Z. Hatch — Marine Terraces in S.E. Connecticut. 325 



Cassadock and Wintecliog hills, as well as Lantern Hill 

 described above), which may be explained as remnants of 

 former wave erosion and which would be the first to disappear 

 under strong glacial carving. As the hills (except in the termi- 

 nal moraine) are all made of rock, glacial deposition may also be 

 disregarded. On account of the glaciation of the region, how- 

 ever, no light can be thrown on the subject from the presence 

 or absence of marine deposits on these terraces. If marine 

 deposits were laid down in such exposed positions, they have 

 either been stripped off by the glacier or have not yet been 

 differentiated from the fluvio-glacial material of the region. 



Possible Inaccuracies of the Map. 



Error might creep in because of inaccuracies of the map. 

 In this region, however, the tops of the hills were accessible^ 

 at the time the surveys were made, and are probably contoured 

 with approximate accuracy. 



Nature of Surface on which Terraces were Made. 



It is important, however, to see on what sort of surface the 

 marine terraces were developed, and where the Cretaceous 

 peneplain of neighboring areas is represented in this region. 



There is undoubtedly an erosional surface of some sort under- 

 lying the Cretaceous sediments wherever found, and it is prob- 

 ably largely subaerial in origin. How much farther this erosion 

 surface or peneplain may be extended over the crystalline 

 rocks of the Appalachian and ]^ew England regions is not 

 known, although the general accordance of summit levels in 

 these regions has been considered due to peneplanation in 

 this period. A second partial base level has been noted in the 

 river valleys and attributed to Tertiary erosion. 



In the Stonington quadrangle all traces of two such erosion 

 surfaces seem to have been obliterated. It is practically 

 impossible to conceive of a peneplain that would include all 

 the broad flat tops of the hills at the various levels. It would 

 have to be warped along the very sinuous shore lines, and 

 along each line would have to be warped exactly the same 

 amount over the whole area. There would have to be four 

 distinct vertical down folds if the broad areas at the 500-foot, 

 400-foot, 300-foot, 200-foot and 100-foot levels are considered 

 parts of it. If they are, then why should hills such as Lantern, 

 Ayer Hill and Prentice Mountain, which rise from broad areas 



* The early roads, far from shunning the hill tops, were either the 

 shortest routes between points (as the Providence-New London turnpike), 

 or were laid out on the broad upland areas as far as possible to avoid the 

 swampy or sandy lowlands in the valleys. The very flat, relatively good 

 farm land on these hills also led to their early clearing. 



