File:The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London (13205974633).jpg

258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. .Mar. 10,
1829), founded chiefly upon the occurrence of gypsum and brine
springs^ in a formation bearing considerable resemblance in lithological
character to the new red sandstone, without any reference whatever to
its fossils, which at that period had not been examined by competent
observers.
Mr. Lyell, in a paper on this subject read before the Society in
1843, and more recently in his * Travels in America,' has clearly
shown, from their proximity to the older rocks, the great disturbances
which (compared with the coal-measures) they have undergone, and
more particularly from their characteristic fossils, that the gypsife-
rous strata of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton are the representatives of
the lower beds of the carboniferous limestone of Europe ; but hitherto
I am not aware that any decided example of the superposition of
the millstone grit and coal-measures has been observed. It affords
me therefore much satisfaction to be able to furnish a section of the
strata forming a lofty cliff at Cape Dauphin, the western boundary
of the Sydney coal-field, where the carboniferous limestone and
associated marls containing gypsum, with the millstone grit lying
conformably thereon, are brought up to the surface within a very
limited horizontal space, by the protrusion of the granitic ridge of
St. Ann's, as represented in the annexed cut.
Cape
Q _ . Dauphin.
-^•^ S.E, § N.W. C"
PQ O
^mmM^ A , ?^^^IW?/v.V.v;.
e d
f. The newer conglomerate.
, ; e. The coal-measures.
d. The millstone grit.
c. Carboniferous limestone, shales and marls containing gypsum,
b*. The old conglomerate.
a. The red granite.
The following is a section of the strata in detail, from the millstone
grit across the carboniferous limestone and associated beds, to the
granite, in the descending order, the measurements being taken at
right angles to the planes of stratification.
Thickness in feet,
31. fMillstone grit 200
, 30. Finely laminated grey shales with thin bands of limestone ... 110
'29. Slaty sandstones with traces of plants 10
28. Blue and grey shales, with some thin beds of nodular limestone 120

27. Strong sparry limestone 6

26. Soft crumbling marls 90

• This conglomerate is seen in the section on page 260, to which the above
  

references also apply.
t The coal-measures (e) are not seen in actual contact with the millstone grit
at Cape Dauphin, having been abraded by the heavy surf continually beating
upon this exposed point, but they overlie it in a more sheltered situation about