CHAPTER IX.

SILURIAN.

_Islands of Group I._

Flat-lying beds of light-coloured yellow and drab limestone occupy the lowlands of the southern and western parts of Southampton island, and also form outliers in depressions in the crystalline rocks on the north side of the island, notably at Duke of York bay.

A considerable collection of fossils was brought home from the beds forming the southern half of the west coast of the island. These have been examined by Dr. Ami and Mr. Lambe, whose determinations will be found in Appendix iv. The fossils show that the rocks contain a fauna closely resembling that of the Lake Winnipeg basin, and extend over a period from the Galena-Trenton to the Guelph and Niagara, or from the upper part of the Cambro-Silurian to high up in the Silurian.

Soundings taken on the even bottom of Fisher strait show that the limestones extend without a break to Coats island (to the southward of Southampton), where they occupy all of its surface except the portion at the east end of the island where the Archæan ridge crosses it. A few fossils from Mansfield island show that it also is formed of limestones of these horizons.

At Cape Chidley a collection of fossils from loose pieces of limestone corresponds with fossils from Akpatok island, and the direction of ice movement out of Hudson strait leaves little doubt that the loose limestone of Chidley came from that island. These fossils show a slightly wider range in age than the rocks of Southampton do; they extend from the Lower Galena-Trenton to the Lower Heidelberg.

_West Coast of Hudson Bay._

The wide fringe of limestones which is found along the west shores of Hudson bay to the southward of Churchill do not come within the limits of this report. To the northward only Archæan rocks are found along the mainland until the northern half of Melville peninsula is reached, where Parry describes a wide area of sandstone, probably the base of the Cambro-Silurian, as separating the highlands of the interior from the western shores of the northern part of Fox channel. These rocks are continued on the north side of Fury and Hecla strait, where they are found on the west side of Baffin island fronting on Prince Regent inlet.

_Islands of Group II._

The only known occurrence of Silurian limestone on the eastern side of Baffin island is at Silliman’s Fossil Mount, near the head of Frobisher bay, where the limestone forms a hill 1,000 yards long and 350 feet high, resting almost flat upon the crystalline rocks. Seventy-two species were identified by Schuchert from fossils brought back from this locality; he refers them all to the Galena-Trenton.

Little is known of the limestone about the great lakes, Nettilling and Amadjuak, in the interior of Baffin, beyond the meagre observations of Boas, who briefly refers to the limestone about Nettilling and along the east side of Fox channel. These limestones are probably an eastern extension of the Southampton area, but their exact age will remain unknown until fossils have been collected from them.

On the east side of Prince Regent inlet the rocks composing the high cliffs of Baffin island are the basal sandstone and shale overlaid by limestones, which in places are interbedded with beds of gypsum. These high cliffs of limestone extend eastward along the south shore of Lancaster sound to the mouth of Admiralty inlet, when they give place to the Archæan crystalline rocks, which rise slowly to the eastward from beneath the level of the sea, in a manner similar to that already described, on the north side of Lancaster sound.

_Islands of Group III._

The large islands of this group are mainly built of Silurian limestones. North Somerset was the only island of this group visited in the _Neptune_, and all information concerning the others is derived from the observations made on earlier expeditions, and contained in Dawson’s summary of the northern geology.

Silurian limestones form the southern third of Banks island, being overlaid in the northern part by beds of Devonian and lower Carboniferous age. Dr. Rae reports the entire southern coast of Victoria island as being composed entirely of Silurian limestone.

‘The northern part of King William land, with Matty island to the east of it, are described by Sir John Ross as of limestone. Simpson states the eastern part of the south shore to be also of limestone, and Haughton dealing principally with the results of M’Clintock’s voyage writes as follows: “The east side of King William island, though composed of Silurian limestone like the rest of the island, is strewed with blocks of black and red micaceous gneiss, like that of Montreal island, and black metamorphic clay-slate, in which the crystals of mica are just commencing to be developed. It is probable that the granitoid rocks appear at the surface somewhere to the eastward of this locality.”

‘Numerous excellent though brief notes on the geology of the eastern and southwestern coasts of the Boothian peninsula occur in Sir John Ross’ remarkable narrative referred to. From these we learn that the eastern shore is composed of limestone to Port Logan (latitude 71° 21´), where a high range of hills—which is seen at a distance estimated at thirty miles inland at Creswell bay (further north) and runs north-and-south—impinged on the shore, and was found to consist of granitoid and gneissic rocks. Thence southward, from notes given in the body of the narrative, a narrow border of limestone may skirt the shore to about latitude 70° 35´, though the geological appendix does not make any mention of this.’

‘The narrow neck of the Boothian peninsula, which was crossed by Ross on several lines, is, from his description, composed of granitic rocks, with some outliers of limestone. One of these, definitely mentioned in the narrative but not in the geological appendix, is shown on the present map. On the coast of the mainland, west of the isthmus, the limestone formation is found resting on the granites of Lake Wittersted. Northwest from the isthmus the southwest coast of Boothia presents a range of granitoid hills, running northward, but becomes fringed by a low border of limestone near Cape Isabella, and this increases in width to the north, till an extensive flat limestone region is found in the vicinity of the magnetic pole.’

At Bellot strait a junction occurs between the granite and horizontal beds of Silurian limestone.

‘The entire western portion of Prince of Wales island is composed of Silurian limestone, which in the extreme west, at Cape Acworth, becomes chalky in character and non-fossiliferous, resembling the peculiar Silurian limestone found on the west side of Boothia Felix.’

The northern and eastern shores of North Somerset are of limestone, usually rising from the water in precipitous cliffs. These were examined at Port Leopold, where the cliffs rise sheer 1,000 feet from the sea. The bedding of the limestone is very distinct, and the face of the cliff has been sculptured by every runlet, so that between the horizontal and vertical markings the cliffs resemble on a gigantic scale the fluted walls of a castle. Fossils were collected from the lower beds of the cliff by M’Clintock, but none were collected on the present voyage.

_Islands of Group IV._

The discovery of the Silurian limestone of the southern cliffs of North Devon and Cornwallis was made by Parry, while his collection of fossils was supplemented by those found by the Franklin search expeditions. Our knowledge of the geology of Ellesmere was, previous to the Sverdrup expedition, mainly due to the work of Feilden and De Rance in connection with the British expedition of 1875-76. Mr. P. Schei, the geologist who accompanied Sverdrup, collected much valuable information concerning the rock formations of Ellesmere. A summary of his observations is published as an appendix to Sverdrup’s ‘New Land,’ and is freely quoted from in the following.

The rocks found on the north side of the Archer plateau, in the eastern part of Ellesmere to the north of Cape Sabine, are very interesting geologically, as they show the only trace of an unbroken sequence of beds from the Huronian up through the Cambrian to the Silurian limestones so widely distributed on the Arctic islands. These rocks are described by Schei as follows:

‘At Cape Camperdown, on Bache peninsula, is found granite overlain by an arkose-like conglomerate sandstone, in flat strata, the dip being north-northwest. Its thickness here probably does not exceed 500 feet, though the contour swells to considerably greater magnitude by reason of intrusions of diabase, occasioning an additional thickness of perhaps 300 feet. At its upper part this sandstone merges gradually, by interstratification, into a series of gray, sandy and marl-like schists and limestone conglomerates. From a few inches up to a couple of yards in thickness these conglomerates and schists, continuously interstratified, build up a series 600 to 900 feet in thickness, interrupted by two compact beds of yellowish-gray dolomitic limestone about 150 feet in thickness. These are again overlain by a series similar to the underlying one, excepting that here the limestone conglomerates exceed the schists.’

