The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889 — John Shaqi
The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889Various
Science
The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889
Various
Geography -- Periodicals
that at the end of the Jurassic uplift by which the Newark monocline
was formed, the divide between the Ohio and the Atlantic drainage lay
about the middle of the Newark belt. There was a long gentle descent
westward from this watershed and a shorter and hence steeper descent
eastward. Under such conditions, the divide must have been pushed
westward, and as long as the rocks were so exposed as to open areas of
weak sediments on which capture by the Atlantic streams could go on
with relative rapidity, the westward migration of the divide would be
important. For this reason, it might be carried from the Newark belt as
far as the present Alleghany front, beyond which further pushing would
be slow, on account of the broad stretch of country there covered by
hard horizontal beds.
The end of this is that, under any of the circumstances here detailed,
there would be early in the Jurassic-Cretaceous cycle a distinct
tendency to a westward migration of the Atlantic-Ohio divide; it is the
consequences of this that have now to be examined.
32. _Capture of the Anthracite headwaters by the growing
Susquehanna_.--Throughout the Perm-Triassic period of denudation, a
great work was done in wearing down the original Alleghanies.
Anticlines of hard sandstone were breached, and broad lowlands were
opened on the softer rocks beneath. Little semblance of the early
constructional topography remained when the period of Newark depression
was brought to a close; and all the while the headwater streams of the
region were gnawing at the divides, seeking to develop the most perfect
arrangement of waterways. Several adjustments have taken place, and the
larger streams have been reversed in the direction of their flow; but a
more serious problem is found in the disappearance of the original
master stream, the great Anthracite river, which must have at first led
away the water from all the lateral synclinal streams. Being a large
river, it could not have been easily diverted from its course, unless
it was greatly retarded in cutting down its channel by the presence of
many beds of hard rocks on its way. The following considerations may
perhaps throw some light on this obscure point.
[Illustration: FIG. 25. General distribution of high and low land and
drainage in early Jurassic time.]
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