282 H. L. FAIRCHILD POST-GLACIAL SUBMERGENCE OF LONG ISLAND 



surface soils, the absence of stones, the flatness of the plain, and other 

 points will be quoted later. 



Many articles after 1859 relate to the geology of Tjong Island, Irut 

 without any important reference to the plain. In 1877 Elias Lewis, Jr., 

 published several articles, three of which are here listed (3, 4, 5). He 

 also affirmed submergence of the island, but did not discriminate be- 

 tween the ocean-laid deposits and the glacial gravels, as he postulates 

 submergence to height of 260 feet (3, page 145). He says that marine 

 shells had been found up to 200 feet, but they must have been, like beach 

 deposits of shells seen today, pushed up by the ice-front. His paper on 

 the watercourses will be treated later. 



From 1877 to the present time no geologist, so far as the writer knows, 

 has directly and unequivocally affirmed the subaqueous origin of the 

 Long Island plain in its entire length, though several have stated or 

 implied the opposite. In 1890 F. J. H. Merrill claimed marine sub- 

 mergence for the west end of the island, and J. B. Woodworth, in 1901, 

 was willing to concede submergence of 40 feet over the west end of tlie 

 island and came very near to recognizing the full 80 feet. 



The first clean-cut affirmation and description of the uplifted marine 

 plain in the vicinity of ^NTew York, with precise data and altitudes, was 

 by Merrill in 1890 (10). The papers by Heinrich Eies on the Pleisto- 

 cene clays of the Hudson Valley (12-15) proved their estuarine origin 

 and the submergence of the region. W. M. Davis, in 1892, clearly recog- 

 nized the Hudson estuary and described delta features at Catskill (16). 

 Two articles by N. H. Darton, in 1894 (18-19), also recognized the 

 estuarine character of the Hudson deposits. Quotations from these 

 writers will appear later in this paper. 



From 1894 to 1901, as in previous years, the complex of glacial and 

 preglacial deposits in the morainal belt and north side of the island re- 

 ceived much attention, but no special study was given to the problem of 

 large Post-Glacial uplift of the region. The positive evidence given by 

 Merrill, Eies, Davis, and Darton was apparently ignored, and the sub- 

 aerial outwash origin of the entire plain seems to have been assumed. 

 In 1901 AVoodworth published his study of Nassau County and the Bor- 

 ough of Queens, which was the first paper to differentiate, locate, and 

 map the drift deposits, specially of the west end of the island, instead of 

 resting in general description. In this discriminative paper (21) Wood- 

 worth noted many features which are du.^ to submergence and recognized 

 their suggestion. He admitted the shorelike character of the inner edge 

 of the plain and described deltas that were proof of standing water at 

 Port AVashington and Great Neck, with altitude of 80 feet. But after 

 some argument he ruled out the sea as the formative water body for the 