‘In a detached block, in all probability originating from one of the two 150-foot beds, were traces of fossils, of which one, _Leptoplastus_ sp., can be identified. In another detached block, whose mother rock is not known, was found _Anomocare_ sp. It may be said with certainty after the finding of these fossils that this series contains deposits of the Cambrian age.’

‘The second series of conglomerates is overlain by a light grayish-white limestone in a bed some 300 feet in thickness, observed in the midst of the section of Cape Victoria Head. Indistinct Orthoceras, Lichas and Symphysurus assign this limestone to the Lower Silurian period.’

‘Above the othoceras-bearing, light-coloured limestone bed are some less extensive strata of alternating limestone and quartz-sandstone, and finally a 100-foot bed of close brown limestone of which certain layers are fossiliferous, and gave an _Asaphus_, traces of other Trilobites and some Gasteropods.’

‘Following the direction of the dip to the north side of Princess Marie bay we find it again, though seemingly somewhat abrupter, in the limestone beds of Norman Lockyer island. A fauna with _Halysites_ sp., _Zaphrentis_ sp., _Orthisina_ sp., _Rhynchonella_ sp., _Leperditia_ sp., _Illœnus_ sp., &c., assigns this limestone to Lower Silurian. It is again found with its fauna at the base of Cape Harrison; in this case with a thick super-incumbent bed of marly sandstone, quartz-sandstone, and finally extensive limestone conglomerate. This also occurs near the shore in Cape Prescott, indicating by its presence in the strike of the limestone of Norman Lockyer island the disturbance undergone by these tracts.

‘The line along which this disturbance took place is refound on the west side of Franklin Pierce bay, where the beds of limestone conglomerate dipping from the heights of Cape Harrison are cut off in the strike by a limestone, dark-gray in colour and broken into a breccia.’

In another place Schei hints that the rocks of the Cape Rawson beds, consisting largely of dark shales and impure limestones, found along the northern parts of the eastern shores of Ellesmere, may be of Triassic age, in sharply folded troughs of the older rocks, and consequently much younger than Cambrian, to which age they were referred by Fielden and De Rance.

Writing of the Silurian beds found on the southern coast of Ellesmere, Schei describes them as answering to the northern series, and their occurrence is as follows:—

‘There are at Havnefjord, in Jones sound, above some layers of quartz-sandstone, which entirely cover the gneiss-granite there, a series of limestone conglomerates with marly schists and pure limestones of a thickness of 1,200 to 1,500 feet. These are again overlain by a series of beds at least 2,000 feet thick, of hard, impure limestones, brown or yellowish-gray in colour, and often remarkably heavy.’

‘At South cape, which is entirely composed of this brown limestone, are found in the lower parts _Maclurea_ sp., and _Halysites_ sp., referable to the Middle Silurian, while west of it, at Bjorneborg, the upper parts of the series contain badly preserved remains of Orthocerata, Corals, and _Pentamerus_ cfr. _tenuistriatus_. Hereafter the upper part of the limestone seems to be equivalent to the older Upper Silurian (Landovery). This brown limestone occurs from South cape westward to Kobbebugten in Hell Gate, and is broken at Lille Sandor, tectonic disturbance bringing up the underlying conglomerate series, and even the Archæan.’

‘On the south side of Rendalen appears the brown limestone of the capes, Series A, with a flat dip to the north-northwest; but on the north side of the valley is a division of dark schist, Series B, lying conformably above the beds of brown limestone. Associated with these schists, particularly in their lower and upper parts, are numerous layers of pure dark limestone, frequently fossiliferous. In Rendalen and in Kobbebugten, where this same division also appears, a quantity of material was collected, of which fifteen species are provisionally determined, among them being _Favosites_ sp., _Strophomena_ cfr. _euglypha_, _Meristella_ in numbers, _Rhynchonella_ cfr. _borealis_, _Pentamerus_ cfr. _galeatus_, _Spirifer_ cfr. _elevatus_. The period of this division in Series B is Wenlock.’

‘The upper part of Series B appears, among other places, at the headland north of Tunneldalen, in Hvalrosfjord. Above a black shale containing _Monograptus_ sp. and _Leperditia_ cfr. _phaseolus_ is a bed of fragmentary limestone with _Favosites_, _Strophomena_ cfr. _pecten_, _Atrypa reticularis_, _Pterniea_ cfr. _Sowerbyi_. From a locality in Gaasefjord, on the same horizon, were taken _Favosites_ cfr. _Hisingeri_, _Favosites Gothlandicus_, _Thecia Swinderenana_, _Spirifer elevatus_, _Spirifer_ cfr. _crispus_, _Strophomena corrugatella_, _Dav._, _Pterinea_ sp. According to these, the period of this upper part of Series B should be Ludlow. The thickness of the series is about 1,000 feet.’

‘In Hell Gate, as well as in Gaasefjord, these strata are overlaid by Series C; in its lower parts consisting of interstratified light and dark marl schists, which are somewhat sandy, while in its upper part appear pure quartz-sandstone beds and argillaceous sandstone. The collective thickness of these strata is about 1,000 feet in Gaasefjord, while in Hell Gate it is probably somewhat greater. No fossils were found in this series.’

‘At the base of the high cliffs at Indra Eide and Borgen appears Series C. In both of these places it is overlain by a dark limestone and black shale, partially fossiliferous. This dark limestone and shale are the lowest layers in a series of strata at least 1,500 feet in thickness, Series D, which appears in the profiles on both sides of Gaasefjord, from Borgen to the foot of Vargtoppen (Wolf Top), and from Indre Eide to Skrabdalen.’

‘In Series Da occurs _Atrypa reticularis_ in great quantities, but little else. On the other hand, there are preliminary determined in Db about fifty-five species, of which may be mentioned: _Favosites_ sp. div., _Columnaria_ sp., _Cyathophyllum_ sp. cfr. _hexagonum_, _Recaplaculites_ sp., _Fenestella_ sp., _Homalonotus_ sp., _Burmeisteria_ sp., _Dechenella_ sp., _Proetus_ sp., _Orthis striatula_, _Leptaena_ sp., _Strophomena_, _Streptorhyncus_, _Atrypa reticularis_, _aspera_; _Rhynchonella (Pugnax)_ cfr. _reniformis_, _pugnus_, _Productus_ cfr. _prolongus_, _Spirifer_ of the _Verneuilli Murch._ type, a peculiar _Pentameride_, _Terebratula_ cfr. _Dielasma_, _Pterinea_ sp., _Modiolopsis_ sp., _Lucina_ sp. div., _Bellerophon_ sp., _Platyceras_ sp., _Orthoceras_ sp., _Gomphoceras_, gigantic nautilus and ganoid scales.’

‘The fauna in Dc is merely a repetition, and in the case of certain species, a further development, of the forms found in Db. It will thus be seen that there is a spring in regard to the fauna between the upper layers in Series B and the lower ones in Series D, which more particularly resemble Lower or Middle Devonian. The concordantly embedded (?) Series C might, therefore, be thought to represent uppermost Silurian as well as lowest Devonian.’

