THE SEINE, THE MEUSE, AND THE MOSELLE 
193 
dred feet beneath it. It must therefore be concluded from the 
relation of the upland, the trough, and the trench that the uplift 
of the region to its present height was accomplished in two 
movements, and that a longer interval of comparative rest fol- 
lowed tlie first movement than has yet elapsed since the second ; 
but it must also be understood that the time that has elapsed 
from the first of these movements to the present day is very 
short compared to the long cycle of denudation during which 
the ancient mountains of the region were worn down to the gen- 
eral surface of the peneplain. 
The meanders which the Moselle now follows in its serpentine 
trench are therefore to be regarded as the inheritance of a me- 
andering habit that it acquired on the floor of the trough ; but 
here, as in the case of the Seine, the present width of the meander 
belt is somewhat greater than the width of the former belt, judg- 
ing from the difference in the slopes of the interior spurs and 
the steep bluffs opposite them on the outer side of the river 
curves. The Moselle, like the Seine, swings around its curves 
with a robust, full-bodied action, nowhere hesitating to make the 
circuit with strong pressure on its outside bank. 
The tivo cut-offs above Berncastel . — At several points the spurs 
from the upland have very narrow necks through which the 
valley railway passes in “ short-cut” tunnels. Although I have 
not found any example of the diversion of a side stream by the 
lateral growth of the river meanders, yet such a change is im- 
minent just above Piinderich, where the ridge between the Moselle 
and the Alfbach is reduced to a very narrow measure. But it 
does appear that just above Berncastel the INIoselle has played 
U[)on itself the same trick that the Seine has played upon the 
Ste. Austreberte. The Moselle at this point has an excei>tion- 
ally straight course, but to the right and left of it rise two isolated 
hills, inclosed by troughs of horseshoe shape whose outer slopes 
rise to the general uplands. From the study of the maps at 
home I had come to the opinion that these troughs represented 
former meanders of the river, now abandoned in favor of the 
more direct intermediate course, and an insi>ection of the district 
on the ground has confirmed this belief. 1 presume the fact is 
well known to students of river habits abroad.* (See Plate 
XXII.) 
Nothing can be more satisfactory than the agreement shown 
between the features of these abandoned meanders and of the 
♦Soe, for e.xnmple, II. Orobo, Ueber 'rbiilbilduiiK mif der linken Klielnuolte, Jubrb. 
k. itroiiHH. gool. LiindoHiitiKt., 188.'i, 187. 
