In detail, the New York City region is highly varied topographically (Fig. 15.16). However, two linear topographic trends predominate: one that runs north-northeast, the other northeast (Fig. 15.17). The northnortheast trend is manifest in Manhattan and the Bronx by a series of more or less parallel, elongate ridges and valleys. Also, for much of their length, the Hudson, Harlem, and East rivers, the Palisades cliffs along the west shore of the Hudson, and Todt Hill, the central, high spine of Staten Island, follow this trend. The other, northeast trend is formed by an abrupt junction between the billy sections of northern Brooklyn and Queens and the gently sloping, almost flat areas to the southeast. It is also present, but less clearly, in the southeast margin of the hills of southeast Staten Island.