422 



MESOZOIC TIME. 



that of the Carboniferous age. The Carboniferous age ended in a 

 period of disturbance, escape of heat, as shown in consolidations and 

 metamorphism, and a general destruction of life along the Continental 

 border ; and so the period of these sandstones was closed in uplifts, 

 fractures, emissions of heat, consolidations, and destructions of life. 

 But, in the former case, the catastrophe resulted in mountain-making 

 through foldings ; in the latter, the action, though ranging along the 

 same line of coast, from South Carolina to Newfoundland, was more 

 limited ; the surface rocks were only tilted and broken, and heat ex- 

 hibited its effects chiefly in eruptions of melted rock. 



Geography. — The position of the beds on the Atlantic border shows 

 that this part of the continent stood nearly at its present level. The 



Fig. 735. 



Map of the submerged border of the continent, off New Jersey and Long Island, with lines of equal 

 soundings in fathoms. N. Y., City of New York ; N. J., State of New Jersey ; N. H., New Ha- 

 ▼en ; B., Brooklyn ; St., Staten Island ; S., Sandy Hook ; M., Montauk Point ; Bl. Block Island. 



strange absence of marine deposits, along the Atlantic Border, may be 



