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Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — »• signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbols V signifie "FIN". l\/laps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely Included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de rMuctlon diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, 11 est fllm6 i partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de (nauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes nuivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 6 p I. Isxtracted from Tmf, Ottawa Naiurai.jst, Vol. XI. No. 12, pp. 209-220, Ottawa, March, 1898. NOTES ON THE PLEISTOCENE GEOLOGY OF A FEW PLACES IN THE OTTAWA VALLEY. BY W. J. WILSON, Ph. B., of the Geological Survey of Canada. m if -' y * i /S'?r/f.t VI ■!!. : .1 I ■.'■ >1 ;;-A'j <;< ^f^J'? NOTES ON THE PLEISTOCENE GEOLOGY 0]< A FEW PLACES IN THE OTTAWA VALLEY. By W. J. Wilson, Th. B., Of the Geological Survey of Canada. The Ottawa River rises near the height of land in Latitude 48'' N. and Longitude j^' W., whence it flows wcstwardly for a distance o! 250 miles to Lake Temiscaming. From this lake its course is south-east till it reaches the St. Lawrence River, Its whole length is about 650 miles, but from its source to ihc St. Lawrence River in a direct line is less than 200 miles. Its branches on the north or Quebec side arc the Dumoine, Black, Coulotige, Gatineau, Lievre, and Rouge, all of which flow nearly south. F'rom the west or Ontario side it receives the waters of the Montreal, Mattawa, Petewawa, Bonnechere, Madawaska, Missi- slppi, Rideau, and South Nation, all of which flow eastward. The whole area drained by the Ottawa is ai)proximately rifty-six thousand square miles. It is the purpose of this paper to record the result of obser- vations made at a few points extending from the city of Ottawa to Pembroke, a distance of eighty miles, during the summers of 1895-96, more especially the district included in the townships of Ros3, Westmeath, Stafford, Wilberforce, Bromley, S. Algona Scbastopcrl and Grattan, in Renfrew county. Every where in this district there is abundant evidence of ice action, both in the polished and striated rocks and in the general distffbatton of bouIder-cIay and boulders. The question of the direction of the ice movement is comparatively simple. Near the Ottawa River the striae follow closely the course of the lO Thk Ottawa Naturalist. [March valley as seen north of AUumctte Island in two places, at Vinton, Portage du Fort, and near Bristol, on the Quebec side, where the course is from S. lo'^ K. to S. 30' E* On the south side the same courses were seen north of Pembroke, at several jilaces in Ross and Bromley townships ; at Shamrock, south of Renfrew, and at Galetta. In Ottawa city, " Barrack Hill,"t the course is S. 45 E., and Dr. Ami reports stride on Park Avenue and Nicholas Street almost due east and west.J Near llmtonburg on the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway, the course is S. Sf E. While the south-east course is constant in the valley close to the river, at a distance of ten to twenty miles back the ice moved west of south. On the south side of the river a large number of observations show the direction to be from S. 2' VV. to S. 35° W., the most common being from S. 15° W. to S. 25° VV. It is probable that the south-west course is the older of the two, and that the south-east course was produced when the ice had become so thin that it was deflected by the minor irregularities of the surface, and so followed the course of the river. At an earlier stage the ice had evidently been thick enough to over-ride irregularities of surface of con- siderable size, the course being .south-west, as above stated, where the present drainage is to the east. The south-east and the south-west courses were not observed on the same surface in the area under consideration, but in the vicinity of Lake Temiscaming these two courses are frequently seen cross- ing each other, and Mr. Barlow states that the oldest course is about S. 20*' VV., while the more recerit courses follow the river valleys. Speaking generally of the giaciation of the district particu- larly referred to, it may be said that good exposures of rock are common where the results of ice movement can be studied. * The be.irings are referred to ;he true meridian, t Geology of Canada, p. 892. J Ottawa Naturalist, 1887, p. 69. iSyHj PlKISTOCKNK GKOLOdY IN OTTAWA VaLLEV. 