32 THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CALVERT COUNTY 



the Patuxent Eiver. The observations which were made led to con- 

 clusions which, in the early days of geologic research, were vague and 

 oftentimes erroneous; but as time advanced and the principles 

 underlying geologic history have become better understood, the papers 

 which have been contributed on the region have become more satisfactory 

 and the work more explicit and meritorious. As in the geographic re- 

 search, so in the geologic, the evolution has been from the vague and 

 general to the detailed and specific. 



The first paper of importance was published by William Maclure in 

 1809. Although this contribution dealt in a broad way with the geology 

 of the United States, yet it shed considerable light on Calvert County. 

 He included the entire Coastal Plain of Maryland in one formation, the 

 " Alluvial," and so represented it on a geologic map. He also described 

 the unconsolidated Coastal Plain deposits from Long Island southward, 

 indicated the boundaries of the Alluvial formation and noted the pres- 

 ence of fossils. This paper was reprinted in substance in various maga- 

 zines in 1811, 1817, 1818, and 1826. Maclure's views seem to have 

 attracted considerable attention at first, for in 1820 Hayden incorpo- 

 rated them in his " Geological Essays " and attempted to establish the 

 theory that the Alluvial was deposited by a great flood which came down 

 from the north and crossed North America from northeast to southwest. 

 The following year Thomas Nuttall referred the Coastal Plain deposits 

 to the Second Calcareous formation of Europe, pointed out the fact that 

 it occupied the country east of the primitive and transition formations 

 of the Piedmont Plateau, and fixed Annapolis as about its northern limit. 



Professor John Finch, an Englishman, who was travelling in America 

 at about this time, visited the Coastal Plain of Maryland and was so 

 impressed with its interesting geology and vast deposits of fossils, that, 

 on his return to Europe, he published an account of his experiences in 

 southern Maryland, and drew some interesting conclusions regarding its 

 geology. Previously, in an article which appeared in 1824, he took ex- 

 ception to the classifications proposed by his predecessors. He believed 

 that the deposits included under the term " Alluvial " were contempora- 

 neous with the Lower Secondary and Tertiary of Europe, Iceland, Egypt, 



