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overlain by finer sandstones, above which are shales with thin
sandy bands. Inland, as exposed on Tarundl creek and else-
where, the Skidegate beds are mostly black and dark grey, very
fine, carbonaceous, massive, and laminated shales.

The exposed thickness of the Skidegate formation is at
least 2,000 feet, and the formation may have been considerably
thicker.

Relation to the Honna Formation. The Skidegate formation
conformably overlies the Honna conglomerate in several localities
around Skidegate inlet, and the actual contact is exposed about
three-fourths of a mile west of Lina narrows.

Relation to the Tertiary Formations. Dykes and sills of the
Etheline volcanics penetrate the Skidegate beds, and the for-
mation is unconformably overlain by volcanic flows of the |
Masset formation in the Slatechuck range and_ elsewhere.
Dykes are not as abundant in the rocks of this formation as in
the older Haida beds.

METAMORPHISM.

The sediments of the Queen Charlotte series are thoroughly
compacted and indurated. They are dense; but the rocks are
not metamorphosed in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word.
The cement is usually calcite, accompanied by chloritic, argil-
laceous, and tufaceous materials which are not products of re-
crystallization. In the vicinity of the dykes and sills, it is
common to find finely granular pyrite impregnating the sedi-
ments and, in some localities, small concretions containing
concentric layers of whitish pyrite are found. The sills and
dykes have in nearly all cases baked and hardened the sediments
into which they have been forced, and the effects of the intrusions
have been more severe in the shales then in the sandstones.

STRUCTURE.

The Queen Charlotte series occupies several complex,
synclinal basins.

The largest of these basins underlies Skidegate inlet, and
extends northward on Graham island for about 9 miles, to Yakoun