211 I Splendid examples of stossing are numerous, and even where the rock is so weathered that no stri* are visible, the rounded and smooth appearance of the north side of exposures, and the abrupt and sharp edges on the south, so characteristic of glacier action, may be seen and often enable us to determine with con- siderable accuracy the direction in which the ice moved. Boulder- clay, boulders, Leda-clay, sand and gravel are also abundant, while the less common phenomena of surface geology, viz. : kames, asar or eskers and moraines are occasionally seen. BOULDEk-CLAV. Till, or boulder-clay has been described as a " firm, tough tenaceous clay which gives evidence of having been rsubjected to great pressure. Often the accumulation becomes coarser and sandier. Again it may be described as a coarse agglomeration of subangular and angular stones .set in a scanty matrix of coarse earthy grit and sand. Sometimes the stones in the till are so numerous that hardly any matrix of clay is visible." It will be -seen that the term boulder-clay embraces deposits whose appearance differs widely, but however it may vary in appear- ance and composition it can ususUy be recognized by the peculiar .shape and .striation of the stones contained in it. Typi- cal boulder-clay may be seen in many places near Ottawa, as in the cutting on the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Rail- way near Hintonburg already referred to, at Hog's Back, and in very many places in the area under consideration. Jn connect- ion with the boulder-clay a word about the distribution of boulders will be in place. This district is no exception to the general rule that most of the boulders in the boulder-clay and tnose scattered over a country are from rocks near , at han^, and only a few of the harder kinds are carried to a great distance. In this district the boulders commonly seen are limestone, usu- ally flat and angular, and gneiss, granite, etc., more rounded and worn. Dr. KUs has already referred to the great blocks of Black 212 The Ottawa Naturalist. [March River limestone -vhich occur along the Opcongo Road on a ridge south of Clear Lake, at a height of nearly fourteen hundred feet above sea-level.* Some of these blocks are five to eight feet through and very angular. As far as known the Mlack River lormation nowhere occurs in the vicinity of Clear Lake at a greater height than eight hundred feet, so that if the relative levels of the country have not changed since the glacial periijd, the.se boulders have been carried upward a di.stance of five to six hundred feet. Travelled boulders in similar positions have been frequently noted. Sir J. W. Dawson records large Laurcntian boulders on Montreal Mountain which, he say.s, must have been carried probably a hundred miles from the Laurentian region to the north-east.j Dana states that Mount Katahdin in Maine has many boulders on its northern face derived from the Devo- nian rock of the low country to the north, three thousand feet below it in level. ^ In Nova Scotia sandstone boulders are common on the Cobequid Mountains at a considerable height above the present level of the Carboniferous beds, from which they were derived. The position ol these boulders at such heights forms a most interesting subject for study, and many theories have been advanced in regard to it. Among the theories put forward the following may be mentioned. Some writers claim that these erratics were placed in their present position by floating ice. They claim that the land was sub- merged to a depth sufficient to allow icebergs or ice jams to pass over or become stianded on the higher ground, where they deposited whatever material was embedded in them, or carried on their surface. Another explanation is that the land was covered by a glacier to a depth equal to or more than the greatest height at which these boulders are found, and that this mass moved over the country, carrying boulders, etc., along with * The Ottawa Naturalist, December, 1896, p. 171. t Canadian Ice Age, p. aoi. :J: Manual, p. 690. ^t r ' -i^A^-',^.^''i -Xii, JH98] Pl.Kl.TOCENF, GEOLOC.Y IN OTTAWA VaF.LET. 215 » f it and deposited them wherever it chanced to be when the ice ceased to move forward. In connection with this it is urjjcd that blocks of stone, entering the bottom of the glacier under certain conditions, gradually rise to the surface and in this way otten reach a height far above their original position. It may be renaikcd that more or less serious objections have been raised against all these ex i-lanations. Igy of Canada, p. 916. 214 The Ottawa Natukalist. [March Lake TemiscamitiK, the level of which at high water is five hundred and tiin *ty-six feet above the sea. