THE WORK OF THE OCEAN. 



331 



uplifts of coastal lands, and especially uplifts along axes normal to the 

 trend of the coast, would give rise to projections of land, and so to coastal 

 irregularities; but such uphfts are rarely so locahzed as to give origin 

 to minor projections. It follows that rising coasts, and those which 

 have recently risen, or more hkely, coasts along which the sea-level is 

 sinking or has recently sunk, are Hkely to be regular so far as details 



Fig. 298. — Sketch of Carmel Bay, Cal. The contours below sea-level show a deep 

 submerged channel. (From charts of C. and G. Surv.) 



of outline are concerned. Subsidence of a coast-line (or rise of the sea- 

 level) tends to the opposite results, for in this case the sea advances on 

 a surface which has more or less reUef, and the water takes possession 

 of every depression brought to its level. The lower parts of the valleys 

 are converted into bays, the length and width of which depend on, the 

 slope and width of the valleys drowned. The numerous bays at the 

 debouchures of the streams along the Atlantic coast of the United States, 

 from Long Island Sound to Carolina, such as the Delaware, Chesapeake, 

 (Fig. 297) and numerous smaller bays, are the results of recent sinking, 

 which has allowed the sea to invade the lower ends of river valleys. 