‘Divisions Dd and Df are poor in fossils, and are partly shale divisions. In the impure limestone of Dg occur again numerous fossils, among which are _Atrypa reticularis_, _Rhynchonella_ cfr. _cuboides_, _Spirifer_ cfr. _undifera_, _Productus_ sp., _Terebratula_ cfr. _Dielasma_, _Pterinea_ sp., _Avicula_ sp., _Modiolopsis_ sp., _Pleurotomaria_ sp., _Proetus_ sp. Traces of placoderm fish are also met with. Above these strata are beds of purer limestone Dh, and above these again some less pure, Di. The uppermost strata of Di alternate with strata of light-gray quartz-sandstone terminating in a clay-sandstone, which in places is richly fossiliferous, though the fossils are in a bad state of preservation. Among these are lamellibranchiata, _Dechenella_ sp., remains of _Holoptychius_, &c.’

‘This argillaceous sandstone is simultaneously the last link in Series D and the first in Series E. This is a huge collection of quartz-sandstone strata building up the mountains on both sides of the inner part of Gaasefjord. The lowest part, which is 900 to 1,200 feet in thickness, consists almost exclusively of quartz-sandstone. On the north side of Skrabdalen, in the sandstone profile, occur conglomerate strata, half an inch to an inch in thickness. In these were found considerable remains of _Coccosteus_ sp., _Holoptychius_ sp., and _Modolia angusta_. In the same strata with these were also seen indeterminable plant-fossils. Slightly higher up in the profile, however, in a black shale which occurred in two lentiform masses, eighteen inches and six feet in thickness, were found numerous plant-fossils.’

‘Professor Nathorst, of Stockholm, who has kindly undertaken the examination of these, says that among others are _Archœopteris fissilis_ Schmalh. and _Arch. archetypus_ Schmalh., both characteristic of Upper Devonian. In examining the material collected, Professor Nathorst also found with the plant remains some remains of fishes.’

From the above it will be seen that on the southern side of Ellesmere there is a complete succession of strata, bearing fossils from Middle Silurian age up to the Upper Devonian. These strata have an aggregate thickness of 8,000 feet, and form the thickest and most carefully measured section of the Silurian and Devonian beds of the Arctics.

On the southern and southwestern parts of North Devon the Silurian strata are much thinner than those described by Schei. At Cuming creek the Archæan gneisses were found overlain unconformably by red and purple arenaceous shales and thin bedded sandstones having an aggregate thickness of fifty to one hundred feet. These in turn were succeeded by beds of impure limestone of light-gray or creamy colour. The beds are usually under two feet in thickness, and separated by thinner beds containing a considerable amount of clay. These light-coloured limestones have a thickness of over 1,000 feet in the cliffs on both sides of the creek. The sides of the cliffs are covered with broken limestone, so that it was impossible to measure a section up them, but in two or three places a darker coloured limestone conglomerate was found, made up of small pebbles cemented by a dark shaly matrix. Fossils are only found in the beds immediately overlying the dark shales and sandstones of the base. These show that the lower limestone is of Silurian age, about the horizon of the Niagara.

Similar conditions prevail in the cliffs at Beechey island, where a large collection of fossils was obtained from the lower limestone beds, while others, picked up loose, but evidently fallen from the cliffs above showed that the upper beds passed close to if not into the Devonian, as stated in Appendix IV.

Similar Silurian limestones constitute the island of Cornwallis, to the westward of North Devon, while in the remaining Parry islands farther west the Silurian strata are lost beneath the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks of those islands.

DEVONIAN.

The work of the older geologists, which was summarized by Haughton and later by Dawson, took no account of the Devonian in their divisions of the Palæozoic rocks of the islands north of Lancaster sound. All the lower limestones were classed as Silurian, while the overlying sandstones were placed in the Carboniferous. Fossils of Devonian age were collected, by the expedition of 1876, from the northern part of Ellesmere, but their occurrence and relations were only finally settled by Schei as given above. From his observations it is plain that the upper part of the limestones and the lower 1,000 feet of the overlying sandstones are of Devonian age. The early explorers were not trained geologists, and it could hardly be expected that they would discover the thin bands containing fossils in these great thicknesses of barren beds. Owing to this supposed lack of fossils the rocks were separated into Silurian and Carboniferous almost wholly on lithological differences, the limestones being classed as Silurian and the sandstones as Carboniferous.

There is no doubt that Devonian rocks are included in the Carboniferous of the western Parry islands, but as they occur only in the cliffs underlying the Carboniferous beds that cover the surface of the islands, it would be impossible to map them on the scale used in illustrating this report, and in consequence the old colouring is followed here.

CARBONIFEROUS.

The southern boundary of the Carboniferous sandstones with their included coal seams crosses the southern part of Banks island in a north-northeast direction, and they consequently cover the northern two-thirds of that island, while the extreme northwest portion of Victoria island is also occupied by these rocks. The western Parry islands on the north side of Melville sound are almost wholly formed of these rocks, whose southern boundary strikes northeast across the northern half of Cornwallis island. They are found again in Grinnell peninsula, the northwest portion of North Devon, and again on the western side of Ellesmere, in the vicinity of Store Bjornekap, being probably largely developed in the northeast part of that great island.

These rocks are described as follows by Professor Haughton:

‘The Upper Silurian limestones, already described, are succeeded by a most remarkable series of close-grained, white sandstone, containing numerous beds of highly bituminous coal and but few marine fossils. In fact the only fossil shell found in these beds, as far as I know, in any part of the Arctic Archipelago is a species of ribbed _Atrypa_, which I believe to be identical with the _Atrypa fallax_ of the Carboniferous slate of Ireland. These sandstone beds are succeeded by a series of blue limestone beds containing an abundance of marine shells, commonly found in all parts of the world where the Carboniferous deposits are at all developed. The line of junction of these deposits with the Silurian on which they rest is N. E. to E. N. E. (true). Like the former, they occur in low flat beds, sometimes rising into cliffs, but never reaching the elevation attained by the Silurian rocks in Lancaster sound.’

Coal, sandstone, clay-ironstone and brown hematite, were found along a line stretching E.N.E. from Baring island, through the south of Melville island, Byam-Martin island and the whole of Bathurst island. Carboniferous limestones, with characteristic fossils, were found along the north coast of Bathurst island, and at Hillock point on Melville island.

From the comparison of different coal exposures noted by M’Clintock, M’Clure, Austin and Parry in the Parry islands, Professor Haughton has laid down the approximate outcrops of some of the coal beds. These he finds to agree remarkably well with the trend of the boundary of the formation drawn from totally different data. Lists of fossils and rocks from the following places, with notes, are given:

‘Hillock point, Melville island (latitude 76° N., longitude 111° 45´ W.). Bathurst island, north coast, Cape Lady Franklin (latitude 76° 40´ N., longitude 98° 45´ W.). Princess Royal island, Prince of Wales strait, Baring island (latitude 72° 45´ N., longitude 117° 30´ W.). In connection with this place it is noted that the Carboniferous sandstones underlie the limestones, and that it is probable that the coal beds of Melville island are very low down in the series, and do not correspond in geological position with the coal beds of Europe. Cape Hamilton, Baring island (latitude 74° 15´ N., longitude, 117° 30´ W.). Cape Dundas, Melville island (latitude 74° 30´ N., longitude 111° 45´). Cape Sir James Ross, Melville island (latitude 74° 45´ N., longitude 114° 30´). Cape Providence, Melville island (latitude 74° 20´ N., longitude 120° 30´ W.). Winter Harbour, Melville island (latitude 75° 35´ N., longitude 110° 45´ W.). Bridgeport inlet, Melville island (latitude 75° N., longitude 109° W.). Skene bay, Melville island (latitude 75° N., longitude 108° W.). Hooper island, Lyddon gulf, Melville island (latitude 75° 10´, longitude 112° W.). Byam-Martin island (latitude 75° 10´ N., longitude 104° 15´ W.). Graham-Moore bay, Bathurst island (latitude 75° 30´ N., longitude 102° W.). Bathurst island, Bedford bay (latitude 75° N., longitude 95° 50´ W.). (Vesicular scoriaceous trap rocks were found here by M’Clintock, though no such rocks are mentioned elsewhere in connection with the Carboniferous.) Cornwallis island, McDougall bay. Silurian and Carboniferous fossils were found together at the last mentioned place.'————

