SOILS OF THE SASSAFRAS SEEIES. 11 



a thin layer of silty loam, which is not considered as an essential 

 part of the formation by the New Jersey Geological Survey. It is 

 very similar to the heavier loam found in the Cape May forma- 

 tion and gives rise to the same soil type, the Sassafras silt loam. 

 The coarser materials of the Pensauken formation give rise to the 

 gravelly and sandy members of the Sassafras series. The soils of 

 this series are thus found in almost continuous development from 

 near tide level in the Cape May formation to altitudes of 150 to 200 

 feet in the area covered by the Pensauken formation. 



It is worthy of note that the soils of the Sassafras series have 

 been encountered in their widest development in the State of New 

 Jersey within the Delaware Valley and upon the slopes of the valley 

 which separates the main body of the Coastal Plain from the Pied- 

 mont Plateau. These soils thus occupy a position where their ma- 

 terials were affected during deposition by contributions from the 

 glaciated area immediately to the north. They may consist, in any 

 one locality, of material largely derived from older, underlying 

 Coastal Plain formations, but where typically developed there is 

 usually evidence that the glaciation to the north contributed a con- 

 siderable amount of both fine and coarse material while a still larger 

 amount was originally derived from both the Piedmont and Appa- 

 lachian regions. 



The oldest deposits of the Pleistocene age in the New Jersey por- 

 tion of the Coastal Plain are called the Bridgeton formation by the 

 New Jersey Geological Survey. They cap the higher hills in south- 

 ern New Jersey above an elevation of about 150 feet. The materials 

 are largely gravel and sand, although large bowlders give evidence 

 that this formation was also affected by the earlier glaciation of the 

 land areas to the north. It is probable that this formation gives rise 

 to considerable areas which will be correlated with the soils of the 

 Sassafras series. 



Areas of the different soils of this series are also found to coincide 

 closely with the portions of these three terraces found on the western 

 side of the Delaware River in the extreme southeastern part of 

 Pennsylvania. 



In the Maryland-Delaware Peninsula the terrace form of the de- 

 posits of Pleistocene age is marked and three terraces have been iden- 

 tified by the Maryland Geological Survey. 1 The lowest and youngest 

 of these terraces has been called the Talbot formation within this 

 State. It is continuous with the Cape May terrace of the New 

 Jersey Geological Survey and can be directly correlated with it. It 

 forms a low, nearly level terrace along the entire eastern boundary of 

 Delaware, narrow in the northern part and broadening to a width 



1 See Maryland Geol. Survey, " Pliocene and Pleistocene," and Dover Folio, U. S. 

 Geological Survey. 



