The Cobequid Highlands of Nova Scotia lie within the Avalon composite terrane of the Appalachian Orogen. This report presents a description & interpretation of the field, structural, and laboratory studies of pre-Carboniferous rocks of the eastern part of the Highlands based on mapping at 1:10,000 scale. It includes information on the Precambrian & Palaeozoic sedimentary, volcanic, & plutonic rocks; geochemistry of selected rocks; uranium-lead age determinations; and structural geology, including deformation histories & faults. Correlations with rocks in the Antigonish Highlands are also discussed.

"This volume provides a comprehensive overview of our understanding of the evolution of the Appalachian-Caledonian-Variscan orogen. It takes the reader along a clockwise path around the North Atlantic Ocean from the U.S. and Canadian Appalachians; to the Caledonides of Spitsbergen, Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland; and thence south to the Variscides of Morocco"--

This volume focuses on the Canadian Appalachian region. The chapter on the East Greenland Caledonides stands alone and there is no attempt to integrate the geological accounts of the two far removed regions. Rocks of the Canadian Appalachian region are described under four broad temporal divisions: lower Paleozoic and older, middle Paleozoic, upper Paleozoic, and Mesozoic. The rocks of these temporal divisions define geographic zones, belts, basins, and graben, respectively. The area is of special interest because so many modern concepts of mountain building are based on Appalachian rocks & structures.