Professor Haughton also notes that

‘the sandstone of Byam-Martin island is of two kinds—one red, finely stratified, passing into purple slate, and very like the sandstone of Cape Bunny, North Somerset, and some varieties of the red sandstone and slate found between Wolstenholm sound and Whale sound, West Greenland, latitude 77° N. The other sandstone of Byam-Martin island is a fine, pale-greenish, or rather grayish-yellow, and not distinguishable in hand specimens from the sandstone of Cape Hamilton, Baring island.’

Parry also describes Byam-Martin island as essentially composed of sandstone, with some granitic and feldspathic rocks, these last being probably erratics.

Respecting the coal seams which have been discovered in the Arctic Archipelago, Professor Haughton further remarks:

‘If the different points where coal was found be laid down on a map, we have, in order, proceeding from the southwest, Cape Hamilton, Baring island; Cape Dundas, Melville island, south; Bridgeport inlet and Skene bay, Melville island; Schomberg point, Graham-Moore bay, Bathurst island; a line joining all these points is the outcrop of the coal-beds of the south of Melville island, and runs E.N.E. At all the localities above mentioned, and indeed in every place where coal is found, it was accompanied by the grayish-yellow and yellow sandstone, already described, and by nodules of clay-ironstone, passing into brown hematite, sometimes nodular and sometimes pisolitic in structure.’

Dr. Armstrong, of the _Investigator_, referring to the northern part of Banks island, states that outliers of Carboniferous limestone are found at Cape Crozier and near Mercy bay, along with the sandstones and shales with coaly streaks.

It is doubtful if the Carboniferous rocks occur on the northwest part of North Devon, though placed there by De Rance and Dawson. Schei found only Silurian and Devonian on the northern part of that island explored by him, and the Carboniferous rocks do not show on the west coast of Ellesmere until Store Bjornekap is reached. If a line were carried from the outcrops of these rocks on Bathurst island northward to Store Bjornekap it would cross the western part of Grinnell (island) peninsula, but there is no reason to suppose that the outcrop would follow such a line.

The Carboniferous rocks of western Ellesmere appear to be isolated areas resting upon the underlying Devonian, and in turn covered by Mesozoic rocks. Schei describes the area at Store Bjornekap as consisting in its lowest part of beds of brownish-gray, hard, fossiliferous limestone; higher up, of a white pure limestone, flinty limestone and pure flint strata, richly fossiliferous, among the fossils being _Lithostrotion_ sp., _Fenestella_ sp., _Streptorhynchus crenistria_, _Rhynchonella (Pugnax)_ sp., _Spirifer_ cfr. _ovalis_, _cuspidatus_, _mosquensis_, _Productus_ cfr. _semireticulatus_, _costatus_, _punctatus_, _cora_, &c.

The extreme northeast part of Axel Heiberg island is marked as Carboniferous by Schei, but there are no notes concerning this locality in his geolocigal summary.

The Carboniferous sandstones have not been found in the northeast part of Ellesmere island, but limestones of that age were found in several localities to the west of Dana bay, and there is every likelihood that rocks of this age extend across the northern part of the island to join those of the western shore and the northern part of Axel Heiberg island.

MESOZOIC.

The discovery of the Sverdrup group of islands has greatly extended our knowledge of the Mesozoic rocks of the Arctic basin. The Franklin search parties discovered rocks of this age on the northern shores of the Parry islands; at Point Wilkie, in Prince Patrick island; Rendezvous Hill, near the northwestern extreme of Bathurst island and at Exmouth island and places in the vicinity, near the northwest part of North Devon. The explorations from the _Fram_ now show that these are but the southern edge of a wide basin of these rocks which form the islands of King Oscar, Ellef and Amund Ringes, while they constitute the lowlands of Axel Heiberg and the western shores of Ellesmere along both sides of Eureka sound. There they consist largely of sandstones with shales, schists and limestones.

As before stated, Schei hints that their eastern extension to the shores of Kennedy channel may be marked by the tilted and folded strata, classed by De Rance as the Cape Rawson Series, of supposed Cambrian age.

TERTIARY.

Deposits containing fossil wood were discovered by M’Clintock, M’Clure and Armstrong in the southwestern part of Prince Patrick island and on the northwest side of Banks island.

‘At Ballast beach, on Banks land, large quantities of fossil and sub-fossil wood occur, which Prof. Heer refers to the Miocene in his Flora Fossilis Arctica, in which the following species are described by Cramer: _Pinus MacClurii_, _Pinus Armstrongi_, _Cupressinoxylon pulchrum_, _Cupressinoxylon polyommatum_, _Cupressinoxylon dubium_, _Betula M’Clintockii_.

In many places along the western side of Ellesmere, in the depressions between the mountains, thick deposits of sand with embedded strata of lignite were found. Similar deposits were found in the lowlands east of Blaamanden, and at the head of Stenkulfjord in Baumann fjord. In addition to the lignite, masses of slaty clay were found in the latter place, in which were well preserved remains of _Sequoia Langsdorfii_, _Taxodium distichum_ var. _miocenum_ and some others, well known witnesses to a southern vegetation in these regions in a geologically late period, i.e., the Miocene.’

The knowledge of the Tertiary deposits of the east side of Ellesmere is summarized as follows by Dawson:

‘Small outlying areas of Tertiary (Miocene of Heer) are noted as occurring at Water-course bay, at the entrance of Lady Franklin sound, and in two places on the north shore of the sound. Coal is found in these beds in association with black shales and sandstones, and from collections made by Capt. Fielden and Dr. Moss, Prof. Heer describes thirty species of plants closely allied to the Spitzbergen Tertiary flora, and indicating rather colder conditions than are expressed by the character of the Disko island Tertiary plants. The coal appears to be an excellent fuel, containing only 2·01 per cent of water.’

