BENCH SURROUNDING EAST STREET BASIN, 641 



aloii<>' the west slope of the Pelhani Hills, t'ormiug the extensive sand 

 deposits which flank these hills for a long way south. At last, however, 

 the delta extended across to the rocky hill north of" tlu; North Amherst 

 cemetery and excluded the main current trom this eastern basin, and from 

 this time on the sands of Cushmans Brook were swept around west of the 

 Mount Pleasant block of hills, building up a great terrace, or rather sand 

 bar, which extends south to the Agricultural College. The college build- 

 ings stand on it, and it ends at the south border of the college farm. 



THE BENCH SURROUNDING THE EAST STREET BASIN. 



By the extension of the delta of Cushmans Brook across the north end 

 of tins basin a separate body of water resulted, connected with the main 

 lake only by narrow chamaels among the drift hills south of Amherst 

 .Center. 



The high terrace, continuous southward from the extended delta flat 

 at North Amherst City along the flank of the Pelham Hills, is a marked 

 object from College Hill. It appears here, as around much of the valley, 

 as the highest line of cultivation, and above this horizontal line the hillside 

 is heavily Avooded. It is a broad sand flat, its material derived partly from 

 the sands brought down from the LeA-erett Lake deposits (see p. 584) and 

 partly from cutting into the kettle-holed sands cari-ied along the side of 

 the Pelham Hills before the departure of the ice and left at a level higher 

 than that of the lake (m t, PI. XXXV, C). Fort River, opposite Amherst, 

 coming out of the Pelham basin, adds somewhat to its width, but less than 

 one would expect, the main portion of the sands brought down by this 

 stream having been at an earlier period carried southward, as detailed on 

 page 578. 



South of this stream the ten-ace is a marked bench cut in the sands 

 thus carried along the slope at a higher level than its own (m t), and it 

 swings round the west side of the great di-ift hill north of Dwight's station 

 and continues east as a horizontal bench notched in the south face of the 

 delta of the earlier and higher stream (see p. 589). It was thence continued 

 south and west as a bench cut in the older sands across the entrance of the 

 Belchertown Pass, for at this time the waters certainly did not go through this 

 pass, as the lowest point in the sands across north of the Belchertown ponds 

 is about 30 feet above the high terrace in this latitude. It is continued 



MON XXIX 41 



