The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889Various
Science
The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889
Various
Geography -- Periodicals
I am free to allow that this has the appearance of heaping hypothesis
on hypothesis; but in no other way does the analysis of the history of
our streams seem possible, and the success of the experiment can be
judged only after making it. At the same time, I am constrained to
admit that this is to my own view the least satisfactory of the
suggestions here presented. It may be correct, but there seems to be no
sufficient exclusion of other possibilities. For example, it must not
be overlooked that, if the Anthracite river ran southeast during Newark
deposition, the formation of the Newark northwestward monocline by the
Jurassic tilting would have had a tendency to turn the river back again
to its northwest flow. But as the drainage of the region is still
southeastward, I am tempted to think that the Jurassic tilting was not
here strong enough to reverse the flow of so strong and mature a river
as the Anthracite had by that time come to be; and that the elevation
that accompanied the tilting was not so powerful in reversing the river
to a northwest course as the previous depression of the Newark basin
had been in turning it to the southeast. If the Anthracite did continue
to flow to the southeast, it may be added that the down-cutting of its
upper branches was greatly retarded by the decrease of slope in its
lower course when the monocline was formed.
The only other method of reversing the original northwestward flow of
the streams that I have imagined is by capture of their headwaters by
Atlantic rivers. This seems to me less effective than the method just
considered; but they are not mutually exclusive and the actual result
may be the sum of the two processes. The outline of the idea is as
follows. The long continued supply of sedimentary material from the
Archean land on the southeast implies that it was as continually
elevated. But there came a time when there is no record of further
supply of material, and when we may therefore suppose the elevation was
no longer maintained. From that time onward, the Archean range must
have dwindled away, what with the encroachment of the Atlantic on its
eastern shore and the general action of denuding forces on its surface.
The Newark depression was an effective aid to the same end, as has been
stated above, and for a moderate distance westward of the depressed
belt, the former direction of the streams must certainly have been
reversed; but the question remains whether this reversal extended as
far as the Wyoming basin, and whether the subsequent formation of the
Newark monocline did not undo the effect of the Newark depression. It
is manifest that as far as our limited knowledge goes, it is impossible
to estimate these matters quantitatively, and hence the importance of
looking for additional processes that may supplement the effect of the
Newark depression and counteract the effect of the Newark uplift in
changing the course of the rivers. Let it be supposed for the moment
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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