The terraces described in the table below form minor scarps parallel to the Atlantic shoreline, some reaching from Florida to New Jersey. The terraces produce a coastal plain topography like a set of stairs which step upward away from the coast. The terraces are listed in order of increasing age, increasing distance from the shoreline, and increasing height above modern sea level. Additional terraces of Pliocene age have been identified further inland. Various hypotheses have been offered to explain the stair-stepped terraces, including glacioeustatic sea level decline, isostatic adjustment due to erosion of the Appalachians and loading of the continental shelf, development and decay of glacial forebulges, intraplate tectonic uplift, increase in volume of the earth's ocean basins, or combinations of the above factors or others. In any case, the arrangement of terraces indicates a progressive net decline in relative sea level during the Quaternary.
Adapted from pp. 629-635 of Colquhoun, Donald J., et. al. 1991. "Quaternary Geology of the Atlantic Coastal Plain." Chpt. 21 in Quaternary Non-glacial Geology: Conterminous United States. Volume K-2 in The Geology of North America series. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America.