stratigraphy of the atlantic continental shelf and...

Ann. Rev. Earth Planet Sci. 1978.6:251-80Copyright © 1978 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved

STRATIGRAPHY OF THE 10094ATLANTIC CONTINENTAL SHELFAND SLOPE OF THEUNITED STATES

C. Wylie Poa9Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch, U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole,Massachusetts 02543

INTRODUCTION

Purpose and Scope

As we await the first exploratory drilling on the Atlantic outer continental shelf ofthe United States, geologists are investigating the complex sedimentary frameworkand reconstructing the geological development of the region. Among the mainconcerns are the structure, age, sequence, composition, and origin of the layeredsedimentary rocks that underlie the continental shelf and slope. Analysis andinterpretation ~f these items are the major elements of stratigraphy. The purposeof this report is to present a current summary of what is known about thesesedimentary rocks, and to point out where new knowledge is needed.

This summary includes a description of the geologic features of the area; areview of the postulated geologic development of the Atlantic Ocean ; a chronologicalreview of the major stratigraphic studies of the area; a description of studiespresently underway ; a description of the strata that fill the three major sedimentarybasins along the U.S. Atlantic Margin ; and lastly, a comparison of the stratigraphicrecord of the U.S. Margin with that of the Scotian Shelf (Canada) and the GrandBanks (Newfoundland).

Several comprehensive geologic summaries of the U.S. Atlantic Margin havebeen published or open-filed in the last few years, and much of the pre-existinginformation in this review comes from these summaries (Emery & Uchupi 1972,Keen 1974, Stehli 1974, Sheridan 1974, 1976, Dillon et al 1975, Mattick et al1975, Schlee et al 1975, Scott & Cole 1975, Sheridan & Osburn 1975, Schlee et al1976, Dillon et al 1978, Schlee et al 1977).

Besides the previously published data, this review presents new informationderived from drill holes, core holes, dredges, and piston cores.

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252 POAG

Description of the Atlantic Continental Shelf and Slope

The area described here stretches more than 2000 km from offshore Miami, Florida,to just north of Georges Bank, southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Figure 1).It includes the rocks that lie beneath the continental shelf and continental slopedown to a water depth of about 2000m, and those beneath the Blake Plateau.This area encompasses approximately 1,000,000 km2.

Three major sedimentary basins contain most of the sedimentary rocks (largelyMesozoic and Tertiary strata; see Figure 1): the Blake Plateau trough, which is thesouthernmost basin; the Baltimore Canyon trough, which stretches beneath theshelf and slope from Cape Hatteras to Long Island; and the Georges Bank basin,which underlies Georges Bank (Figure 1).

GEOLOGIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

Most geologists believe that the present Atlantic Ocean Basin began to formduring the late Triassic and early Jurassic (about 200-180 m.y. ago) as a result continental rifting and sea-floor spreading (Emery & Uchupi 1972, Schlee et al1976). At that time, North America, Africa, and Europe were joined along whatis now the U.S.-Canadian Atlantic continental slope. As the three continentalplates began to move apart, the rocks along the rifted margins were faulted intolarge blocks that began to subside. The resulting basins began to fill with sedimentseroded from the blocks and from the adjacent continents. As these basins subsidedbelow sea level, they were invaded by sea water whose restricted circulation andhigh evaporation rates caused deposition of thick evaporitic deposits in someareas (Emery & Uchupi 1972, Meyerhoff & Hatten 1974, Tator & Hatfield 1975,Bhat et al 1975, Jacobs 1977).

In the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous, a vast shallow sea covered the easternmargin of North America. Along the seaward rim of the Bahama uplift, thesouthern Blake Plateau trough, the Baltimore Canyon trough, the Georges Bankbasin, and even the Scotian basin off Newfoundland, an extensive series of reefsand carbonate platforms developed (Bryant et al 1969, Schlee et al 1976). Archedseismic reflectors of high acoustic velocity (attributed to dense carbonate rocks)show, for example, that this reef system is present 20-30 km seaward of the presentshelf edge in the Baltimore Canyon trough area (Grow, Mattick & Schlee 1977,Mattick, Bayer & Scholle 1977). Emery & Uchupi (1972) have suggested that mid-Cretaceous time the reef system may no longer have been an effective sedimentdam; the depression behind it had filled with continental and shallow marinesediments, and the continental slope beyond it had developed to nearly its currentconfiguration.

