654 CHARLES EMERSON PEET 



ARGUMENTS OPPOSED TO THE HUDSON LAKE HYPOTHESIS. 



There are two possible arguments against the lake hypothesis. 

 One of them is based on the altitude of land farther south in New 

 Jersey. Certain terraces on the south shore of Raritan Bay and 

 south form in part the basis for belief in the lower altitude of land 

 in that part of New Jersey, but such terraces are not found on the 

 drift-covered north side of Raritan Bay.^ This would indicate that 

 the submergence which produced the terraces on the south side of 

 Raritan Bay came earlier, and that, if it extended to the north side, 

 emergence had taken place before the ice retired. Professor Salis- 

 bury assigns the date of the submergence which produced these ter- 

 races either to late glacial or post-glacial time,^ but he considers the 

 question of submergence in the vicinity of New York as still an 

 open one.^ The absence of distinct wave-wrought features on the 

 Brooklyn- Perth Amboy moraine and on the overwash plain between 

 Brooklyn and Perth Amboy does not favor the hypothesis of sub- 

 mergence there, and it is difficult to reconcile the absence of these 

 features with the hypothesis of a lower altitude of land. 



There is another objection to the lake hypothesis which, if it were 

 valid, would argue for the salt-water hypothesis. It is that the south- 

 ern barrier could not have lasted during the great time it took to 

 make the clays in the region north of the moraine. As will be seen 

 from the discussion of the origin of the gaps in the moraine, if the 

 barrier consisted of the moraine only, and was limited to that part 

 of the moraine above present sea-level, it must be admitted at once. 

 It must be remembered, however, that at the time of maximum south- 

 ern elevation the outlet stream was cutting through a wide stretch of 

 land outside the moraine. As mentioned before, the shore line of this 

 time may have been 95-100 miles farther south. It is very likely, 

 also, that the outlet was never very high above sea-level, but that 

 the uplift was taking place while the ice was retreating,- so that the 

 rate of cutting of the barrier would be kept close to a minimum. It 

 must be remembered also that the character of the lower portions of 

 the channels through the moraine is unknown. It may well be 



1 G. N. Knapp, verbal communication. 



2 Glacial Geology of New Jersey, p. 204. 



3 See New York City Folio, U. S. Geological Survey, p. 16. 



