On a more regular coast, like that of New Jersey, the sediments are distributed with corresponding uniformity, the changes are less frequent and more gradual, and we have here a better chance to observe the normal arrangement of the sediments along a line from the shore seawards—gravel, sand, mud, and shells. On the beach we find the shingle and coarse pebbles, shading off rapidly into fine pebbles and sand. The zone or belt of sandy bottom may vary in width from a mile or two to twenty miles or more, becoming gradually finer and changing into clay or mud, which covers, usually, a much broader zone, sometimes extending into the deeper parts of the sea, but gradually giving way to calcareous sediments. Hence we may say that the finer the sediment the greater the area over which it is spread; but, on the other hand, the coarser the sediment the more rapidly it increases in thickness. In other words, the horizontal extent of a formation deposited in any given period of time is inversely, and the vertical extent or thickness is directly, proportional to the size of the particles.
Observations made in deep wells and mines, and where, by upturning and erosion, the edges of the strata are exposed on the surface, show that the vertical order of the different kinds of sedimentary rocks in the earth’s crust is extremely variable. But when we take a general view of a great formation, it is often apparent that it consists chiefly of coarse-grained rocks in the lower part and fine-grained rocks in the upper part. This is, in general, a necessary consequence of the fact that a great thickness of sediments can only be formed on a subsiding sea-floor. Such a formation must consist chiefly of shore deposits, and be deposited near the shore where the sea is shallow. Hence, 10,000 feet of sediments implies nearly that amount of subsidence. In consequence, the shore line and the several zones of sediment advance towards the land; and sand is deposited where gravel was at first, and as the subsidence continues, both clay and limestone are finally deposited over the original beach. When the sea-floor rises, the order of the sediments is reversed; and it will be observed that in consequence of the advance and retreat of the shore-line, the formations grow edgewise to a considerable extent.