B. D. Salisbury — Terminal Moraines in Germany. 405 



rough, now gentle, according as the elevations and depressions 

 have steep or gentle slopes. Throughout wide stretches of the 

 moraine, the altitudinal variations, within narrow areal limits 

 are fully 100 feet. Not infrequently, isolated basins, " kettles," 

 no more than 10 or 12 rods in diameter, have a depth of 50 

 feet below the lowest points of their borders, while pointed 

 knolls rise 100 feet or more in their immediate vicinity. Com- 

 monly the topography is less strongly marked, the undulations 

 assuming gentler, flowing contours, with variations much less 

 than those indicated. 



More broadly considered, the relief of the moraine is not con- 

 fined to so narrow limits. At many points there are variations 

 of 200 feet or 250 .feet within the moraine. These however 

 are not commonly so closely associated as are those of smaller 

 proportions, so that even with the greater range, the surface 

 may appear less rough. Occasionally the moraine surface is 

 wanting in knolls and basins, but this is rarely the case for 

 any considerable distance. 



The topography and the complexity of the moraine, together 

 with its great width, afford abundant opportunity for the for- 

 mation of lakes, which are accordingly an almost constant con- 

 comitant of the moraine. Their number is exceedingly great. 

 So characteristic are they, and so nearly restricted to the mo- 

 raine, that a tracing of the lake belt would be almost identical 

 with a tracing of the moraine itself. 



In constitution, the moraine presents all the diversities 

 common to such formations. Sand, gravel and clay predomi- 

 nate each in turn, and the ratio between coarse and fine mate- 

 rial is an ever-varying one. In general, it may be said that 

 the moraine is predominantly sandy, at least superficially, and 

 that the proportion of stony material is great. 



Scarcely less characteristic than the features of the moraine 

 itself, are certain deposits of drift, widely associated with it. 

 Among these are the extensive j3lains of sand and gravel, par- 

 ticularly the former, which skirt the outer face of the moraine. 

 In scores of localities which have fallen under notice, approach 

 to the moraine from the south is over a wide belt of sand, 

 which has a distinct though gradual upward incline toward the 

 moraine. The material of these border plains becomes coarser 

 as the moraine is neared, and contains bowlderets and even 

 bowlders in the immediate vicinity of the range. 



It is to be observed that the moraine lies far north of the 

 southern limit of drift, just as the main moraines of America 

 he, throughout the larger part of their course, far north of the 

 southern drift limit. 



In all these characteristics, viz : in its composition from sev- 

 eral members, in its variety of development, in its topographic 



