382 THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



ble existence of faults, with upthrow on the east, along the east- 

 ern margin of the Triassic rocks, is a difficulty in the way of the 

 complete acceptance of this theory. Unfortunately too little is 

 known about the structure of the western plateau to say whether 

 the course of the lower Housatonic could be accounted for on 

 such an hypothesis. On this theory the Connecticut would be 

 consequent upon the Jurassic deformation, and revived by the 

 post -Cretaceous uplift. 



It may be suggested that the southeast courses are due to 

 the tilting of the peneplain at the time of elevation, the plateau 

 now being, as we have seen, much higher in the northwestern 

 part of the state than elsewhere. But the acceptance of this 

 theory necessitates a degree of smoothness and absence of even 

 mild relief in the peneplain, which is hardly possible. The present 

 average slope of the plateau is but a few feet per mile, and it 

 seems incredible that so gentle a tilting could force rivers as 

 large as these to take new courses. Besides, if the Housatonic 

 and Connecticut were deflected, why were not the smaller 

 streams — the Naugatuck and Quin*%baug — also given south- 

 eastern deflections ? Clearly, this explanation is not the correct 

 one. 



Stiperimpositio?i. It has been suggested that these courses 

 may be inherited from a Cretaceous cover, which formerly 

 stretched over Connecticut for a considerable distance, but of 

 which no traces now remain in the state. On parts of Long 

 Island the Cretaceous deposits are found, and it is not inherently 

 impossible nor improbable that they once stretched far over the 

 main land. In New Jersey^ several lines of evidence seem to 

 show that the Cretaceous beds formerly extended across the Tri- 

 assic, probably to the margin of the highland plateau. The 

 curious drainage of the Watchung Crescent is one evidence of 

 this, but the other proofs are along entirely different lines, so that 

 there is apparently good evidence that the Cretaceous beds 



' Geog. Devel. of Northern New Jersey, p. 404 et seq. Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 Also Rivers of Northern New Jersey, p. 1 1 et seq. National Geographic Magazine, 

 vol. ii, p. 93. 



