598 h. l. fairchild post-glacial uplift of ^'ew england 



Introduction 



In the early da3's of earth science in America^ about the middle of the 

 last century, the fact of recent oceanic submergence of northeastern 

 America was recognized. The literature of the time, in particular the- 

 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, record many 

 observations and opinions of the geologists of the day. E. Desor and 

 H. D. Eogers were prominent, and the facts indicating submergence 

 were used by Eogers to support the diluvial theory of the drift. Two 

 quotations are pertinent. 



''Rogers replied that he considered these remains evidence of the formej* 

 existence of an extensive strait which cut off New England from the main 

 continent" (volume 3, page 116). 



"Mr. Desor had thus been led to the opinion that the sea had once filled 

 the Saint Lawrence, Lake Ontario, and Lake Champlain" (volume 3, page 

 358). 



The low attitude of Xew England at the close of the ice period appears 

 to have been accepted down to the end of the century. The belief found 

 extreme expression in the writings of Professor Shaler, who claimed 300 

 feet submergence below present level for Xantucket and Marthas Vine- 

 yard and 1,300 feet for Mount Desert Island. From this excessive 

 estimate there was reaction. The intensive study of the morainal drift 

 on the Xew England coast and Long Island led the later students to 

 postulate a complicated Pleistocene histor}^, and to refer > the evident 

 oscillations of the land level back in time to an epoch antedating the last 

 ice-sheet. This concentration of study on the local glacial features 

 appears to have diverted attention from the wider relations of the phe- 

 nomena, and to have caused neglect of the positive evidence of Post- 

 Glacial submergence in all the adjacent territory. Some of the writers 

 on Xew England Pleistocene have asserted that during the removal of 

 the last ice-sheet the coast stood as high, or even higher, than it does 

 today. To explain the high-level sands with marine fossils, they allow 

 submergence previous to the last ice-invasion, which appears discordant 

 with the fact that abundant water-laid deposits are superficial over all 

 the coastal region. The wide-spread evidence of high-level static water 

 deposits in the inland territory was attributed to glacial, or ice-impounded, 

 waters ; for which barriers were assumed, but without any direct evidence. 



In recent papers (numbers 74-81 of the accompanying bibliographic 

 list) the writer has presented evidence of Post-Glacial submergence of 

 the wide area that was covered by the last, or Labradorian, glacier. The 

 classic ground of eastern Massachusetts and Ehode Island was not exam- 



