NOTES ON THE ALBANY MEETING OF THE The thirteenth Winter meeting of the Geological Society of America was held in the city of Albany, N.Y., during the 27th, 28th and 29th days of December, 1900, under the Presidency of Dr. G. M. Dawson, C.M.G., F.R.S., etc., Director of the Geological Survey of Canada. The following Canadian geologists were present:-Dr. G. M. Dawson, Dr. Robert Bell, Mr. Wm. McInnes, B.A., and the writer, from Ottawa; Prof. A. P. Coleman, Toronto; Prof. F. D. Adams and Mr. O. E. LeRoy, M.A., of Montreal. The papers read and the discussions which they elicited proved to be unusually interesting, so that the meeting can well be said to have been one of the most successful held The presidential address was not delivered until Saturday morning, December 29th, when Dr. Dawson gave a comprehensive synopsis of the Geology of British Columbia, in which he discussed the relations and genesis of the various geological formations constituting the Laramie Geosyncline to the east of the Archæan axis, as well as of those on the west side of the same axis constituting the Western or Pacific Geosyncline. The following are abstracts of some of the papers presented and read by Canadian geologists, bearing upon the Geology of the Dominion. These abstracts prepared by the various authors give an excellent summary of the scope of each paper. A few additional notes deemed of interest are also inserted by the writer. 1. “Experimental Work on the Flow of Rocks recently carried out at McGill University," by Prof. Frank Dawson Adams, Montreal, Canada. A preliminary paper on this subject was read before the Geological Society at the Montreal meeting in 1897. Since that time the work has been continued and additional results have been obtained. The deformation of marble has been chiefly studied. The rock has been submitted to pressure under conditions which reproduce those obtaining in the deeper portion of the earth's crust. The deformation has been carried out not only when the rock is dry and at the ordinary temperature, but also when it is heated to 300° C. and 400° C. Also when at 300° C. in the pressure of water. Deformed at a temperature of 300° C. or 400° C. the movements which take place in the rock differ from those which are observed when it is deformed at the ordinary temperature. They are identical with those which are observed in the 'flow' of metals under compression." The experimental methods were carefully described, and the results obtained illustrated by means of lantern slides and specimens. Dr. Adams's paper was discussed by Prof. G. K. Gilbert, Prof. W. Morris Davis and Prof. N. S. Shaler. 2. "The Laurentian Limestones of Baffinland," by Dr. Robert Bell, Ottawa. "The discovery of great quantities of crystalline limestones in Baffinland was announced in the writer's sum mary report of explorations for 1897. The geographical position and physical aspect of the region is then described. General character of the Laurentian in Hudson Straits. The rocks of the north side are newer or Upper Laurentian as far as known, and differ from those on the south shore. Regularity of strike and dip. Enormous development of crystalline limestones in southern Baffinland. Their general characters. Great thickness of the beds, some of them being over a mile and running regularly for long distances. Evidently stratified aqueous deposits. Questions as to the origin of such limestones. The associated rocks and minerals. Owing to the absence of trees the limestones are conspicuous in the landscape. Not more eroded than the gneisses. Comparison with the Laurentian limestones elsewhere. Former physical conditions and the older and newer glaciations of Baffinland as affecting the limestones. The existing glaciers there." This paper was illustrated by lantern slides. 