NO. 10 MISSISSIPPI EMBAYMENT SHORE LINES — COOKE J 



These early workers supposed that the sea had remained stationary 

 while the land rose and tilted. Marine terraces in North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida were later described by B. L. 

 Johnson (1907), Stephenson (1912), Veatch and Stephenson (1911), 

 Matson (1913), Cooke (1924-54), MacNeil (1950), Colquhoun 

 (1962, 1964), and many others. Richards (1962) has reviewed 

 the literature. 



A paper on the correlation of coastal terraces (Cooke, 1930b) 

 proposed to define and identify terraces by means of their shore lines. 

 Its abstract (p. 577) states that: "The Pelistocene coastal terraces 

 along the Atlantic Seaboard of the United States are bounded by 

 shore lines that are horizontal south of the glaciated region and that 

 appear to continue un warped westward along the Gulf coast to 

 Texas." Later work has amply confirmed the essential horizontality of 

 the shore lines along the Atlantic coast ; the present work traces the 

 shore lines across the Mississippi Embayment. 



Nine terraces have heretofore been recognized along the Atlantic 

 seaboard. To these should be added a tenth, the Morley terrace, 

 herein described. The names of these ten terraces and the altitudes 

 of their shore lines as presently accepted are as follows: 





altitude in 





terrace 



feet 1 



netet 



Morley 



360 



110 



Hazlehurst 



275 



84 



Coharie 



215 



66 



Sunderland 



170 



52 



Okefenokee 



145 



44 



Wicomico 



100 



30 



Penholoway 



70 



21 



Talbot 



42 



13 



Pamlico 



25 



8 



Silver Bluff 



6 



2 



TERRACES IN ALABAMA 



Carlston (1950) has traced the terraces from Florida into Alabama, 

 where the coastal terraces are narrower and hence more subject to 

 erosion than at most places along the Atlantic seaboard. He noted 

 (Carlston, 1950, p. 1125) that the estuarine terraces in Alabama are 

 better preserved than those fronting on the Gulf. He recognized 

 scarps at altitudes corresponding to shore lines of the Coharie, Sun- 

 derland, Wicomico, Penholoway, and Pamlico terraces and noted an- 

 other at 145 feet (Carlston, 1950, pp. 1123, 1124) which he tentatively 



