Atlantic Coastal Plain
One of the smallest provinces in the state and is confined to Philadelphia, Delaware, and Bucks counties along the Delaware River. Local relief is less than 200 feet (61 m) and much of the bedrock is buried under recent alluvial deposits. On the geologic map, "Trenton Gravel" is used to describe most of these sediments. However, much of the alluvial sediments that exist here are sand, silt, and clays. The traditional boundary of the coastal plain is the fall line. The coastal plain in Pennsylvania was once home to thousands of acres of fresh water tidal marsh. This was important in the early development of Philadelphia and Chester. Many of the small tributaries to the Delaware have cut small but impressive gorges into the bedrock including the Ridley Creek, the Chester Creek, and the Wissahickon Creek. Flash floods are becoming a local problem in the province.
Read more about this topic: Geology Of Pennsylvania
Famous quotes containing the words atlantic and/or plain:
“The Atlantic Ocean was something then.”
—John Guare (b. 1938)
“With wonderful art he grinds into paint for his picture all his moods and experiences, so that all his forces may be brought to the encounter. Apparently writing without a particular design or responsibility, setting down his soliloquies from time to time, taking advantage of all his humors, when at length the hour comes to declare himself, he puts down in plain English, without quotation marks, what he, Thomas Carlyle, is ready to defend in the face of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)