was carried on quite independently, and reported on in 1875, it has heen thought desirable to refer the formations as far as possible to King's section, as being much the best hitherto published for the Rocky Mountain Region. * Geol. and Resources of 49th Parallel, p. 56. Q. M. Dawson — Geology of British Colmnhia. 15 reclclish or greenish grey, holding also magnesian grits, and a well- marked zone of bright red beds. These may be equivalent to the Nevada Devonian and Ogden quartzites of the same age, on the 40th parallel. The Carboniferous is next represented by a massive bluish limestone 1000 feet iu thickness, above which lies an amygdaloidal trap 50 to 100 feet thick, which maintains its place for at least twenty-five miles along the mountains. Above this are flaggy beds of magnesian limestone and sandstone with red sandstone, which become especially abundant towards the top, the thickness of the series being about 200 feet. The position of the upper line of tho portion of the for- mation which should be referred to the Carboniferous is uncertain, but it is probable that a part at least of the beds last described belong to it. Passing gradually u[)wards from this series is about 400 feet of beds, characterized by a predominant ied colour, and chiefly thin- bedded red sandstones, often ripple-marked, and showing on some surfaces impressiotis of salt crystals. Fawn-coloured magnesian sandstones and limestones occur towards the top. These without - doubt represent the Triassio or Jura-Triassic red beds extensively developed everywhere to the southward, in the eastern ranges of tho Cordillera region. North-westward, to the Athabasca Eiver, Dr. Hector's numerous excursions in this mountain axis prove the great mass of the range to be composed of Carboniferous and Devonian beds, which are pre- dominantly limestones, but it is also probable that some of the older rocks above described may occur. In the Peace Kiver region, on the 5oth and 56th parallels, the con- ditions are somewhat changed. Massive limestones of Devonian and probably also , of Carboniferous age, associated with saccharoidal quartzites, here form the axial mountains. On the west side these are overlain by an extensive schistose series, in which micaceous schists and argillites, more or less altered, predominate. These are known to occupy a long trough east of the Parsnip River, and cross the Misinchinka, with considerable width. They are doubtless of the same age as the gold-bearing schists of Cariboo, before referred to, and while no fossils have here been found in them, a series of dark argillites on the eastern slope of the mountain axis which con- tain several Triassio forms — more particularly the characteristic Monotis — may, it is supposed, represent the continuation of the same series in a less altered state. These marine Monotis shales, it will be observed, seem to represent in this section the red beds of the region further south. Volcanic material appears to be entirely absent from the limestone series. While in the Eocky Mountains on the 49th parallel, formations extending downwai'ds to the Cambrian have b. .n identified with some degree to certainty, it will be observed that none older than Carboniferous or Devonian have so far been mentioned as occurring in other parts of the region. It is quite possible, however, that rocks of Silurian or even Cambrian age may exist, though the disturbed nature of the country has so far prevented their discovery. It has been attempted here merely to give a general sketch of the more 16 O. M. Dmcson — Geology of British Columbia, important groups of rocks, wliich constitute the mass of the forma- tions of the Province. Still older rocks, whioh may inu_ed represei b part of the Archaean of the lOth parallel area, are known to occur, but about thein little has yet been certainly determined. They appeal at intervals in the Gold Range, and in the region between it and the Kocky Mountai is. The rocks appear to be gneisses and granites, holding orihoclase felspar, and with abundant quartz and mica, very often garnetiferous and coarrely crystalline. They were originally classed with the schistose gold-bearing rocks of Cariboo and their representatives elsewhere, but we have already found reason to believe that these schists are much newer, and during the past summer those on the Misinchinka have been found to be charged with half-rounded quartz and felspar from the old rocks above mentioned, which must have been fully metamorphosed at the time of their deposition. A small area of these oldest and possibly Laurentian rocks occurs near Carp Lake in the northern part of the Province. The}' also exist in the Cariboo district, though they have not yet been defined there. They are described by ]\Ir. Selwyn as occurring on the upper