As the Atlantic Basin continued to widen during the Cenozoic the most effectivecontrols on sedimentation along the U.S. Atlantic Margin were differential upliftand subsidence of the continent and margin, eustatic sea-level changes, and theactivity of the Gulf Stream. Northward extension of warm tropical to subtropicalshelf environments accompanied the Gulf Stream during the Paleocene, Eocene,


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ATI~ANTIC SHELF AND SLOPE STRATIGRAPHY 253

Figure I Location map showing general geography, bathymetry, major sedimentary basinsand uplifts, sample sites (core holes and drill holes), and location of geologic cross sectionsillustrated in Figures 2, 4, 5, and 7 herein. (Note that AMCOR Site 6018 is the same asCOST G-1.)


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254 POAG

and Oligocene, resulting in carbonate-rich sediments all along the U.S. Margin.During the Miocene, however, the Gulf Stream shifted southward, or farther offshore,and the northern sediments became increasingly elastic. The three major basinscontinued to subside, and had received most of their sediments by the end of thePliocene. During the Pleistocene and Holocene, most clastic sediments bypassedthe shelf, to be deposited on the continental slope and rise. This process wasaccentuated during glacial sea levels when the shoreline moved close to the presentshelf break.

HISTORY OF SIGNIFICANT INVESTIGATIONS

The earliest stratigraphic data from the U.S. Atlantic Margin were obtained fromrock fragments dredged from sea-floor outcrops (Verrill 1878, Aggasiz 1888, Dall1925, Cushman 1936, Stephenson 1936, Stetson 1936, 1949).

After World War II, petroleum exploration became moderately active on theAtlantic Coastal Plain, and as a result of numerous subsurface tests (as deep as3000 to 4000 m), the coastal stratigraphy became known in some detail (Herrick Vorhis 1963, Maher 1971, and especially Brown, Miller & Swain 1972). Belatedly,after a few shallow submarine foundation borings had been drilled (McClellandEngineers 1963, McCollum & Herrick 1964), the first systematic attempt at deeperstratigraphic coring on the shelf was undertaken by the Joint OceanographicInstitutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES) group (Bunce et al 1965, Charm,Nesteroff & Valdes 1970, Schlee 1977). Six core holes were drilled as deep as 320mbelow the sea floor (Figure 1) in a transect east of Jacksonville, Florida, across theshelf and the Blake Plateau (J. Schlee, R. D. Gerard, unpublished results).

Two years later (1967), a consortium ofoil companies (Exxon, Chevron, Gulf, Mobil) conducted their Atlantic Slope Project (ASP). They drilled core holes at sites along the base of the continental slope and in submarine c~nyons (Figure 1).Sediment penetration was limited to approximately 330 m. Weed et al (1974) havesummarized part of the dredging, oceanographic coring, and ASP results on a mapshowing pre-Pleistocene geology from Cape Hatteras to Georges Bank. From theBlake Plateau, Kaneps (1970) selected several of the most complete oceanographiccores and synthesized the Miocene-Holocene stratigraphy of that region.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) probedthe deeper parts of the Atlantic Basin, but only one DSDP core hole was locatedon the U.S. continental slope (Figure 1; DSDP Leg 11, 1970), and none weredrilled on the shelf (Hollister et al 1972). The first deep Continental OffshoreStratigraphic Test (COST) well, No. B-2, was drilled in 1975 to a depth of 16,043 (4862 m) in the Baltimore Canyon trough, 154 km east of Atlantic City, New Jersey(Figure 1). This was the first in a series of four deep stratigraphic tests (twoadditional wells on Georges Bank and one in the Southeast Georgia embayment)that penetrated the major subshelf sedimentary basins (Figure 1), but only datafrom the COST B-2 are currently available (Smith et al 1976, Scholle 1977).

Meisburger & Field (1976) and Meisburger (1977) summarized the stratigraphy


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ATLANTIC SHELF AND SLOPE STRATIGRAPHY255

of the nearshore sediments off northern Florida and central North Carolina asdeduced from more than 200 short vibrocores and 4 deeper borings (maximumdepth 38 m).

In 1976, the U.S. Geological Survey undertook the Atlantic Margin CoringProject (AMCOR), the first systematic stratigraphic coring of the continental shelffrom Georgia to Georges Bank (Hathaway et al 1976). This project resulted in thecoring of 19 sites (Figure 1). Analyses of the JOIDES, ASP, and AMCOR coresare the primary geologic basis for constructing a stratigraphic framework for theCenozoic of the U.S. Atlantic Margin (Poag et al 1977).

