CONTINENTAL TERRACES AND SUBMARINE VALLEYS IO5 



NORTH CAROLINA 



SOUTH u o> 



CAROLINA 



3 



3 



32 



J / y 



►♦ 



/ 



/ 



50 STAT (VMLES 



175° 



FIGURE 56. DIAGRAMMATIC MAP TO ILLUSTRATE ABBe's THEORY OF THE 



CAROLINA CUSPS. 



maximum thickness of half a mile, and width measurable in 

 scores of miles. Such a masterful "river" of salt water, con- 

 tinually on the run through the Atlantic basin, could not fail 

 to produce eddy-like motions in the water of its "banks." Abbe 

 suggested that the water between the Stream and the continent 

 is thus compelled to move in great eddies which have emplace- 

 ment and dimensions just right to explain the building of the 

 four sandy cusps out into the Atlantic. Figure 56 shows how 

 the deduced whirls might well gear into one another and with 

 the Gulf Stream itself, so as to bring about the result described. 

 The eddy responsible for Cape Canaveral is not shown, since 

 the map does not extend far enough to the southward. As 

 shown by the arrows, the outbound part of an eddy, on the 

 north side of each cusp, tends to carry the sand toward mid- 



