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A fault across Nova Scotia, from Cobequid Bay to Chedabucto Bay, neatly divides the province into two geological zones which are fundamentally different from one another. Prior to the Devonian Period, the Avalon and Meguma zones developed in different areas and later came into contact along the Cobequid-Chedabucto Fault. (This fault system also has other names: Glooscap Fault; Minas Geofracture.)
In the last fifteen years, evidence has accumulated to show that in Cape Breton, the Avalon Zone is limited to the southern part of the island. The term "terrane" has come into use to describe the zones. A terrane is a distinct region or group of rocks with common stratigraphic units and origin. The northwestern areas of Cape Breton Island are composed of two other terranes - the Aspy and Bras d'Or - and a small fragment of the Precambrian Shield (the Blair River Complex).
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Additional Keywords:
Scotian Shelf, Bay of Fundy, Grand Banks, Acadian Orogeny, Arisaig Group, Dunnage Zone, Humber Zone, Cobequids, Annapolis Supergroup, Meguma Supergroup, Pictou-Antigonish, Bear Brook Formation, Ordovician, Cambrian, Silurian, Gondwana, fossils, crinoids, brachiopods, trilobites, acritarchs, graptolites.