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GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE LAURENTIAN BASIN.
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result of subaërial erosion it will follow, unless it is found that the deeper portions are the result of glacial action, that the land at the time the streams did their work, must have stood higher than at present, for the reason that the bottom of the depression is now below sea level. Some idea of the smallest amount of elevation necessitated by the hypothesis might be obtained by estimating the gradients of the ancient streams and the amount of elevation required to bring the bottom of the depression up to sea level.

A study of the hard-rock topography in the valleys of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence and of the present submerged Atlantic border of the continent would also be instructive in this connection. The strict correlation of the topographic history of the interior and of the continent's margin may be difficult, but as the two regions are directly connected, valuable results should follow their comparative study.

The hypothesis that the Laurentian basin is due largely to pre-glacial erosion, necessitates also that the ancient system of river valleys should have been closed in some way so as to form the basins of the present and of former lakes. The closing has been referred to several agencies. An unequal subsidence following the period of stream erosion has been postulated. During the Glacial epoch the entire region was ice-covered and only glacial streams of one kind or another could have existed. On the retreat of the ice, when portions of the basin were abandoned, the drainage is supposed to have been obstructed by the ice itself, as will be noticed below. When the glaciers melted, a vast sheet of débris was left which in many instances filled or obstructed previous drainage lines. Old channels, now deeply buried, have been reported to connect the basins of the various existing lakes, as has already been mentioned, but no similar channel which could have afforded an escape for the waters of the entire basin has been discovered. Here again an acquaintance with the hard-rock topography should give assistance and indicate either that such a channel existed or that orographic movements have taken place which have obstructed the former drain-

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