144 GLACIAL GRAVELS OF MAINE. 



becomes finer towaixl the south, and gradually passes into the marine clay 

 at an elevation of 200 feet or a little more. The plain is probably a delta 

 deposited in a bay of the sea between ice walls. South of this plain are a 

 few small gravel deposits, forming a discontinuous series, with long gaps. 

 The system seems to end in the northern part of Belfast. The way in 

 which most of the longer gravel systems reach their maximum develop- 

 ment at about the contour of 230 feet and then become less and less till 

 they end at or not far above the sea, is well expressed by the Western 

 phrase, "peter out." 



This glacial river brought down a large amount of sediment for so 

 short a stream. Its course is circuitous, and for most of the distance is in 

 a very hilly country. Five times it left drainage valleys and crossed hills 

 into other valleys, none of the hills being more than 200 nor less than 100 

 feet high. Its larger deflections occurred invariably in order that it might 

 cross the hills by the lower passes. The system is an instructive example 

 of the power of the higher hills to deflect the glacial rivers. When it 

 crosses hills, the gravel is usually abundant near the southern base of the 

 hills or in the level plains, while it is scanty near the tops of the cols. 



It is about 20 miles in length. 



MORRILL-BELFAST BAY SYSTEM. 



This is a discontinuous system of short ridges, small plains, and len- 

 ticular mounds or domes of glacial gravel separated by intervals varying 

 in length from one-eighth to one-half of a mile. 



The series begins in the northern part of Mon-ill and takes a southeast 

 course over a level plain past Morrill Village to Poors Mill, in the north- 

 western part of Belfast. It then goes up and over a hill about 100 feet 

 high and descends the valley of Little River, ending in a beach cliff of 

 glacial gravel on the shore of Belfast Bay, a few rods south of the mouth 

 of Little River. 



Near Poors Mill the system expands into a somewhat level plain, sug- 

 gesting a small marine delta. The whole region traversed by the system 

 has been under the sea, and the gravels are more or less covered by the 

 marine clay. 



An interesting formation is found in the valley of Little River at the 

 road from Belfast to Belmont. The axis of one of the ridges of this sys- 