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this clay is the scarcity of marine shells even where it is known to be far below the level reached by the sea during the Champlain subsidence. Marine fossils are recorded at Montreal at a height of five hundred and sixty feet, at Smith's Falls four hundred and twenty feet, near Galctta four hundred and seventy-five and Chelsea four hundred and twenty- five, so that the land in this valley during the time the Leda clay was laid down must have been six hundred feet lower than at present. We can therefore, I think, fairly assume that the stratified clays which are not more than five hundred or six hundred feet above se?'. level are marine. The marked resemblance of the clays on the higher levels to those on the lower, where fossils are found, is strong corroborative evidence of a similar origin. Even at the lower levels fossils are by no means common in this clay. In the city of Ottawa where excavations are frequently made and large quantities of clay are throwu out, I have seen fossils in two places only. At Mohr's Corners, about a mile from the village of Galetta, there is a sand terrace abounding in marine shells. Underlying the sand there is a bed of this clay, well stratified, twenty to thirty feet deep, and al- though there was a section ten feet deep on the roadside for a quarter of a mile, a careful examination revealed no fossils. Sir J. W. Dawson says : " Where the i.cda clay is thick and well developed it admits of sub-division into a lower Leda clay, un- fosriliferous or with only shells of Leda i^iaciah's and Macoma Grcenlandica, and an upper Leda clay, usually more sandy and holding a rich boreal fauna identical with that of the northern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence at present."* Mr. F. K. Taylor in a recent article says " Near the city of Ottawa the upper limit Canadian Ice Age, p. 60. 4 I 1898] Pleistocene Geology in Ottawa Valley. 215 of the Champlain submergence was not less than four hundred and seventy-five feet above the sea and was probably higher. Beaches undoubtedly belonging to this submergence have been found near Renfrew, and also at about four hundred and fifty feet at Pembroke, and also at abou*. five hundred and thirty feet at Mackey's Station on the Ottawa River. Between Hudson Bay and Lake Superior shells of the same age have been found up to four hundred and fifty feet above the sea, and within one hundred and fifty miles of the lake. The upper limit of the sub- mergence was probably still higher. It seems almost certain that during the Champlain submergence the sea extended far up the Ottawa valley, probably reaching the head of Lake Tcmis- caming." He says, however, that within the area no continuous tracing of the marine beaches has been made. saxicava sand. The Saxicava sand is also well represented in the Ottawa valley. It is a shallow water or shore deposit, and where a section is complete rests on the Leda clay. It is yellow or brownish and varies from fine sand to coarse gravel. Sometimes there is a distinct line between this formation and the Leda clay, while in other places the one runs into the other. It is at the junction of the two that the fossils are mo.st plentiful Exposures of this sand are abundant everywhere in this valley, and in many places nothing else is seen for a long distance. Many such areas weie noted in Renfrew county, but no fossils were seen. In a cutting a short distance north of Chelsea Station on the Gatineau Valley Railway there is a narrow seam of coarse yel- low sand which in places is full of shells of Saxicava rugosa and Macoma fragilis. Near this seam, if not in i^, a small perfect shell of Leda arctica was found, and in a higher bank of Leda clay a fragment of a Balanus, probabl)- Hamcri. These deposits attain a height of four hundred and twenty-five feet at this point. About half a mile west of Carp station this sand forms 2l6 The Ottawa Naturalist. [March a terrace known as Johnston's Grove, in which Saxtcava rugosa and Maconia fragilis are abundant at a height of about three hundred and fifty feet. These shells are also found in a cutting at Carp Station, as stated by Dr. Ells. At Mohr's Corners, al- ready referred to, there is a sand terrace which rises to a height of four hundred and seventy-five feet and contains the above shells in great abundance. In a cutting through a gravel bed on the Electric Railway west ot Hintonburg, Leda arctica, Saxt- cava rugosa and a fragment of a Balanus were found. This is so different from the other localities that it deserves s|;ecial men- tion. It is composed of a beach-like gravel, distinctly stratified and well water-worn The pebbles are generally one to two inches in diameter, with a small number of larger ones, the inter- stices being filled with sand. Lcda arctica is the most abundant here, while at the other places named, only one specimen was found. The shells are small but well preserved, and