27 



elevation and extensive erosion ; subsidence and deposition of the 

 Sunderland around the edges of the Lafayette ; elevation and erosion ; 

 subsidence and deposition of the Wicomico terrace about the margin 

 of the Sunderland ; elevation and erosion ; subsidence and deposition 

 of the Talbot about the margin of the Wicomico; elevation and par- 

 tial erosion of the Talbot ; subsidence and deposition of the Recent 

 terrace about the edges of the Talbot. 



This division of the Pleistocene in Maryland has been entered into 

 rather more fully than may seem necessary for the immediate pur- 

 pose, but is put here because of the fact that it is to be referred to in 

 treating the South Carolina Pleistocene. The same may be said for 

 the discussion of the surface formations of New Jersey. 



In Maryland it seems that the later Columbia comprises both the 

 Talbot and the Wicomico, while the earlier Columbia finds its equiv- 

 alent in the Sunderland. The indications are that the successive sub- 

 sidences were greater in the northern part of the formation than in 

 the southern. The materials deposited contain larger bowlders in the 

 northern than in the southern part. The successive submergences 

 seem to have been less as the Recent period was approached. This 

 conclusion fits in well with the observations made in New Jersey. 



VIRGINIA. 



The division of the Pleistocene or Columbia into fluvial and 

 interfluvial phases in this State is very similar to the same division 

 in Maryland, and need not be given again in detail. However, the 

 indications are that the successive Pleistocene submergences were not 

 so deep as they were farther north. The interfluvial phase is beginning 

 to be the prominent one, and farther south the fluvial phase is almost 

 lost sight of altogether, and the interfluvial is the all-important one. 

 The material here, though in the main the same as that in Maryland, 

 contains relatively much smaller bowlders in the basal member, and 

 farther south the bowlders disappear. As yet no fossiliferous Pleisto- 

 cene beds have been reported from Virginia, but we are not to con- 

 clude that there are none along the Virginia coast. The supposition 

 is that they are there, either unexposed or exposed in some little- fre- 

 quented localities. The Columbia here, as elsewhere along the mid- 

 dle Atlantic coast, extends well inland to the inner edge of the 

 Coastal Plain region, and together with the Lafayette is almost 

 everywhere the surficial formation. Erosion has in places carried 

 it away, and left the Pliocene or Miocene or other older formation 

 exposed. It is everywhere a mere superficial capping, varying in 



