294 Ooldth/wait — Twenty-Foot Terrace and 



of character, enough strength of expression, or enough conti- 

 nuity to indicate a long stand of the sea at any level. Distinct 

 beach fragments were found at all altitudes, in such places as 

 were peculiarly favorable in exposure to the open sea, or in 

 supply of beach material. This is believed to indicate that the 

 emergence of the Saint Lawrence valley from the Cham plain 

 sea was not accomplished by spasmodic uplifts, separated by 

 intervals of repose, but was fairly steady and continuous. 

 Observations on the marine beaches near the New York line, 

 at Covey Hill, recently led Prof. H. L. Fairchild to the same 

 conclusion as that here stated. On the other hand, Professor 

 Daly, in his description of the raised beaches of Newfoundland 

 and Labrador, is inclined to take the view that the general lack 

 of harmony between measurements on the lower beaches is 

 due to local conditions masking more or less perfectly the 

 effects of spasmodic uplifts.* 



While there are above the twenty-foot level no shorelines 

 that are conspicuous, it is rather generally true that in compar- 

 ing higher beaches with lower ones, in any locality, one finds 

 greater distinctness and continuity of form at the lower levels. 

 This is due partly, no doubt, to the fact that on an emerging 

 coast, through the off-shore movement of beach material and 

 the re-working of that material at lower and lower levels, lower 

 shorelines inherit, to some degree, the straightness and strength 

 of their predecessors. The prevalence of sandy beaches below 

 and gravelly beaches above points likewise to a re-working of 

 beach debris as the waters drew down the slope. It is possible, 

 however, that this increase in topographic strength towards 

 lower levels is due in part to a slower rate of emergence as 

 elevation progressed and as conditions of stability were ap- 

 proached. 



The Twenty-foot Terrace and Sea-cliff. 



In marked contrast with the weak beaches at higher levels, 

 the shoreline which stands 20 feet above the sea is strong and 

 continuous. Although it was not practicable for my party to 

 follow the shoreline continuously along the coast, it was found 

 at so many places, so strongly developed, and with so nearly 

 uniform an altitude that there could be no doubt of its virtual 

 continuity from Quebec eastward at least as far as Matane, — a 

 distance of 225 miles. At only three points of those we visited 

 on the south shore, namely, Saint Simon, Riviere Ouelle, and 

 Montmagny, was the twenty-foot terrace and sea-cliff absent. 

 At each of these places our search was limited to a short 



* E. A. Daly, The Geology of the Northeast Coast of Labrador. Bull. 

 Mus. of Comp. Zool., vol. xxxviii, 1902. pp. 205-273, and especially pp. 

 252-254. 