in some cases the two valves are joined. The few specimens of Saxicava rugosa which were found were also well preserved. This cutting is on the edge of a terrace which extends back to the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway and is about two hundred and thirty feet above sea level. TERRACES. Terraces and old shore lines or beaches have been described as occurring in many places along the Ottawa Valley. A good example of a cut terrace may be seen on the Montreal road near Green's Creek, at a height of about two hundred feet, but this may be of fluviatile origin. At Chelsea there is a terrace at a height of three hundred and fifty feet, and one round the base of King's Mountain seven hundred and five feet high, North of the west end of Muskrat Lake on the road leading tc Beach- bur<: a fair^ well defined shore-line occurs at a height of from four hundr i to four hundred and fifty feet. In many places where the level tracts of Leda clay occur there are sloping Il 1898J Pleistocene Geology IN Ottawa Valley. 217 ridixes rising on each side fifty to one hundred feet, and just where one would expect to find a cut terrace, but none were seen that could safely be put down as such. On the north-west .side of Lake Dor^ there is a well defined t,'ravel terrace at a height of four hundred and fitly feet above sea level and forty feet above the level of the lake. A few sand and gravel ridges occur in this district, though none of any great length were seen. Two small ridges occur in Westineath township. They are composed larr,ely of sand and gravel, and are ten to fifteen feet high. They lie about S. 30'' E. Another low ridge was seen near Caldwell Station on the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway, though the material in this one is more of the character of boulder clay. On the road between Concessions XXI and XXII, Lot 12, Wilbcrforce township, just east of the stream from Green Lake there are four ridges running parallel to each other, course S. 23'' K. The first is only a few rods from the stream which cuts through it south of the road. In this part it is very regular in shape and rises about twenty feet above the .surrounding ground* Where the road cuts through it, it is about two hundred and twenty-five feet wide, flanked on each side by a low ridge four or five feet high. The sides are .steep and meet in a sharp ridge at the top, Between the first and second ridges there is a peat bog two hundred feet wide. The second ridge is about the same size as the first, then another narrow bog, and the third crosses the road. It is similar to the other two only not quite as high. A short distance from this is a fourth ridge, but it is low and rounded at the top. A good section is shown in each where the road crosses. They are composed of well rounded water-worn pebbles, sand and gravel and a few angular frag- ments of rock, but the second one mentioned differs considerably from the others. A section in descending order is— rounded pebbles, sand and gravel, five feet ; fine sand well stratified 2l8 Tmk Ottawa Naturalist. [March twelve feet, covered near the base with boulder clay, Strue en the same road a short distance to the east run S. 2" W . These ridges do not extend for any great distance as far as culd be seen from the road, but en the next Concession road to the north- west, I saw short ridges composed |.aril> of boulder-clay and partly .f vvater-worn material, which were in the same line with those just described but not continuous. Gravel ridges and mounds occur near Heachburg and eastward and enclose small lakes. Mounds partaking of the character of drumlins occur on the road between Conce.s.sions VIII and IX, VVilberforce town- ship. MORAINES. The (Ecology of Canada mentions ridges of glacial drift or boulders running north and south and resembling moraines as occuringat the Hudson Bay Company's post eighteen miles from the head of Lake Temiscaming, at Long Sault just below the Lake, at the mouth of the Maganissippi, about twenty miles above the Mattawa, at Roche Capitainc, near Green's Creek, and at L'Orignal where six ridges occur in less th m a mile! Along the south side of Mink Lake in Wilberforcc township there is an irregular mass which extends continuously more than a mile and rises in plates to thirty feet in height. It has an average breadth of ihree hundred and fifty feet. It does not rise to a sharp ridge like those at Green Lake just referred to, but is flat on the .top and in some parts there are two or more ridges parallel, or diverging at an angle of from 10^ to 20". At the west end it is broken up into hillocks or mounds and at the east end it. is lower and bends toward the north tollowing the shor? of tbS7