( 4 o6) 



IV. CONCLUSIONS. 



The occurrence of Cretaceous fossils and of contorted or 

 eroded Cretaceous clays, has been satisfactorily recognized, 

 in connection with the terminal moraine, on Staten Island, 

 Long Island, Block Island, the Elizabeth Islands and 

 Martha's Vineyard, but definite evidence is yet lacking of 

 such occurrence at any point further to the east or north. 

 Tertiary and more recent fossils have been found, under 

 similar conditions, but to a more limited extent, on Staten 

 Island, Long Island and Martha's Vineyard and also further 

 to the east on Nantucket and to the north on Cape Cod. 



On the mainland of New England no indications of Cre- 

 taceous strata have yet been discovered, although the occur- 

 rence of plastic clays in the moraine on the island of Naushon, 

 at the mouth of Buzzard's Bay, indicates their former pres- 

 ence in the immediate vicinity, in place. 



Tertiary strata, in place, are recognized on the mainland 

 of eastern Massachusetts, at Marshfield. 



Considering these facts, in connection with the stratigraphic 

 relations of the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata in New Jersey 

 and southward, the indications are that Cretaceous strata 

 formerly outcropped in a belt along the present southern New 

 England coast line as far east as Buzzard's Bay, while south 

 of this belt, and extending northward along the present eastern 

 New England coast line, were strata of Tertiary age. Glaci- 

 ation during the Quaternary period resulted in the erosion of 

 these strata and the incorporation of their remnants in the 

 terminal moraine, leaving troughs throughout the region 

 formerly occupied by them, which are now filled with salt 

 water. 



If the above facts and indications have been correctly inter- 

 preted, we may therefore assume that the direction of glacial 

 movement along the southern shore was towards the south- 

 east, approximately in the direction of an imaginary line 

 drawn from the eastern shores of Buzzard's Bay to the eastern 

 extremity of Martha's Vineyard ; these localities representing 