These geologic data coupled with an abundance of excellent geophysical dataallow extrapolation of cored Cenozoic strata into undrilled areas. Seismic reflectionand refraction profiles allow generalized stratigraphic interpretations of the deeplyburied (undrilled) Mesozoic rocks and basement. The first offshore geophysicalstudies were published by Ewing and his associates (1937), whose work continuedup through the 1950s (Drake, Ewing & Sutton 1959). These seismic records aresupplemented by gravity and magnetics investigations, which are summarized byMayhew (1974). A much more detailed discussion is presented by Emery Uchupi (1972).

In 1973, the U.S. Geological Survey began collecting high-resolution and multi-channel seismic reflection profiles across the shelf and slope (see, for example,Schlee et al 1976). These data coupled with results from oil drilling on the adjacentScotian Shelf(e.g. Jansa & Wade 1975, Williams 1975) are improving stratigraphicinterpretations significantly.

STRATIGRAPHY OF MAJOR BASINS

Blake Plateau Trough and Environs

PHYSIOGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE The area, between latitudes 26° N and 35° N,encompasses three major physiographic features : the continental shelf off Florida,Georgia, and South Carolina; the Florida-Hatteras slope; and the Blake Plateau(Figure 1). The major geologic structure under this area is the Blake Plateautrough, which underlies the Blake Plateau. It is an elongate north-south trendingdepression, bounded to the north by the Cape Fear arch, to the south by theBahama uplift, and to the west by the Peninsular arch of Florida. A northwestwardextension of the Blake Plateau trough beneath the shelf and the Georgia CoastalPlain is known as the Southeast Georgia embayment (Figure 1 ; Dillon et al 1978).

More than 12km of principally Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous sedimentarystrata fill the Southeast Georgia embayment-Blake Plateau trough (Dillon et al1975). Tertiary sediments are as thick as 800m beneath the shelf, but are onlyabout half that thick on the Blake Plateau. A thin Pleistocene-Holocene veneer isdraped over the entire region, except for extensively eroded areas on the inner BlakePlateau. A diagrammatic cross section illustrates the general configuration andage of the beds (Figure 2).


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ATLANTIC SHELF AND SLOPE STRATIGRAPHY 257

BAS15VlENT Basement rocks beneath the Coastal Plain are of igneous and meta-morphic origin, and range in age from Precambrian to Devonian ; some of the rockspresumably extend under the shelf and Blake Plateau. However, much of theSoutheast Georgia embayment appears to be underlain by undeformed tuffaceouselastic rocks intermixed with basaltic and rhyolitic flows and ash (Dillon et al 1978).

TRIASSIC AND JURASSIC The oldest sediments of the Blake Plateau trough arethought to be of Triassic age. Dillon et al (1978) have observed a strongly angularseismic unconformity that ranges from about 2 to 12kin below the sea surfaceunder the Blake Plateau (Figure 2), below which are presumed Triassic continentaldeposits that fill faulted rift basins. Above this unconformity is a strong smoothseismic reflector, which corresponds to a horizon that also exhibits high refractionvelocities (5.8 to 6.2kin see-1). It extends beneath the inner Blake Plateau andthe continental shelf, between northern Florida and Cape Fear, North Carolina.This reflector may be correlated with basalt and ,rhyolite drilled in South Carolinaand Georgia, which yielded a minimum radiometric age of Middle Cretaceous(Maher 1971, Gohn et al 1978). Dillon et al (1978) assigned the rocks of "volcanic" layer to the Jurassic based on structural considerations (Figure 2).Northeast of Jacksonville, Florida, about 5km of presumed Jurassic rocks liebetween the "volcanic" layer and a seismic reflector that is correlated with aTithonian (late Jurassic) event previously documented at DSDP Site 391 (Figure seaward of the Blake Escarpment (Benson et al 1976). The bulk of the Jurassicrocks beneath the Blake Plateau is believed to be more than 7kin of densecarbonate deposits (interbedded limestones and dolomites, with anhydrite and saltlayers; see Figure 2). This interpretation is based on extrapolation from the GreatIsaac No. l well, which is located adjacent to the southern margin of the BlakePlateau trough (Tator & Hatfield 1975, Jacobs 1977, W. P. Dillon, personalcommunication 1977).