part of the North Thompson, and thegneissic rocks noted by Dr. Hector near the sources of the Athabasca, on the western side of the Kocky Mountain axis, probably belong to the same fundamental series. Physicdl Conditious implied hy the Deposits. — This review of the state of knowledge of the rock series of British Columbia may well be concluded by glancing rapidly at the physical conditions implied in the production of the different formations. The oldest land surface of which we have any knowledge is that of the probably Archasan rocks just described, and must have been in the region of the Gold Range of to-day. It may have extended farther westward in early Palajozoic time, forming a continental area like that supposed by King to have stretched west from the Wahsatch Mountains on the 40th parallel, but no trace of its existence to the eastward of the western margin of the Kocky Mountain Kange has yet been found. In Devonian and Carboniferous times the geography of the region begins to outline itself more definitely. Tiie probably Archasan rocks at this time formed a more or less continuous barrier of land along the line of the Guld Kange, between the interior con- tinental basin to the north-east and the Carboniferous Pacific to the south-west. In tlie eastern soa organic limest'>nes with sandy and shaly beds were being deposited, and in the vicinity of the 49th parallel at least one well-marked flow of igneous material evidences the existence of volcanic phenomena. In the west and south-west of the land barrier the conditions were widely different. Here, too, limestones were in process of formation, but extensive siliceous deposits were also forming, while a great chain of volcanic vents — submarine or partly subaerial — nearly coincident with the present position of the Coast Range and those of Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Trap and agglomerate rocks were thus added to the series. Similar centres of volcanic activity may have existed in the vicinity of the land barrier on the west, whilst the finer felspathio 0, M. Dawson — Geology ofBritiah Columbia. 17 material affected the composition of the argillites and other rocks, in progress of depoKition, even at a great distance from any of the vents, and the series acqiir^d a great thickness. Evidence of some disturbance at the close of the Carbouiferous period is found in the unconformahlo superposition of the Nicola Triassic on these rocks, in the soutliern portion of the interior of the Province. This, however, appears to luive affected the region to the west of the land barrier alone, and to have resulted in the more com- plete definition of this barrier, and probably to Its increased elevation ; for in Triassic and Jurassic times we find the deposition of the red beds and flaggy dolomitic limestones with s ill, going on to the east near the 49th j)arallol, and further south the actual inclusion of siilt and beds of gy]>snni, proving that this region was then a shallow iuland sea cut off from communication with the ocean. To the west of the buid barrier on the contrary, in the Triassic, and probably also in the Jurassic, a great thickness of volcanic rocks with lime- stones and argillites was being formed along the horde: of tlie Pacific. The argillites of this period probably afterwards became the chief gold-bearing formation of the country, as is proved to have been the ease in California. These with the volcanic accunnilatic 'is doubtless re[)resent the Star Peak and Koipato groups of the Triassic as dcscriboil bj' King on the 40th pai'allel between the Sierra Nevada and the Wahsatch Kanges ; and though, as elsewhere stated,' I have not been able to find that the existence of Carboniferous volcanic rocks has been recognized in the Sierra Nevada of California, it seems probable, from the description and appearance of the rocks, that more or less altered volcanic materials, perhaps both of Mesozoic and Pahrozoic age, enter into its composition. A further circumstance of interest in connexion with the Jura-Trias period is the evidence iiow obtained that the sea apparently spread uninterruptedly eastward across the Eocky Mountains and into the Peace River country, at least as far south as the 55th parallel. This is proved both by the lithological character of the rocks, and the fossils they contain,'^ and we (bus arrive at an approximate definition, not only of the western but also of the northern limits of the great inland sea, which extended south-eastward to New ]\Iexico, though we still remain ignorant of the precise character of the northern barrier. This period was closed by a great disturbance along the whole Cordillera region. In California the Sierra Nevada rose up as a mass of crumpled and CO. pressed folds. In the southern part of British Columbia the disturbance affected the region from the Gold Range to the coast, extending the land area westward to the 121st meridian, and giving, 80 far as is known, the first upthrust to the mountains of Vancouver and Queen Chai'lotte Islands, but forming no continuous range where the great belt of coast mountains now is. In the earliest beds of the Cretaceous there is evidence of a general slight subsidence in progress, with the formation of conglomerates, and we can trace the shore-line of the Cretaceous Pacific, which 1 Gkol. Mag. 1877, p. 315. 