of the Eastern States. 235 



currents, would overlap the beds of conglomerate, and thus an 

 alternating series would be produced. This succession of beds 

 of coarse river-debris and the finer sediments of still water, 

 seems to have occurred at Boonton, where the evenly-bedded 

 slates with sandstone, in some places so rich in the remains of 

 Triassic fishes, occupy a position between two beds of coarse 

 conglomerate. On the banks of the Delaware, beds of the 

 conglomerate are separated by intervening beds of red shale.* 

 The original position of these conglomerate deposits is 

 shown in the following diagram, where (a) represents the 

 ancient shore-bluffs of crystalline rocks, (h) the wedge-shaped 

 section of the beds of conglomerate brought down from the 

 highlands, and (c) the sandstone and shale which are the ordi- 

 nary shore and off-shore deposits. 



Fig. 2. — Showing relations of the Shore Conglomerate and the 

 Red Shales and Sandstones — (looMng north). 



If such a series of beds were tilted up at an angle of 10 or 

 15 degrees, and the edges of the shale cut away by denudation 

 to a horizontal surface, we might have a single bed of con- 

 glomerate exposed, resting conformably on a deposit of slates 

 beneath, as in the section at Pompton ; or if two beds of con- 

 glomerate came to the surface, with slates and sandstones 

 between, it would present the conditions now to be seen at 

 Boonton. If the accumulation was on a large scale and many 

 alternations occurred, a section would be exposed like that along 

 the banks of the Delaware, in describing which Prof. Cook 

 says:f "A red shaly rock alternates with this conglomerate. 

 The latter is generally in beds, from one to ten feet thick, and 

 with less shale between them towards the northwest. The 

 dip is 15°-20° IsT. 60° W. The conglomerate thins out in cer- 



* Eogers's Geol. Eep. of N. J., 1840, p. 140. 

 t Geol. of N. J., page 209. 



