Cape May Formation — Local Details. 207 



in the eower raritan drainage basin. 



Manalapan and Matchaponix creeks. — Along Manalapan Creek 

 the Cape May formation has some development up to the vicinity 

 of Englishtown, but it occurs in patches only, now on one side 

 of the stream and now on the other, down to Jamesburg. From 

 Jamesburgi down to Old Bridge it is widespread, but thin and 

 low, mostly below 30 feet. 



Most of Jamesburg stands on a terrace of this material. There 

 is a distinct terrace east of the Upper Jamesburg depot, at the 

 60-foot level. The Cape May gravels and sands are deepest 

 near the stream, and thin out back from it, as the surface of 

 the Cretaceous rises. The material is such as Manalapan Creek 

 could have gathered from its upper basin. The phenomena at 

 Jamesburg and farther east suggest conditions which allowed 

 much accumulation of sediment here at the 60-foot level in this 

 epoch, while much less was being deposited farther down the 

 valley. Between Helmetta and Old Bridge a thin bed of the 

 formation covers a wide low tract at an elevation of 30 feet or 

 so, but the amount of material is small, Cretaceous beds appear- 

 ing at many points in the 20- to 30-foot flats. In general it 

 may be said that most of the surface in this region below 40 

 feet is covered by a thin and somewhat discontinuous body of 

 sand and gravel referable to this formation, though its age is 

 not determinable with precision. 



In the valley of Matchaponix Creek, the Cape May deposits 

 extend up to Texas, and interruptedly beyond; but there is 

 nowhere a deposit corresponding in quantity and height to that 

 at Jamesburg. 



The phenomena between Jamesburg and Old Bridge do not 

 seem to be altogether in harmony with those at Jamesburg, if 

 the Cape May formation is all the work of rivers. Has most 

 of the formation below Jamesburg been removed by erosion? 

 This seems hardly likely, in view of the great amount of erosion 

 required, and in view of the low altitude, which would hardly 

 have favored the removal of so much material as this hypothesis 

 demands. 