‘Capt. Greely’s expedition (1881 to 1884) though so important in its results from a geographical point of view, has added comparatively little to our geographical knowledge of Grinnell land and the northern coast of Greenland, a fact due to the absence of a geologist and the enforced abandonment of the specimens collected. From a careful perusal of Capt. Greely’s narrative ('Three Years of Arctic Service, 1886'), and from information obligingly supplied by him and by Lieut. Brainard, in answer to inquiries made by correspondence, some facts of importance are, however, brought out. The Tertiary coal-bearing formation is evidently much more widely spread in the part of Grinnell land, in the vicinity of Lady Franklin sound, than the previously quoted map of Messrs. Fielden and De Ranco would indicate, though it may probably be regarded as forming detached outliers (which I do not venture to outline) on the Cape Rawson beds, shown by these authors to characterize the region generally. Bituminous coal was found at Lincoln bay, half a degree north of the mouth of Lady Franklin sound, on the east Grinnell land coast, in different parts of the Bellows valley (which runs inland to the north of the same sound) to the head, and in the neighbourhood of Lake Hazen, to the westward, by Capt. Greely. Lieut. Brainard also describes in an appendix a fossil forest discovered by him in Archer fiord, a few miles west of Cape Baird, which, with the associated rocks, is without doubt referable to the Tertiary. Toward the head of Chandler fiord (running west of Lady Franklin sound) Greely mentions high cliffs of ‘schistose slate,’ and in Ruggles river, the outlet of Lake Hazen, large slabs of ‘slate,’ which had been used by the Eskimos in building their huts. Brainard speaks of the cliffs of Beatrix bay as dark, those of Ella bay as very light, in colour. These bays constitute the termination of Archer fiord. He remembers the cliffs on Musk-ox valley to have been again of dark colours. Respecting Greely fiord, on the west coast of Grinnell land, he quotes from his diary: ‘On the north shore of this fiord the line of cliffs presents a feature of marked peculiarity; horizontal lines or strata of different colours run uniformly for miles along their face.’ He adds: ‘The predominating colours in these lines and of the cliffs was a pale-yellow. On the south side, where we were camped, the cliffs were of about the same colour as those spoken of above, but the strata were not noticed. They were from 1,500 to 8,000 feet above the sea-level, and presented a castellated appearance. Fossils in great numbers were found here.’

To the west of the narrows of Ponds inlet, the high hills of crystalline rock retreat from the southern shore of the inlet, leaving a wide plain of stratified sand, gravel and clay, which extends far to the west and southwest, and is penetrated by a number of deep bays on that side of the inlet. This plain is indented by all the water-courses traversing it, and in the beds of the principal streams broken lignite is found, evidently fallen from beds of that mineral in the banks above. The presence of lignite in these stratified deposits points to their being Tertiary in age, and corresponding with the northern areas of this formation already described as lying undisturbed in the wide valleys of the older rocks. This area in the northern part of Baffin island is, according to the natives, quite extensive, and probably extends in a southwest direction to the lowlands of the northern and western sides of Fox channel.

Capt. Adams, of the whaler _Diana_, said that lignite was to be found in similar deposits near Cape Hay, on the east side of Bylot island, and also at Durban island on the eastern coast of Baffin island. There is little doubt that other areas of these Tertiary deposits occur on the Arctic islands, but owing to no lignite or fossils having been found in them they have not been separated from the drift and newer Post Tertiary deposits of sand, gravel and clay of these coasts.

If Tertiary deposits were laid down on the lands of the western side of Hudson bay, there is little chance of more than small protected areas having escaped the intense glaciation to which the western shores of the bay were subjected. Any such remaining areas are now probably hidden beneath the mantle of drift so universal on the low lying portions of this region.

POST TERTIARY.

Little or no attention was given by the earlier explorers to the markings of ice-striae and other glacial phenomena, and the only records of the movement of the glacial ice noted by them was the distribution of erratic boulders. These observations have been summarized by Dawson as follows:

‘Along the Arctic coast, and among the islands of the archipelago, there is a considerable volume of evidence to show that the main direction of movement of erratics was northward. Thus, boulders of granite supposed by Prof. Haughton to be derived from North Somerset are found 100 miles to the northeastward, and pebbles of granite, identical with that of Granite point, also in North Somerset, occur 135 miles to the northwest. The east side of King-William land is also said to be strewn with boulders like the gneiss of Montreal island, to the southward. Prof. Haughton shows the direction and distance of travel of some of these fragments by arrows on his geological map of the Arctic archipelago, and reverts to the same subject on pages 393-394, pointing out the general northward movement of ice indicated, and referring the carriage of the boulders to floating ice of the glacial period.’

‘Near Princess Royal island, in Prince of Wales strait, and also on the coast of Prince of Wales island, the copper said to be picked up in large masses by the Eskimos may be supposed to be derived from the Cambrian rocks of the Coppermine river region to the south, as it is not probable that it occurs in place anywhere in the region of horizontal limestone where it is found.’

‘Dr. Armstrong, previously quoted, notes the occurrence of granitic and other crystalline rocks, not only on the south shore of Baring land, but also on the hills inland. These, from what is known of the region, can scarcely be supposed to have come from elsewhere than the continental land to the southward.’

‘In an account of the scientific results of the _Polaris_ expedition, it is stated of the west coast of Smith sound, north of the Humboldt glacier, that “wherever the locality was favourable the land is covered by drift, sometimes containing very characteristic lithological specimens, the identification of which with rocks of South Greenland was a very easily accomplished task. For instance, garnets of unusual large size were found in latitude 81° 30´, having marked mineralogical characters by which the identity of some garnets from Tiskernaces was established. Drawing a conclusion from such observations, it became evident that the main line of the drift, indicating the direction of its motion, runs from south to north.”’

Dr. Bell in his report on the geology of Hudson bay and Hudson strait, 1885, draws attention to the flow of the ice from the land on both sides of the strait into that body of water, while the striæ on the islands in the strait show that a great stream of ice passed eastward through the strait from Hudson bay into the north Atlantic. These observations have since been confirmed by observations of the striæ on other islands of the strait.

Tyrrell’s observations on the glacial phenomena of the barren-land region west of Hudson bay show that the country was intensely glaciated; that the centre of glaciation was on a nearly level plain now elevated some 400 or 500 feet above sea-level, there being no evidence to show that it was much more elevated during the period of glaciation. The centre of ice distribution was situated close to the western shores of Hudson bay, and the moisture sufficient to allow of such an accumulation of ice was probably derived from an open Arctic sea. The glacier moved south and southwest from this centre up a gradual grade to Manitoba, where morainic accumulations are found on the summits of the Duck mountains at elevations from 1,800 to 2,400 feet above present sea-level. Striæ evidently formed by moving ice from this centre have been found by Dr. Barlow and the writer on the branches of the Moose river to the south of James bay, where the movement was from the northwest.

There is little doubt that the ice also moved northward from the centre of glaciation, and that the evidence quoted above of the erratics found in the western Arctic islands is proof of this.

From a study of the different sets of glacial striæ, Tyrrell concluded that the centre of glaciation was, in the early part of the glacial period, somewhere to the north and west of the head of Chesterfield inlet; that later, when the ice increased in thickness, the centre of dispersion moved to a position southwest of Baker lake; while as the glacier diminished the centre moved nearer the seashore, and the final stage was probably represented by the ice-cap breaking up into a number of distinct glaciers, each with local movement of its own.

These conclusions of Tyrrell as to the southern movement of the centre of glaciation are borne out by the writer’s observations of the striæ along the shores of Roes Welcome, where as many as six sets of striæ were found at Whale point, the usual number being three. The oldest set, found only at Whale point, showed that the ice movement was from the northwest. The next in age were from N. 50° E., or almost at right angles to the oldest; following in order of age come striæ from N. 25° E., N., N. 30° W., and N.W. The last three sets are found in a number of places between Winchester inlet and Whale point; the others only at Whale point. The direction of the above sets of striæ apparently shows that the earliest accumulation of ice in the region north of the western side of Hudson bay was somewhere to the northwest; this was followed by an abrupt change in the ice-movement, which was next from almost northeast, after which the centre of movement of the ice-cap gradually shifted, by way of north, to northwest. It would also appear that the centres of dispersion were much greater in area than the limits placed upon them by Tyrrell.

