184 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 



of New Jersey, too, stumps are known to exist several feet below 

 sea-level. 



3. Some river valleys on land, such as the Hudson (Fig. 180), 

 the Delaware, and others, are continuous with valleys in the shallow 

 sea bottom far out beyond the coast-line. Such submerged val- 

 leys indicate that the surface where they are was land when they 

 were made, and that they have since sunk beneath the sea. The 



Fig. 179. Stumps laid bare on the beach at low tide, Leasowe, Cheshire, 

 England. (Ward.) 



many bays between New York and Carolina show recent sinking 

 of the land, enough to carry the lower ends of the former valleys 

 below sea-level, thus changing them into bays. Drowned valleys 

 (p. 80) of this sort are found in many parts of the earth, and show 

 that coastal lands have sunk recently along many coasts. 



All these cases of apparent sinking of the land might be ex- 

 plained by the rise of the sea instead. 



4. One of the most striking cases of change of level appears to 

 involve both upward and downward movement. On the shore of 

 Italy, near Naples, are the ruins of an old temple (Fig. 181). 

 It is known to have been above water as late as 235 A. D. 

 In 1749 several columns of the temple were found. Their bases 

 were buried to a depth of 12 feet in sediment deposited by the sea. 

 For 9 feet above the sediment, the columns were perforated with 



