The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-09-21
Atlantic Coast Line Sinking
By Frederic ]. Haskin

| Is
.ssste1aus
Did you know that our Atlantic
coast line is steadily sinking; that
unless the slow subsistence Of the
land is checked by some cause as
mysterious as that which started It.
the great cities Of the United States
must be submerged?
Those vacationists who have Wis
tied Rye Beach, Me-, during the last
season may have witnessed a strange
and almost inexplicable sight. As
the waters OF the Atlantic have run
out at low tide there has emerged
from the bottom OF the sea a stretch
of beach that Is studded with the
gnarled old atumps OF what waa
once a forest. The receding waves
have frothed through these remain
ders Of what were once proud trees.
and the crabs have found themselves
quarters among their roots.
But, ask the observer, was there a
time when forests grew out OF the
sea? His question Il answered by
tons Of the scientists on this point.
he is told that trees never grow
in salt water. When the trees OF,
which these stumps are the relics
tossed their tops aloft the waves OF
the ocean could not reach them.
They stood on very higher land.
Obviously, the ocean must have
climbed the beach or the beach must
have sunk into the ocean. AS the
level Of oceans is constant the
world round, and bound to remain
SO. 1t is assumed that the beach has
sunk.
Beach Has sunk.
! c. A. Davis. geologist for the bu-
reau Of mines, has made a special
study Of this situation and states
that there is no question but that
this beach has sunk into the sea. To
have rpoduced these forest trees he
lestimates that the level Of the
lsground in which the stuinps stand
must have been fifteen feet higher
THAN 1t is at present. Therefore, 1t
has sunk least fifteen feet in the
length Of time that It would require
for these tree stumps to have passed
from living things to their present
oIoSS VI 0SSdS. A1AuS1 IudI 10 dlteT.
nately exposed to air and then sub
merged decays rather rapidly, and
1t is probable that this change has
taken place within the last 200 years.
The coast line at Rye Beach has sunk
fifteen feet in 200 years.
At Virginia Beach, below the city
ot Washington, on that portion Of
1.-THE Potomac which experiences the
effects Of tide water. the same pheno-
mena are to be observed. When
the tide goes out the stumps of
drowned forests appear.
Biologists have gone into the salt
marshes Of Florida and made studies
that lead to the same conclusion
that the coast line is sinking. In
Florida their explorations have been
lin the salt marshes. They have dug
Into these and studied the formations
that appear below the surface.
Submerged Forests.
Fifteen feet down they hnd the
remains of the stumps Of one-time
forests. The lands that grew these
forests were. unquestionably, once
sea-level. Then, apparently, they
have experienced the encroachment
OF the salt water There appear
about their roots the remains Of such
growth as marsh grass. Apparently
this marsh grass has been very lux
uriant and each year 1t has piled a.
layer of itself upon the subsiding
land. This layer has built up the
land as rapidly as those other in
fiuenced that have sucked It down.
There is fifteen feet Of the remains
Of marsh grass on top Of those an
Gent stumps. But this land is I'M
ouestionably steadily sinking.
When sturdy New Englanders first
planted themselves homesteads In
Massachusetts their cows grazed on
the commons. But along the coast
Il was found that when these milk
producers got into the marshes and
ate Of the succulent grasses that grew
there, the milk had bitter taste.
Therefore the farmers built stone
fences along the lines of the marshes
to keep their cows out Of them.
Two hundred years have elapsed
and those stone fences still endure.
They now fail, however, to accom-
PAAoA 1sA0 P0A POSS 4OA WHICH Lu6y were
intended. They no longer keep the
COWS out Of the marsh. For the coast
line has sunk to lower levels and
the marshes have, in many places,
sent their arms back into the cow
pastures and the rank grasses are
now produced in great abundance
upon them.
has depth of less than 800 feet.
At the Charleston navy yard there
is an ancient sill upon which. seventy
lfiveyears ago, some one made mark
and carefully recorded its elevation
with relation to high and low tide,
and with relation to various land
marks. thereabouts. This mark is
now seven-eights Of foot lower as
compared to high and low water.
than twas when 1t was made. Char
lesion harbor has sunk eight inches
In that time.
! The coast survey work Of the fed
eral government reveals the fact that
there is line at distance vary