MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 71 



vicinity of Baltimore the surface slopes from about 200 or 220 feet to 

 about 90 feet. In the District of Columbia the surface of the Sunder- 

 land terrace also lies at about 200 or 220 feet and slopes gently toward 

 the surrounding waters until it sinks to about 100 feet. In the vicinity 

 of Charlotte Hall about 30 miles distant the surface of the Sunderland 

 terrace, where it embraces the Lafayette, lies at an altitude of about 180 

 feet and slopes gently down to the southern point of St. Mary's county 

 where near Eidge, it occupies a position of about 60 feet. In Calvert 

 county the surface of the Sunderland terrace lies at an altitude of 160 

 feet and slopes toward the surrounding waters until it sinks to an altitude 

 of about 95 feet. When these figures are compared, it will be seen that 

 the Sunderland terrace slopes away very gradually toward the water in all 

 directions from the enclosed areas of higher land. Along the margin 

 of the Piedmont Plateau, that is to say, in a direction nearly parallel to 

 the present shore, the difference in elevation of this surface is inconsider- 

 able and in this respect resembles the attitude of the Lafayette terrace 

 throughout the same area. But in all directions away from the Piedmont 

 Plateau and from the base of the Lafayette terrace, the Sunderland 

 surface slopes away gradually and regularly toward either the Atlantic 

 ocean, or the Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries. As the Sunderland 

 terrace is practically unrepresented on the Eastern Shore, no observations 

 are to be secured in that region. 



The Wicomico Terrace. — Beneath the Sunderland terrace occurs the 

 Wicomico terrace (Plate I). It bears the same relation to the Sunder- 

 land as the Sunderland does to the Lafayette terrace in that it wraps 

 about it as a border, extends up into ancient stream valleys which enter 

 it, and is separated from it by a well defined line of low cliffs which, with 

 the exception of the scarp-line cut by the present sea, constitute the most 

 continuous topographic feature of the entire Maryland Coastal Plain. 

 The distribution of the Wicomico terrace is somewhat different from 

 that of the Sunderland and Lafayette terraces. It will be remembered 

 that the Lafayette and Sunderland terraces found their greatest develop- 

 ment on the divides of the peninsulas of southern Maryland. The 

 Wicomico terrace, on the contrary, is best developed on the Eastern Shore. 



