3^ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Gay Head J ^^^^^^"- ^-^^'^"^ ^°^^^"-) 



[ Sankaty retreatal stage (mterglacial) clay beds 



J r Glacial — Tameco oravels 



lameco ^ „ -^ ^ .. 



t -Tostmannetto erosion (mterglacial) 



Mannetto stage Glacial — old gravels 



A radically different and in some respects a much simpler inter- 

 pretation^ of the Long Island deposits has been outlined by W. O. 

 Crosby. The essential feature of his classification is the unity and 

 simplicity of the glacial epoch. Only the moraines and associated 

 sands and gravels of outwash origin during advance and retreat are 

 regarded as glacial. All other deposits below and including the 

 Sankaty clay beds he regards as preglacial. 



The Jameco gravels are interpreted as ]\Iiocene in age. 



Certain persistent yellow gravels overlying the Jameco are classi- 

 fied as Pliocene. 



b Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits. (2) Tertiary outliers. 

 Deposits of Pliocene age are littoral in type [PP 44 U. S. G. S. 

 p. 28] and are not very well dift'erentiated (Long Island, Staten 

 Island). Probably equivalent to the Bridgeton beds of New Jersey. 



Certain " fluffy " sands in thin beds are assigned by Mr Veatch 

 to the Miocene (Long Island, Staten Island). Probably equivalent 

 to the Beacon hill deposits of New Jersey. Crosby places the 

 Jameco gravels in the Aliocene together with the Kirkwood lignitic 

 and pyritic clays and sands. 



(3) Upper Cretaceous deposity- are extensively developed. 

 They form the chief bed rock of Long Island. 



1 The writer offers both of these outHneG of the glacial and associated 

 deposits in preference to either alone. Both Veatch and Crosby have given 

 immensely more time to the study of these questions than any one else. 

 It is hardly fitting for a newcomer in their field to reject either view. But 

 because of the very great difference between the two interpretations one 

 may be pardoned a preference. It is the writer's opinion that the simpler 

 outline is the more tenable. It does not seem possible to establish a very 

 complex series of stages in the glacial epoch as represented in the deposits 

 of southeastern New York. 



2 Crosby's classification of the Cretaceous is as follows : 



(a) Monmouth — slight development of marls. (Lower and middle 



marl series.) 

 (&) Matawan — (clay marl series) probably present on Long Island. 

 (c) Magothy — an extensive series of variegated and micaceous sands 



and clays. Heavy development on Long Island. 

 {d) Raritan — Plastic clay scales and the Lloyd sand. 