This southern movement of the centre of dispersion of the ice is diametrically opposite to what occurred in the case of the ice-cap of Labrador, where the striæ along the east side of Hudson bay show that the centre of ice-movement changed from a position near the central area of the peninsula, a short distance north of the southern watershed, to one some three hundred miles north, in the vicinity of the headwaters of the Koaksoak river.

The glaciation of Labrador seems to have been later than that of the western side of Hudson bay, as the striæ from the western glacier are almost obliterated by those from the east and northeast along the rivers south of James bay.

There is a marked difference in the evidence of the intensity of glacial action between the southern regions and the eastern and northern portions of the great area embraced in this report. On the shores and islands of Hudson bay and Hudson strait the crystalline rocks have been denuded of every trace of rotted surface material; they have been smoothed, polished and intensely striated, and their present condition is such that little or no change has taken place since the disappearance of the ice, which once covered them deeply, the striæ being so fresh as to appear of the formation of yesterday. When the eastern mouth of Hudson strait is left, a change is soon seen in following the eastern side of Baffin island northward. The hills are less rounded, and talus lies on the slopes of the cliffs; about Cumberland gulf and Cyrus Field bay there is evidence of a universal ice-cap having been present, but the rounding, polishing and striation of the rocks are markedly less than to the south and westward. In these places it is exceedingly difficult to find striæ upon the rock surfaces, and these when found show that the movement was local and from the highlands towards the open sea. In the northern part of Baffin island the hills become more serrated in outline, and many of the higher points appear to have never been subjected to glaciation, the glaciers having only filled the valleys; if an ice-cap existed the ice-movement to the coast was determined by the course of the local valleys, and there is no evidence of a movement not depending upon local conditions as is the case in the region about Hudson bay. At Erik harbour, on the south side of the mouth of Ponds inlet, there is evidence that the glacier which now terminates at the head of the harbour once extended five miles farther seaward, and filled the valley to a height of 400 feet above the present level of the sea. Above that height the rocky walls of the harbour are not glaciated, and are covered by slopes of disintegrated rock. Passing north of Lancaster sound to the south of North Devon, there is little evidence to show that the glaciation was ever much more severe than at present. At Cuming creek, a narrow fiord cut some twelve miles into the limestone cliffs, there is evidence that a glacier once covered its bottom, and rose some two or three hundred feet above the present level of the sea; but it was purely local, and the limestone cliffs everywhere show that they have been long subjected to subaerial denudation, and that the broken rock covering their sides has never been displaced by ice.

Very little time was given to the study of glaciation at Cape Sabine, and the only evidence to show that it was more intense formerly was a low moraine in the rear of Peary’s house at Payer harbour. Schei, who devoted considerable attention to the glaciation of Ellesmere, is of the opinion that the ice covering never greatly exceeded its present limits, if it did so at all.

MARINE TERRACES.

Marine terraces are found along the coasts of the northern mainland and islands wherever the conditions are suitable. Fronting the highlands about Wager inlet and Repulse bay, on the western side of Hudson bay, terraces are found cut into the drift deposits up to elevations varying from 500 to 700 feet. The highest terrace seen by Dr. Bell on the north side of Hudson strait had an elevation of 528 feet above the present sea-level. At Cape Wolstenholme, on the south side of the western entrance to Hudson strait the terraces rise to 800 feet above the sea. At Douglas harbour on the same side and near the middle of the strait the highest terraces noted were little over 400 feet. Along the eastern shores of Baffin island terraces were constantly seen, which were estimated to rise from 500 to 700 feet above the sea. Schei found terraces with Post-Pliocene fossils at an elevation of 650 feet along the shores of Ellesmere.

The foregoing evidence shows that at the close of the period of maximum glaciation an uplift occurred to the land throughout the northeastern Arctic region. This uplift is marked by the terraces existing on all the shores, but they fail to agree with the theory that the uplift was greatest where the accumulation of ice was greatest. There appears to be no great difference in the height of the terraces in Ellesmere, where the glaciation, never excessive, remains in nearly the same state as when it was at its maximum thickness and of those about the shores of Hudson bay, where an enormous thickness of ice once covered the land and has now entirely disappeared.

The uplift, which took place in comparatively recent times, geologically speaking, does not appear to be going on at present, as all the historical evidence relating to the Hudson bay region points to a remarkable stability in the coastal regions from the time of the first records dating back to the voyage of Munck in 1619.

The present glacial conditions of the Arctic islands has been noted in another part of this report, and it need only be here stated that the lands fronting upon Hudson bay and Hudson strait are now free from glaciers, the nearest approach being the occurrence of detached snow banks in protected positions, which remain throughout the year. The most southern glacier is the Grinnell glacier situated on the north side of the high land separating Hudson strait from Frobisher bay, and plainly seen crowning the summit of the north shore of Hudson strait for a distance of more than fifty miles. This glacier is not very active, and is said to discharge only a few small icebergs into one of the fiords on the south side of Frobisher bay. Passing northward along the eastern coast of Baffin island, the snow patches upon the hills become larger and more numerous, but it is not until Cumberland gulf is passed that real glaciers appear in the valleys leading down to the sea. These are not very active, and seldom shed icebergs except on the northern part of the island. Active glaciers are found along the southern side of North Devon westward to the neighbourhood of Cuming creek, west of which the ice-cap retreats, and the shores and cliffs are free of ice. The valleys of the eastern and southeastern coasts of Ellesmere are filled with active glaciers that discharge many large icebergs. In the southwestern part the glaciers are not very active, and usually terminate at a considerable distance from the sea.

ECONOMIC MINERALS.

With the exception of the area of iron-bearing rocks on the islands along the east coast of Hudson bay, no systematic prospecting has been done for minerals in the wide region covered by this report. Active mining at the present is confined to a mine of mica, situated at Lake harbour, on the north side of Hudson strait, a few miles east of Big island. Earlier mining consisted of the extraction of small quantities of coal from the outcrops of that mineral on Melville and Ellesmere islands by expeditions wintering there. Our knowledge of the minerals extends only to the chance observations of the earlier explorers, and to the hurried examinations made by members of the staff of the Geological Survey in the southern parts of the region under consideration.

The occurrence of Laurentian and Huronian rocks over large portions of the area, both on the islands and mainland, leads to the belief that important mineral deposits exist there in the same manner as in more southern regions of similar rocks; in fact, specimens of the more important minerals are reported from the north.

_Gold._—The occurrence of gold is reported only from the head of Wager inlet, where specimens of free gold were found in the dark rocks of that locality by Dr. Rae.

The presence of large areas of undisturbed Tertiary sands and clays in the northern part of Baffin island and elsewhere are favourable to the accumulation of placer gold deposits, if the precious metal occurs in the underlying Laurentian and Huronian rocks. It would be well to test the beds of the streams flowing through these deposits when they are again visited.

_Silver._—A small quantity of silver is found in the galena, which occurs in pockets in the limestone along the Whale river coast on the east side of Hudson bay. The amount of galena is small, and so widely scattered that it would probably be unprofitable to mine even in favourable circumstances.

_Copper._—Tyrrell discovered large masses of Huronian rocks along the western shores of Hudson bay, to the south of Marble island. In these were many bands and masses of dark schists, all carrying quantities of iron and copper sulphides. Of these deposits he reports as follows:

‘At a point northeast of Rabbit island the character of the shore changes, and dark-green Huronian schists crop out from beneath the boulders.’

