SOILS OF SOUTHEEK NEW JERSEY AND THEIR USES. 5 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The general surface features of southern New Jersey may be 

 described as those of a gently sloping plain of low relief which is 

 marked by a ridge extending from the Atlantic coast line near 

 Sandy Hook to the vicinity of Delaware Bay, near Bridgeton, IST. J. 

 (See fig. 3, p. 6.) From this ridge the land surface slopes 

 unequally toward the southeast and toward the northwest. The 

 former slope frequently is at the rate of less than 5 feet to the mile, 

 but the latter usually is greater and frequently is accomplished by 

 steeper slopes intervening between areas which are gently sloping or 

 nearly level. It is estimated by the New Jersey Geological Survey 

 that less than 15 square miles of the section rise above an altitude 

 of 200 feet and that not more than 120 square miles rise above 100 

 feet in elevation. 



One of the marked features of the region is the presence along 

 the shores of the Delaware River and Bay of a lowland or terrace 

 of varying width which rises gently to an elevation of 40 to 50 

 feet. In places this lowland is not more than 2 or 3 miles broad, 

 though in others it expands to a width of 10 or 12 miles. It is 

 usuall}^ bounded, inland, by steeper slopes, rising to the watershed 

 or to more elevated areas of gentle slope. 



A very large proportion of the entire area is nearly level or but 

 gently sloping, and it is only over restricted areas that the surface 

 slope is too great or that the land is too broken to allow tillage. 



SOILS. 



Practically all of the soils of the region have been derived from 

 unconsolidated sands, loams, clays, and marls. Only in scattered 

 localities has there been any hardening of the material into cemented 

 masses of sand and gravel, or, as they are locally known, " ironstone." 

 Some gravel occurs throughout the region, either in beds underlying 

 the soils or scattered in varying amount through the soil and subsoil. 



There is a sufficient variety in the soil-forming material to give 

 rise to a number of distinct soil types and series. These have been 

 mapped and described in the soil surveys which have been made in 

 the region, and a detailed account can be found in the different 

 reports.^ Therefore only a brief summary of the different soil series 

 will be given. 



Lakewood series. — The surface soils of the types in the Lakewood 

 series are white in color and the subsoils orange yellow. The series 

 occupies rolling to nearly level uplands in the Atlantic slope and 



1 Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1901, Soil Survey of the Salem Area, N. J. ; 

 idem, 1902, Soil Survey of the Trenton Area, N. J. ; idem, 1913, Soil Survey of the Free- 

 hold Area, N. J. ; and idem, 1915, Soil Survey of the Camden Area, N. J. 