2 See, on the latter point. Report of Progress, Geo!. Survey, 1876-7, p. 158. 3 18 0. M. Dmcson-^Oeology of British Columbia. crosses the 49tli parallel near the 12l8t meridian, southward to the Blue Mountains of Oregon, south-westward to Mount Shasta, and from this, according to Whitney, still further southward along the western slope of the SieiTa Nevada. To the north it appears nearly to follow the present north-eastern line of the Coast Kange to the 52nd parallel, when it turns north-eastward, passing completely across the line of the Gold Bange, and by straits and openings through the Bocky Mountains on the 55th parallel, connecting this with the great Cretaceous Mediterranean Sea of the interior of the continent. In the southern part of British Columbia it would appear that the Bocky Mountains proper were not at this time elevated, but that the Cretaceous Mediterranean washed the eastern shore of the Gold Bange. In the Peace Biver region, however, just mentioned, there is ample proof that the Bocky Mountains formed even at this time a more or loss continuous shore-line or series of islands, around which the Cretaceous beds were deposited. The existence of a great thickness of rocks of volcanic origin in the Cretaceous of several parts of the Province has already been alluded to. Their resemblance to those described as occurring in the Cordillera region in Chile, by D.irwin, has been pointed out by the writer in a former communication to the Geological Magazine.* The Cretaceous closed with another period of folding, in which additional height was given to the Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Island Banges, the Coast Banges were produced, as well as cor- rusrations doubtless caused still further eastward which cannot now be separated from those of other periods. At this time, or shortly after, the Bocky Mountains attained their full height and development. No trace of the earlier or Eocene Tertiary has been found in British Columbia, and it is probable that the Province was through- out at that time a land area. In the Miocene, the relative elevation of sea and land was much as at present, but the great inland lake formerly alluded to was in existence. This lake was doubtless the northern continuation or homologue of that which has been called the Pah-Ute Lake by Clarence King, and which lay east of the Sierra Nevada on the 40th parallel. The rocks formed in it thus represent the Truckee Miocene of King's section. The Miocene closed with extensive volcanic disturbances through- out the country south-west of the Gold Bange, and eventually by still another epoch of corrugation and crumpling probably synchro- nous with that which produced the Tertiary Coast Hills of California, and which may have given to the northern part of the coast the greater elevation, which it appears to have possessed during Plio- cene times, when the wonderful system of fiords, by which it is now dissected, were cut out. The most striking points brought out by the study of this region are probably the following. First, the repeated corrugation, parallel in the main to a single axis, which has occurred in the Cordillera region. Second, the occurrence of great and wide-spread masses of ^ Geol. Mag. 1877, p. 314. The rocks elsewhere described were at the time the article ia question was written supposed to be Jurassic. u O. M. Dawson — Oeologt/ of British Columbia. 19 volcanic material at at least four distinct horizons, proving the activity for an immense period of the volcanic forces along this I)ortion of tlio Pacific margin. Lastly, the sometimes almost insuper- able difficulty of distinguishing between volcanic rocks of diflforent periods when thoy have suffered a like degree of jnetamorphism, and the in.'ippropriatcness of attempting to a[)ply lithological standards, which have in eastern America or elsewhere been foimd locally useful in distinguishing between different series of crystalline rocks, in a region characterized by the abundance of easily crystallizable volcanic materials, and in which rocks of as late date as the Carboniferous have suffered a degree of raetamorphism comparable to that of the Iluronian or altered Quebec group of Eastern Canada. Stephen Austin and Sons, Printers, Hertford.