‘North of Rabbit island is a high point, on which the Eskimos are accustomed to camp while waiting for the traders from Churchill. The point is composed of green calcareous, chloritic schist, striking S. 55° W., and dipping N. 35° W. at an angle of 60°. The schist is cut by a dike seventy-five feet wide, of massive green, highly altered diabase, containing a large amount of mispickel. This diabase also outcrops along the shore, where it incloses many bands of schists.’

‘The rock at the point south of Corbett inlet is a massive green, fine or medium-grained diabase, which is now almost entirely altered into a mass of chlorite, epidote, zoisite and calcite.————This diabase is cut by many small veins of quartz and calcite, which contain large quantities of pyrite, arseno-pyrite and chalcopyrite.’

‘From Term point westward the shore is rocky, and the steep rocky cliffs descend into rather deep water. The rock is a dark-green diabase almost entirely altered to sausserite, and is cut by many veins of quartz and calcite, holding copper-pyrites.’

‘On the northern shore of Mistake bay, nine miles west of Term point, is a long point of similar diabase. Seven miles further southwest, about the middle of the west shore of Mistake bay, is a high point of similar dark-green diabase, containing in many places a large amount of copper-pyrites, and cut by small veins of quartz studded with iron pyrites.’

‘Two miles south of Sir Biddy island is a prominent rocky point, with a high rocky island lying a short distance off it. From this prominent point the shore turns westward, and is bold and rocky, being composed of dark-green fine-grained diabase, studded with copper-pyrites.’

The above extracts from Tyrrell’s report show that on his hurried journey southward from Chesterfield inlet he found Huronian rocks occupying the shores of the bay for a distance of nearly a hundred miles. At haphazard landings along this shore traces of copper deposits were found in a number of places, and these would point to important discoveries as likely to follow systematic search on this area.

A considerable amount of magnetic pyrites was found in the squeezed diabase rocks along the east coast of Hudson bay, but careful analyses failed to show any contained gold, nickel or copper in a number of specimens from various localities on that coast, and it is highly probable that no important deposits will be found in the basic rocks of that side of the bay.

Small quantities of copper-pyrites were observed in the diabase schists of the south side of Hudson strait, but never in sufficient amounts to constitute mines of that mineral.

I was informed by Captain Adams, of the whaler _Diana_, that he had picked up specimens of copper ore lying loose on the surface a few miles in rear of Clyde river on the east coast of Baffin island.

Among the specimens brought home by Hall from Frobisher and Cyrus Field bays, in the southeast part of Baffin island, were bornite and pyrite, showing that copper ores also occur in that portion of the island.

_Iron._—Mention has been made of the iron ores on the west shores of Ungava bay, on the north side of Payne river. The rocks in which these ores are found have been altered by the intrusion of granites. They now consist of quartzites, mica-hornblende schist and crystalline limestone, and are the metamorphic representatives of the unaltered iron-bearing rocks of the interior of Labrador peninsula and the east coast of Hudson bay. In localities where the rocks are unaltered the iron ores occur either as carbonates in a cherty rock, or as a mixture of magnetite and hematite intimately associated with chert and jasper. At Payne river the iron-bearing beds have a thickness of 420 feet. The upper 70 feet is a light-yellow, fine granular quartzite containing patches of ankerite and lime. Towards the top the rock shades to a dark bluish-gray, from the presence of large quantities of magnetite in small flattened grains, together with small scales of specular iron. These are usually mixed with quartz with evidence of foliation, and at other places are in large masses of nearly pure ore. Underlying these beds is 350 feet of dark-bluish slaty quartzite holding considerable magnetite and hematite, and shading upwards into a barren quartzite. Most of the ore of this locality would probably require separation and concentration from the admixed quartz before being of a grade sufficiently high for smelting. The position of the deposits on the west side of Ungava bay, where the tide rises and falls forty feet or more, is not very promising for shipping.

More attention has been given to the iron deposits of the east side of Hudson bay than to any other of the mineral deposits of the north. In 1877, Dr. Bell explored the east shore of Hudson bay as far north as Cape Dufferin, and in his report on this exploration called attention to the deposits of iron ore found in a bedded series of rocks, chiefly sandstones, cherts and dolomites. These rocks he found forming the islands along that coast from Cape Jones, at the mouth of James bay, to Cape Dufferin, some 300 miles farther north. A strip of the same rocks occupies the mainland from the vicinity of Great Whale river to beyond the head of Richmond gulf, a distance of 120 miles.

The iron ores of value were found to be confined to the Nastapoka chain of islands, which extend northward from Little Whale river for a distance of 100 miles.

A further examination of these iron-bearing rocks was made by the writer during the summers of 1898 and 1899, and more closely during the summers of 1901 and 1902 when engaged in this work for a private company.

These iron-bearing rocks of the east side of Hudson bay have a close resemblance to those of Lake Superior, so famous for the amount and quality of their associated ores of iron. They consist of bedded sandstones, cherts, shales, graywackes and dolomites, associated with great outflows and sills of trap. The following general section of the rocks of the Nastapoka islands will give a good idea of the rocks there, while on the mainland other strata, free from or poor in iron, are found.

Descending order:—

feet. 1. Rusty weathering, dark gray, siliceous rock containing ankerite (carbonate of iron and magnesia) and magnetite 20 to 100 2. Dark gray siliceous rock, containing magnetite with small quantities of ankerite 50 to 250 3. Red jaspilite rich in hematite ore 10 to 100 4. Red jaspilite poor in hematite ore 5 to 20 5. Purple or greenish weathering, dark-green graywacke shales 10 to 70 6. Red jaspilite poor in hematite ore 0 to 5 7. Light greenish-gray sandstone and shale 10 to 300 8. Fine grained dolomite 0 to 50

The iron ores have a greater thickness and are richer on the islands in the middle of the chain than elsewhere.

The rusty weathering, dark-gray siliceous rocks of division I. are found on all the islands from Flint to McTavish, being wanting only on Cotter island. The typical rock is a dark-gray chert made up of finely divided silica showing under the microscope small grains of quartz filled in by later accessions of that material in a finely divided state. It contains minute crystals of magnetite scattered through the mass, and also patches of crystalline carbonates. At the southern end of the chain it is cherty and sometimes light-green in colour. These rocks are usually in thin beds, the parting between the beds filled with brownish ankerite, which also occurs in flat lenticular masses inclosed in the cherts; many of these masses are several inches in thickness and several square feet in area, so that the rock usually contains from twenty to fifty per cent of ankerite. These ores are too much broken and too intimately mixed with the cherts for profitable mining. The rusty character of the rock is due to surface decomposition of ankerite to limonite. The beds increase in thickness as the islands are followed northward, and reach their maximum development on Davieau island and northward to McTavish island, where they have a thickness of fifty feet. These measures can be traced southward from the Nastapoka chain in the outer islands lying along the coast for upward of 150 miles, being last seen on Long island just north of Cape Jones, where they are overlaid by a considerable thickness of trap.

The second division of the section is an arbitrary one, and was made to embrace all the beds containing important deposits of magnetite. The upper beds of the division grade into those of division I, while the lower pass gradually into division III.

