SECTIONS OF TERRACES AND LAKE BOTTOMS. 695 



THE WAl'PING CUTTINCi. 

 CONTORTED SANDS AT THE CUTTING AT WAPriNG. IX DlCKKl'IELH. 



Tliis seotiou, iigurecl on PI. XVIII, fig. 1, was ex})osed in the works for 

 the extension of the New Haven and Northampton Eaih-oad northward, 2 

 miles south of Deerfeld Station, at the same time with the Camp Meeting- 

 cutting described above.^ The delta of the Deei-field River in the Connec- 

 ticut Lake (p. 634) extended out as a broad, flat alluvial fan from the 

 mouth of the river gorge in the crystalline rocks at West Deei-field, reaching 

 clear across the lateral Deerfield Valley to the foot of the trap ridge. The 

 northern half of tliis delta has been removed by the later erosion of the 

 Deerfield River, and from the northern rim of the remainder one looks 

 down north into the deep basin thus formed. A.s the railroad approached 

 this from the south its grade was lowered and a deep cut was made, so that 

 it could pass across this basin bv a high embankment. The section given 

 was taken from the west wall, and is thus the north-south section through 

 tiie middle of the delta, and just opposite the mouth of the gorge of the 

 river. It is made up of fine to very fine, well-sorted sands, in hn-ers 1"™ 

 thick and made more distinct by the infiltration of iron. Coarser layers, 

 drying white, and thus standing out prominently, occur 3 to 4 inches apart, 

 and still coarser and thicker ones of the same character about one-half inch 

 apart: these are represented by the heavy lines in the di-awing, and they 

 render tlie contortions visible for a long distance. 



The length of the section is 278 feet, the greatest height 45 feet above 

 the railroad. Toward the north end the whole thickness of the sands in 

 the section is crumpled, manifestly by a strong force coming from the 

 north, the disturbance of the sands being greatest in the northern half of 

 the section and in the lower portion of this half, and appearing more in 

 detached patches in the southern part. The cutting was can-ied along the 

 west side of a brook valley running north, and the rain washed a gulch from 

 the cutting down to the level of this brook, exposing the fine sands for 20 to 

 25 feet below the base of the section. The disturbance lessens downward and 

 the base of the sand is more clayey and rests unconformablv upon coarse, 

 reddish, cross-stratified sands derived manifestly from the sandstone, while 

 the iipper sands are as plainly derived from the crystalline rocks of the west. 



The line of junction of the two sands is extremely irregular, the lower 

 beds having been much eroded before the deposition of the upper, but the 



' See E. Hitchcock, Geol. Mass., 1841, p. 363. 



