MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 183 



raised above the level of the ocean and the formation subjected to 

 stream erosion. The region, however, did not long remain in this 

 position but before erosion had progressed extensively, the county 

 was submerged once more to a depth of about 40 to 45 feet lower 

 than the position it now occupies. 



This was the time of the deposit of the Talbot terrace. The sub- 

 sidence which initiated the deposition of the Talbot terrace was com- 

 paratively slight and was not sufficient to depress the Eastern Shore 

 and admit the Atlantic Ocean. Cecil county during Talbot time dif- 

 fered from its present appearance only in an enlargement of the 

 borders of Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries. The land did not re- 

 main in this position long enough to permit the carving of a very 

 pronounced sea-clifT although a low one may be seen separating the 

 Talbot from the Wicomico terrace. This is particularly well seen 

 along the banks of the Elk and Northeast rivers. In the region of 

 Elkton, the Wicomico terrace has been, in a great measure, removed 

 and the Talbot has been deposited in its place. The abrupt rise in 

 the topography just north of Elkton is a scarp-line cut by the Wi- 

 comico sea and accentuated by the waves of the Talbot sea. 



Within the Talbot formation, there are a number of lenses of drab- 

 colored clay and two of these are of special interest in that they bear 

 remains of plants. One of these plant beds is located about a mile 

 above the mouth of Bohemia Creek on the north side of Veazey 

 Neck. In this locality, a large cypress stump about five feet in diame- 

 ter is exposed on the beach at mean tide-level. The stump, which is 

 in place, is changing to lignite and is nearly covered with beach sand, 

 but its roots are still imbedded where they grew in a mass of dark- 

 colored peat-bearing clay. The base of this peat bed is not visible, 

 but it, without doubt, rests unconformably in a hollow in the Rari- 

 tan, for that formation rises to view from beneath the beach a few 

 rods away. In the bank above the beach the same peat bed which 

 carries the cypress stump is continued upward for six feet when it is 

 abruptly overlain with three feet of sand and gravel, which in turn 

 grades upward into loam. The other locality in which plant remains 

 have been found is situated on the shore of Elk River above the mouth 