CRETACEOUS Lower Cretaceous limestones are the oldest rocks that have beenrecovered from the Blake Plateau trough. Chalky calcilutite, oolitic calcarenite, andcalcarenite containing abundant Foraminifera and algal fragments (Neocomian toAptian age) have been recovered from the middle and base of the Blake Escarpment(Heezen & Sheridan 1966, Sheridan, Smith & Gardner 1969). These samples, conjunction with geophysical evidence, indicate derivation from an extensive LowerCretaceous (and possibly partly Upper Cretaceous) shelf-edge reef (Figure Some sort of reef-bank system appears to have rimmed nearly the entire Gulf ofMexico-Atlantic Coast region, and extended as far north as the Grand Banks ofNewfoundland (Bryant et al 1969, Emery & Uchupi 1972). Lower Cretaceousbackreef and shelf strata have not yet been sampled, but geophysical evidenceindicates their presence throughout the Blake Plateau trough and SoutheastGeorgia embayment. Just south of the trough (Great Isaac No. 1 well and southFlorida; see Figure 1), more than 2000 m of limestone, dolomite, anhydrite, gypsum,and thin halite beds (upper part of M~rquesas Supergroup of Meyerhoff & Hatten1974) constitute the Lower Cretaceous rocks (Tator & Hatfield 1975, Jacobs 1977).

Upper Cretaceous sediments have been sampled in cores from the Blake


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258 POAG

Escarpment and in AMCOR 6004. The Cretaceous/Tertiary contact in AMCOR6004 is an unconformity with hard, grey, silty clay of Middle Paleocene ageresting on slightly softer, grey, silty clay of Middle Maestrichtian age (lateCretaceous, equivalent to the Peedee Formation of the South Carolina CoastalPlain; see Figure 3). The erosional contact was recovered, and the bathyalmicrofaunas on either side indicate submarine erosion. Upper Cretaceous sedimentfrom the Blake Escarpment is a deep-water calcilutite of Cenomanian Age.

Because AMCOR 6004 was drilled on seismic profile BT4 of Dillon et al (1978), theunconformity can be confidently traced under the shelf and Blake Plateau; thisallows us to infer thick, flat-lying Cretaceous sediments throughout the trough. Infact, erosion on the northern part of the inner Plateau has exposed Cretaceousbeds over wide areas of the sea floor (Uchupi 1970). The lithology of UpperCretaceous rocks in the southern part of the trough may be extrapolated fromthe nearby Great Isaac No. 1 well. Tator & Hatfield (1975) reported approximately1400m of dolomitic carbonates and evaporites of the Pine Key and Card SoundFormations in the Upper Cretaceous interval. Upper Cretaceous rocks withincreased terrigenous components are expected in the northern part of the trough,based on extrapolation of rocks beneath the Georgia Coastal Plain (Herrick Vorhis 1963).

Uppermost Cretaceous sediments have not been firmly documented offshore orfrom the Atlantic Coastal Plain. [Olsson’s 1960 and 1964 reports of this intervalin New Jersey are in dispute (C. C. Smith, personal communication 1977)]. Thislends some support to the concept of a global unconformity reported to haveformed during this time (Vail, Mitchum & Todd 1975).

PALEOCENE Tertiary rocks have been recovered in dredges and short cores fromthe Blake Plateau and Blake Escarpment, but most data come from boreholes:2 U.S. Coast Guard test holes off Savannah, Georgia (McCollum & Herrick 1964),6 core holes drilled by the JOIDES project (Bunce et al 1965), and 3 AMCORcore holes (Hathaway et al 1976). Tertiary rocks are no more than 1.5kin thickin the Southeast Georgia embayment, dip gently seaward from coastal outcrops(Emery & Uchupi 1972), and thin to about 0.5 km under the Blake Plateau. Moststrata under the shelf are coarse grained and were deposited in shelf-likepaleoenvironments. On the Blake Plateau, however, the entire Tertiary sequence isfiner grained, rich in carbonates and contains bathyal microfossils. To the northof Cape Hatteras, it is diluted by terrigenous detritus from a more clastic regime.

Paleocene rocks are known from AMCOR 6004 and 6005, JOIDES 4, ASP 3and 5, and from oceanographic cores on the Blake Plateau and Blake Escarpment(Emery & Uchupi 1972, Saito, Burckle & Hays 1974, Hathaway et al 1976, Schlee1977). Paleocene strata range from shallow water calcareous clay and limestone(AMCOR 6005 ; inner continental shelf) to greenish gray, calcareous clay and shalecontaining abundant planktic and benthic microfossils of bathyal origin (ASP 3;Blake Nose). These strata reach more than 100 m in thickness.

