84 JOURNAL OF THE 



below Fayetteville, on the Cape Fear, exhibiting the irregular bed- 

 ding of beach structure, go to prove that the re- elevation went on 

 gradually. This re-elevation went on slowly, and during this time 

 the coast line was being extended eastward by materials washing 

 down from the adjacent coast, and being piled up by wave action 

 in doubtless much the same way as this process is going on at the 

 present time. Furthermore, while this elevation was going on, con- 

 ditions were changing from those of the eocene to the miocene time, 

 and the patches of miocene deposits, perhaps at one time more ex- 

 tensive than they now are, were laid down on top of the eocene 

 beds. As this elevation continued to go on up to and through 

 the glacial epoch, the rivers were cutting their channels through the 

 miocene eocene and the underlying cretaceous rocks. 



It is probable that the elevation of the Cape Fea,r region during 

 the quaternary, was considerably greater than it is at the present 

 time, since at a point a few miles above Wilmington the bottom has 

 been grooved down about 100 feet below the present sea level ; and 

 the river at this point was probably not less than two miles wide. 

 With the coming on of the champlain epoch, there was aresubmer- 

 gence of the northern portion of the State, as the region about 

 Weldon, to the extent of probably 200 feet, allowing the deposit of 

 the quaternary gravels on the hills of that section. In the Cape 

 Fear section there is no evidence at hand that the subsidence which 

 took place during the champlain was much more than sufficient to 

 bring the land surface to about its present position. It is probable, 

 however that the surface did sink below its present level, and that 

 during this time the extensive alluvial deposits about the river in 

 the region of Wilmington, were formed by deposits frem the river, 

 and that a re-elevation of this region to the present level took place 

 during the passage of time from the champlain to modern. 



