THE 
POON NL OOF GEOLOGY 
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1897 
THE NEWARK SYSTEM OF NEW JERSEY: 
Tue Newark system extends across the northern part of New 
Jersey, forming a belt which is about thirty-two miles wide along 
the Delaware River, while its width at the New York state line is 
about fifteen miles. The southeastern boundary from Trenton 
northeastward to Staten Island is for the most part formed by 
the overlying Cretaceous beds. Near Trenton, however, the 
underlying Philadelphia gneiss outcrops for a few miles. The 
waters of the Kill von Kull, New York Bay and Hudson 
River form the boundary from Staten Island northward. The 
northwestern boundary is irregular and is formed entirely by 
older rocks, —crystallines and Paleozoic shales and limestones. 
This paper has to do with that part of the area lying southwest 
of a line drawn from Metuchen, through Plainfield to Peapack. 
Topography.—In general the area is a gently rolling plain, 
having an average elevation of 100 to 250 feet A.T. The plain 
is interrupted by the valleys and trenches of the present streams 
and hills, ridges and plateaus of harder rock. The largest of 
these is the Hunterdon plateau. Commencing at Raven Rock on 
the Delaware River a prominent escarpment extends northeast- 
ward, past Flemington, where it bends north and then northwest, 
finally terminating near Lansdown about eighteen miles from the 
* Published by permission of the State Geologist of New Jersey. For a more 
detailed statement of all the facts upon which this paper is based, see Annual Report 
of the State Geologist for 1896, pp. 25-88. 
VOL: V., No.6: 541 
