Cape May Formation — Local Details. 185 



broad areas along the streams remain low up to Taunton (above 

 Medford). Two or three miles above Medford the differentia- 

 tion of the surface formations becomes impracticable. Up the 

 creeks which extend eastward to Vincentown and beyond, the 

 formation spreads widely, but remains low, mostly below 50 

 feet up to Buddtown on Stop-the-Jade, a mile above Retreat on 

 Cedar Run, up nearly to Friendship on the creek of that name, 

 and up to Beaverville, on Beaver Dam River. 



The formation is best developed, and certainly best exposed, 

 northwest of Hainesport. Here the gravels and sands rise to 

 30—40 feet, and go down to tide level. The formation makes up 

 most of the material above sea level between the north and 

 south branches of the stream back 2 miles or so from their 

 junction. It is partly covered by eolian sand. The material 

 exposed in the pits below Hainesport is well stratified. It is 

 mostly sand, but seams of gravel run through it, locally develop- 

 ing into beds a foot or so thick. On the west side of the stream 

 a mile above Hainesport similar materials appear, but their base 

 is 10 to 15 feet above tide level. 



Farther up the valley, the same relations hold, but the forma- 

 tion gets "thinner and thinner as the surface of the underlying 

 Cretaceous rises. In the vicinity of Eayrstown, the base of the 

 gravel is about 30 feet above sea level, but the surface of the 

 formation has risen less, and the formation is therefore thinner. 

 At Lumberton, the sand and gravel are some 20 feet thick near 

 the stream, but thin out back from the stream, with no well- 

 defined upland edge. The stratification also is much more definite 

 near the streams, disappearing or becoming indistinct toward the 

 uplands. 



Below Pemberton and Medford, both valleys were wide in the 

 Cape May epoch. As the Delaware Valley was filled up, either 

 by deposits or by water, the headwaters of both branches of the 

 Rancocas, coming down from Miocene and younger beds to the 

 east, brought much sand and gravel with which they aggraded 

 their valleys. The formations accessible furnished much sand 

 and little gravel, and the filling corresponds. After the streams 

 reached the Cretaceous outcrops, materials from these formations 



