50 GLACIAL GKAVELS OF MAIjS'E. 



place for doing so is on Black Strap Mountain, in the western part of North 

 Falmouth. It is desirable that the elevation of these old beaches should be 

 measured by the spirit level. 



It should be noted that in this report I am describing only what I 

 have seen. The sea beach reported by Professor Hitchcock at Fort Kent 

 (Geological Report, 1862) I have not had opportunity to examine. In this 

 connection it should be added that Mr. R. Chalmers, of the Canadian 

 Geological Survey, has determined the height of the highest beach in 

 western New Brunswick to be about 220 feet, and it becomes somewhat 

 lower toward Nova Scotia. Since the height of the sea rapidlj^ diminishes 

 southward in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, it appears that the aver- 

 age elevation of the sea on the Atlantic Coast south of Nova Scotia was 

 greatest in the region lying between Portland and the Penobscot Bay, or 

 perhaps near the mouth of the Narraguagus River. 



To summarize: The rolled gravel of the old beaches is so different 

 from the till in composition and shape of the stones, the raised beaches are 

 so plainly to be recognized on all the exposed coasts of Maine up to the 

 elevations above stated and then so suddenly disappear, that I feel justified 

 in referring to the contour of about 230 feet as the highest elevation of the 

 sea on the coast of Maine after the melting of the ice-sheet over the coast 

 region. As to what may have happened in strictly glacial time, when the 

 ice covered the land and extended far out to sea, and when the sea may 

 have stood at far higher levels but was perhaps prevented by the deep sheet 

 of ice from having access to the land and forming gravel beaches, unless 

 possibly here and there at long intervals in the most exposed situations on 

 the higher hills and mountains — concerning these possibilities it must be 

 admitted that my observations, while not inconsistent with them, do not 

 afford the necessary proof Elsewhere are recorded facts showing that 

 probably the sea was at a higher level 50 miles back from the coast than 

 on the coast itself, i. e., the relative level of the interior and coast regions 

 may not have been the same then as now, there being a greater submer- 

 gence toward the northwest. 



The foregoing remarks relate chiefly to beaches having a southern 

 exposure. In many places where the waves swept over the tops of hills 

 the till was denuded from the top of the hill and left as a beach terrace just 

 north of the crest. The waves from the side of the open ocean had so 