3. "Marine and Fresh-water Beaches in Ontario," by Prof. A. P. Coleman, Toronto, Canada. "Marine deposits, often rich in shells and other fossils, are widely found east of Brockville and Smiths' Falls, in the valleys of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence. They occur at higher levels toward the north-east and east than toward Brockville; they include trees and other forms indicating a climate like that of to-day, and are all evidently post-glacial. The shells occur in clay sand and also coarse gravel. Higher beaches such as the Iroquois, Warren, etc., contain only fresh-water shells if any. Still higher beaches, such as those reaching 1,400 to 1,600 feet above sea level in the highlands between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, and the beaches found above 1,400 between Lake Huron and Missinaibi, and at the same level on the Hudson Bay watershed north-west of Sudbury, have not yet been found to contain shells, although if marine there must have been complete and widely opened connection with the sea. The wide gravel tearaces on the watershed mentioned contain numerous and large kettleshaped lake basins, sometimes without outlets, suggesting that they were formed by the burial of large blocks of ice at the border of the Laurentian ice sheet, and hence in ice dammed waters." In the discussion which followed this paper, Messrs. F. B. Taylor, N. H. Winchell, W. M. Davis and the writer took part. 4. "The Geology of Rigaud Mountain, Province of Quebec, Canada," by Mr. Osmond Edgar LeRoy, Montreal, Can. Introduced by Prof. F. D. Adams. "The chief topographic feature of the paleozoic plain of Central Canada is a series of hills which occur in the district about Montreal. These are of igneous origin and follow a line of disturbance which is almost at right angles to the trend of the Notre Dame mountains. Rigaud is the most western of the series. It consists of an area of hornblende syenite, which is pierced on its northern flank by a quartz syenite porphyry. The field relations of all the hills with the exception of Rigaud shew them to be of post-Silurian age. In the case of the latter the contact with the Paleozoic is wholly concealed by drift. The object of the research was to ascertain if a genetic connection could be established between Rigaud and the other hills to the east. Investigation shows that it is probably not so connected, but a definite conclusion cannot be reached until a more extended study is made of the rest of the range." Profs. N. S. Shaler, H. P. Cushing, F. D. Adams and Mr. H. M. Ami took part in the discussion, in which both the rock of the mountain itself and the Pleistocene deposits were taken up. 5. "The Knoydart Formation in Nova Scotia "-a bit of "The Old Red Sandstone" of Europe," by Dr. H. M. Ami, Ottawa, Can. The presence of such genera as Pteraspis, Pterygotus, Onchus, Psammosteus and Cephalaspis, in the red marls, shales and volcanic ash-beds of McArras Brook in Antigonish and Pictou Counties, Nova Scotia, indicate the base of the " Old Red Sandstone" of Great Britain. The paper dealt with the relations, palæontological and stratigraphical of this important formation in the sequence of Devonian strata in Eastern Canada. The result of observations made by Mr. Hugh Fletcher of the Canadian Geological Survey, as published on this subject, together with important notes by Mr. A. Smith Woodward and Dr. Henry Woodward of the British Museum on some of the fossils discussed will be embodied in the paper." Thə word Knoydart is pronounced as if spelt Krodiart. In the discussion following this paper Profs. C. D. Walcott, H. S. Williams, N. S. Shaler and W. M. Davis took part. Regarding the relations of this Eo-Devonian formation. and the underlying series of Silurian strata at Arisaig, the writer was induced to make a preliminary statement in the course of the discussion as to the four divisions into which he is for the present classing the Silurian formations. of Antigonish County adjacent to the strata of the Knoydart formation. These are in descending order as follows: IV. THE STONEHOUSE FORMATION. Consisting of red shales and mudstones, holding an abundant lamellibrachiate fauna with Grammysia Acadica, Billings as an horizon marker, also interstratified bands of limestone holding trilobites, ganterogoda and brachiopoda. This is the formation called "Lower Helderberg" by Mr. H. Fletcher and other geologists. Neither the fauna nor the character of the strata warrant the correlation of this formation with the Lower Helderberg. In character, it more closely resembles the Ludlow of England than any other series of strata. III. THE MOYDART FORMATION. Consisting of light greyish-green fine grained and heavier bedded siliceous limestones, holding brachiopoda, gasteropoda, etc. II. THE MCADAM FORMATION. Consisting of deep gray or black impure shale and mudstones, holding a lamellibrachiate and graptolitic fauna, with here and there an intercalated lenticular sheet or bed of limestone with brachiopoda in abundance. I. THE ARISAIG FORMATION. Consisting for the most |