164 Quaternary Formations of Southern New Jersey. 



Along the coast. — According to the conception outlined, the 

 Cape May formation forms a nearly continuous border about 

 the southern part of the State, from Raritan Bay to Trenton, 

 and in addition, extends up the valleys of nearly all streams 

 which come down to this border. How much of the forma- 

 tion about the coast is marine, and how much subaerial (fluvial, 

 pluvial, etc.), is not determined. If the sea level stood 30 to 

 50 feet higher than now, it does not appear to have stood there, 

 or at any other one level long, for sea cliffs of distinct and un- 

 equivocal character are essentially wanting. On the other hand, 

 the Cape May deposits about the coast are in places distinctly 

 terraciform, and consistent with the conception of marine origin. 

 Distinct sea cliffs at their inland border are, however, generally 

 wanting. In the coastal phase of the formation, the materials 

 are not so 1 mixed as in its valley phase. In the former situation, 

 the sand and gravel in places at least resemble shore deposits, 

 rather than deposits by streams and rains. 



Topography. — Barring interruptions by subsequent erosion, the 

 valley deposits, now in the form of terraces, are continuous with 

 the coastal deposits, and the contemporaneity of the two is not 

 open to question. At the coast, the level of the valley terraces 

 is the same as that of the coastal phase of the formation; but 

 they rise up stream at gradients which vary somewhat from 

 valley to valley, being less in the lower lands and greater in 

 the higher. In other words, the gradient of the terraces is in 

 keeping, in a general way, with the present gradients of the 

 streams. 



It is clear, therefore, that the upper limit of the formation is 

 not defined by a contour line. About the coast it is mostly below 

 50 feet; but in some of the valleys it runs up to heights three 

 times as great, and in a few places even higher. The terraces are 

 well defined in some places and ill defined in others. In some 

 places they are composed wholly of Cape May material, while 

 in others, material of this age covers, as with a veneer, a founda- 

 tion of older material. 



