64 THE PHYSIOGKAPHY OF CALVERT COUNTY 



of them into estuaries, covering the bottom of these submerged valleys 

 with deposits of sand and clay derived from the adjoining mainland. 

 It has been possible by tracing carefully these deposits to reproduce ap- 

 proximately the outline of Calvert County during the Wicomico stage 

 when the subsidence had reached its maximum. This is illustrated in 

 Pig. 2. By reference to this figure it will be seen that Hall Creek and 

 Lyons Creek were transformed into estuaries and a peninsula ran down 

 from Anne Arundel County. Toward the south the valleys of Fishing 

 and Hunting creeks were completely occupied by an estuary, producing 

 another great tongue of land between them and Hall Creek, while be- 

 yond these a number of islands existed, brought about by the drowning 

 of a number of the streams, among which Battle and Parker creeks were 

 prominent. The Patuxent Eiver at this time was transformed into an 

 estuary about three times the width of the present one, appearing very 

 much as the Potomac Eiver does to-day in the lower portion of its course 

 where it approaches Chesapeake Bay. 



THE TALBOT STAGE. 



After the region had remained in this position for a short time, it 

 was raised again and once more attacked by erosion. The various streams 

 which had been converted into estuaries began once more to vigorously 

 attack the land and to remove what the waters of the Wicomico sea had 

 deposited in their valleys, but before this could be accomplished, the land 

 was once more submerged, although not as extensively as in either the 

 Sunderland or Wicomico stages. The outline of Calvert County, as it 

 appeared then, is roughly shown in Fig. 3. It will be seen that there was 

 an approach to the conditions which had existed during the Wicomico 

 stage, as the same river valleys were utilized again as estuaries during 

 the Talbot stage, the subsidence, however, was not sufficient to cause a 

 complete drowning of the valleys and consequently the islands which 

 existed during the Wicomico stage were not present during the Talbot. 

 The outline of Calvert County was nevertheless extremely broken and 

 the Patuxent Eiver again reached very nearly the dimensions which it 

 had during the maximum of Wicomico submergence. 