The typical rock of these measures is a dark-gray, fine-grained variety of quartzite chert, containing considerable magnetite scattered through it in minute crystals; it also contains small quantities of carbonates of iron, magnesia and lime. The beds are usually thin (from one to twelve inches) and the partings between them are filled with a mixture of silica and magnetite with small quantities of ankerite. These partings vary in thickness, but are generally thin between the upper beds of the division, and quite thick (six inches to forty-eight inches) towards the bottom, where they form important ores of iron; as the beds of chert are often quite thin between two or more thick partings of ore, they might easily be neglected in mining. The mixture of silica and magnetite in the ore is an intimate one, with the silica usually in a finely divided state.

The proportion of these substances is not constant, so that the ores vary from a lean ferruginous chert to a rich ore containing upwards of sixty per cent of iron. Large quantities of the better ores occur in the lower beds of the division. The occurrence of these ores between the beds of gray siliceous rock, and their intimate association with finely divided silica, point to their deposition and enrichment from the infiltrations of waters carrying solutions of iron and silica which were deposited in the waters in cracks and between the bedding of the already-formed siliceous rocks. This mode of formation has been described by Van Hise for similar ores in the Lake Superior region.

On the three southern islands of the chain there is a gradual change in the nature of these measures. They pass into a brownish-black siliceous shale, rich in iron and containing considerable carbon as small scales of graphite. This is the form in which they are found to the southward on the islands as far as Long island. The thickness of the division is very constant on the islands northward to McTavish, but it does not occur on Cotter island.

The rocks belonging to the third division, as before stated, grade into the division above them, and the line between them cannot be drawn sharply.

The typical rock of the division is fine-grained and very siliceous, with minute particles of silica coated with red oxide of iron, forming a coarse impure red jasper.

These jasper rocks usually occur in thin broken bands, the partings between them being filled with a finely-divided mixture of hematite, magnetite and jasper. The hematite is greatly in excess of the magnetite. The association of the iron ores and the jasper is intimate, and they must have been deposited simultaneously from aqueous solutions probably leached from the cherty carbonate measures above. Microscopic sections from these rocks are almost identical with those of jaspilite figured by Van Hise in his monograph on the iron-bearing rocks of the Lake Superior region; and they must have had the same origin that he has assigned to these rocks, namely, enrichments deposited by water subsequent to the formation of the bedded rocks in which they are found as partings, and filling the most minute cavities.

The amount of ore in this admixture of hematite and jasper varies greatly. Where the ore is poor, the jaspery rock predominates and incloses lenses of hematite, while where the hematite is most plentiful it incloses similar lenses of jasper. The detailed description of these rocks shows that the measures of this division contain an immense amount of hematite. The rocks of the division do not occur on all the islands, being wanting on Flint, Belanger and Ross. On Anderson they are represented by a few thin beds not rich in ore, while on Clarke they form the summit of the section with a thickness of eighty feet. They reach their maximum development on Gillies and Taylor, where their ores are richest and most concentrated. Farther northward they become thinner and poorer in ore, being twenty feet thick on Davieau and only eight feet thick on McTavish, where they die out. No trace of these measures is found underlying the upper rocks on the islands south of the Nastapoka group.

The fourth division, consisting of red jaspilites, is an arbitrary one, of use only as a subdivision of the iron-bearing rocks. Wherever the jaspilites are well developed the richer beds are underlain with leaner measures, unfit for working, and these poorer ores constitute this division. On Clarke island these beds are twenty feet thick; on Gillies they vary from ten to twenty feet in thickness, on Taylor they are ten feet, while to the northward they merge into the overlying division, all poor in iron ores.

The richest ores are found in division III, where extensive beds several feet in thickness are found containing ore practically free from jasper, and ranging in iron values from thirty per cent to sixty per cent. Most of these ores, however, would require separation from the bands and lenses of jasper before becoming sufficiently rich to be economically treated in the furnace. The position of the ores on the islands separated from the mainland by a sound varying from a mile to four miles in width, with excellent, almost tideless, harbours, constitute ideal conditions for shipment. The mining of the ores would also be easy and cheap, if advantage were taken of the great waterpower of the Nastapoka river, which falls 160 feet into the sea within a few miles of the best ore deposits, and from which electrical power might be generated easily and cheaply. Owing to the distance of these ores from the nearest furnaces, and the want of experience in the navigation of Hudson strait, the shipment of them is at present out of the question. No coal is found in Hudson bay, so that economical smelting near the mines cannot be attempted, until electrical smelting becomes practicable some time in the future.

In all the fields where extensive areas of iron-bearing rocks occur in the Lake Superior region, the search by drilling has disclosed large deposits of concentrated ore, and there is little doubt that such a search in the Hudson bay region would lead to similar discoveries, as the manner in which the ores occur is favourable for such concentrations.

_Mica._—Active mining operations for mica are being carried on at Lake harbour, on the north side of Hudson strait. This mine is being worked in connection with the whaling steamer _Active_. A number of white men are brought to the place from Scotland in the early summer, who, with the assistance of the Eskimos, work the mine, and then return home in the fall. Last summer thirteen tons of excellent mica were taken out in this manner. Other deposits of this mineral will probably be found on that coast to the westward in association with the crystalline limestones so largely developed there. A mica mine was opened some years ago on the west side of Cumberland gulf, but for some reason was shortly after abandoned.

_Graphite._—Extensive bands, or veins, of this mineral were discovered by Mr. Caldwell to the south of Port Burwell along the east shore of Ungava bay. Graphite has also been found in the neighbourhood of Cape Wolstenholme, and along the east side of Baffin island, but no attempt has been made to develop any of the outcrops.

_Molybdenite._—Flattened crystals of molybdenite have been found in many localities in the pegmatite veins penetrating the Laurentian rocks, but in no place has the quantity been sufficient for mining.

There is no doubt that the combined areas of Carboniferous and Tertiary coals are very extensive, and that they would form a valuable addition to the mineral wealth of the Dominion if they were located in a more accessible region. Situated as they are in the northern Arctic islands, where navigation is at all times uncertain and unusually perilous, it is very doubtful if they will ever prove of economic value.

_Lignite._—Attention has been drawn to the occurrence of lignite of an excellent quality in the sand and clay deposits of Tertiary age along the northern and eastern shores of Baffin island and on the east side of Bylot island.

Little is known of these deposits, as the only information concerning them is derived from small float specimens picked from the beds of the streams that flow over these sands and clays. These lignites probably correspond to the bituminous coal found in the folded Tertiary rocks of the far north, and may prove to be quite extensive and of economic value, as the localities at which they have been found, although within the Arctic circle, are by no means so dangerous of access as the coal beds of the north.

_Coal._—The presence of extensive deposits of coal on the island north of Lancaster sound has already been mentioned in the discussion of the Carboniferous and Tertiary formations of the northern islands. The Carboniferous rocks cover all the western islands of the Parry group, and extend northwesterly into the northwest part of Ellesmere. Parry first discovered coal in the cliffs at Winter harbour on Melville island, and used it for fuel on his ships. The Franklin search parties later found outcrops of coal in other places along the southern and eastern shores of that island and in the cliffs of Bathurst island.

These outcrops of coal indicate that the seams seen in the southern cliffs will be found extending inland over the greater portion of the islands, where they are covered by several hundred feet of newer rocks. No coal has been found in the Carboniferous rocks of Ellesmere island.

The mineral occurs in thin beds along with sandstones and shales, and is a good quality of bituminous coal.

In the folded Tertiary rocks found in the vicinity of Lady Franklin sound on the west side of Kennedy channel several outcrops of excellent bituminous coal have been discovered. The beds in the neighbourhood of Fort Conger have been mined along the outcrop and used for fuel by the Nares expedition and by Greely and Peary.