TOPOGRAPHY. The northern and southern divi sions of the Atlantic slope meet in New Jersey on a line running west from Newark Bay. The former division is characterized practically by the absence of the coastal plain and by the less definite demarcation of the Piedmont plain (q.v.). The latter division is characterized by the well-defined presence of both. Though the State lies wholly within the Atlantic slope, it is crossed in the northwest by several ranges of the Appalachian system. There are four dis tinctly marked topographical re-gions running in parallel bands across the State from southwest to northeast, eoterminous with and closely de pendent on the outcropping bands of geological formations. (See paragraph Geology.) The first, beginning at the northwest, is the Kitta tinny range and upland valley. This range is an extension of the Blue Mountains of Pennsyl vania, and runs in a continuous ridge into New York, reaching in High Knob, near the boundary. a height of 1799 feet. The second region in cludes the Highlands, an outlying Appalachian range consisting of semi-isolated, plateau-like masses, rising to a height of 1200 to 1400 feet. The third band is the Piedmont plain, nearly as wide as the first two combined. It is, for the most part. an undulating plain ranging in ele vation from the sea level in the marshes of the Hackensack Valley in the east to over 500 feet in the west. It is, however, diversified by hold trap-rock ridges extending in a northeast and southwest direction, Spell as the Palisades the Hudson and the First and Sec ond Mountains. The fourth region constitutes
the coastal plain and includes the entire south ern half of the State south of a line running from Trenton to Newark Bay. It is a gently undulating plain, sloping south and eastward. It is nowhere more than 400 feet, and in large part is less than 100 feet above sea lotel. It is trenched by river-valleys, and here and there diversified by isolated hills such as the Navesink Highlands. It is bordered on the coasts by salt marshes fringed along the Atlantic by shallow coast-lagoons inclosed by outlying sand beaches.
The western slope of the State is drained by short tributaries into the Delaware River, but by far the greater portion drains directly into the Atlantic Ocean or its inlets. The principal rivers are the Passaic and Hackensack. flowing into Newark Bay; the Raritan, flowing through Raritan Bay into Lower New York Bay; the Multica and Great Egg, emptying into the At lantic lagoons; and the Maurice, into Delaware Bay. Lakes are confined chiefly to the northern section. There are several beautiful mountain lakes in the Highlands, the largest being Lake Hopatcong and Greenwood Lake, the latter lying partly in New York State. The most noted natural features are the Falls of the Passaic River at Paterson, the Palisades of the Hudson, and the Delaware Water Gap.