EOCENE Eocene rocks are highly calcareous like the Paleocene rocks, but aremuch thicker and more widely sampled offshore. The principal offshore sample


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ATLANTIC SHELF AND SLOPESTRATIGRAPHY

sE SOUTH | NORTH ~ARYLAN[ NEW LONG SAMPLED

RIEc FLORIDA GEORGIA CAROLINA~CAROLINA/ VIRGINIA JERSEY ISLAND OFFSHORE

MIAMI "PAMLICO" KEMPS GARDINERS~ OOLITE VILLE

;-- FORT I- FLANNER~ THOMPSON -- BEACHUNIT A

~ALOOSA- WACCAMAW- CROATAN NORFOLKHATCHE E

BLUFFBEAR IZ~ PINE CR6S1

-- DUPLIN

YORKTOWN ~OHANSEY

AMCOR~T. MARYS 6002 ,60046007,6010

PUNGO 601t, 6012

~ILVERBALE

COOPERO RIVER

I LowerOCALA~ COOPER

TALLA- TWIGGS SANTEE CASTLE-HAYNE NANJEMOY:HASSEE

LAKE CITYMcBEAN U~er

OLBSMAR BLACKMINGO

SHARK JOIOESR#VER

AMCOR6002

CEDAR BLACK 3EAUFORT AUUIAKEYS MINGO 6004

6005RRIGHT- TOWN

SEAT

PINE KEY PEEDEE~MONMOUTH GROUP~ NANTUCKET

MARTHA’SBLACK CREEK MATAWAN GROUP~ VINEYARD

259

Figure 3 Generalized stratigraphic chart of surface and subsurface formations of the USAtlantic Coastal Plain. For each series of rocks, the most widely used formation names arelisted, but their precise lateral relationships are not accurately depicted. Additional unnamedrock sequences are known, but their presence is not indicated here. Asterisks indicate thoseformations whose lithologic and biostratigraphic equivalents have been sampled in rotarycores or drill cuttings from the continental shelf or slope (does not include dredgings andoceanographic cores).


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260 POAG

points are AMCOR 6002, JOIDES 1-6, ASP 3, 5, and 20, several core holesnear the South Carolina shoreline, and short cores and dredgings from the BlakePlateau. Beneath the continental shelf (JOIDES 1, 2; AMCOR 6002), the Upperand Middle Eocene rocks are shallow water, white-to-buff, massive, bioclasticlimestone and dolomite and clayey sand. The total Eocene section here is as muchas 500m thick (according to seismic data). Larger benthic species dominate nearly all the foraminiferal faunas and indicate deposition on a shallow carbonateshelf.

Gray calcareous clay was cored on the Florida-Hatteras slope (JOIDES 5), andlight gray, silty, sandy calcilutite is prevalent beneath the Blake Plateau and on theBlake Escarpment (JOIDES 3, 4, 6; ASP 3, 5, 20), where the dominantly plankticmicrofossils suggest bathyal deposition. Maximum thickness here is about 70m(in JOIDES 6).

OLIGOCENE Oligocene strata are also highly calcarous shallow-water deposits,but are less extensive and much thinner than the Eocene beds. Principal samplepoints are JOIDES 1-6, AMCOR 6002, 6004, ASP 5, and dredges and short coresfrom the Blake Plateau and Escarpment.

Under the continental shelf and Blake Plateau, Oligocene strata are as much as73 m thick (AMCOR 6002, JOIDES 3) and consist of olive-green to gray calcilutiteand silty clay. Abundant benthic and planktic Foraminifera suggest deposition onthe outer shelf and slope.

MIOCENE Miocene sediments have been sampled in several 5-m vibrocores and4 deeper borings (maximum penetration 38 m) just offshore from northern Florida(Meisburger & Field 1976) in AMCOR 6002 and 6004, JOIDES 1-4, and ASP3, 5, and 20.

Miocene strata beneath the inner shelf (e.g. JOIDES 1) differ markedly from thecarbonate-rich Paleogene sediments. Terrigenous quartzose sand and sandy andclayey silt predominate, with light to blackish-brown sand-sized phosphatic pelletssometimes constituting as much as 95~ of the total sedhnent, especially in LowerMiocene beds. Much of the Miocene bioclastic debris in JOIDES 1 (79 m thick)has also been altered to phosphate.

Lower Miocene microfossils in JOIDES 1 are largely diatoms and radiolariansas compared to mainly Foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton in thePaleogene. This assemblage is partly the result of diagenetic leaching andphosphatization of the calcareous fauna, but also it reflects the drastically differentenvironment of deposition. Beneath the outer shelf (JOIDES 2), Miocene sedimentsare largely quartzose sandy clay about 75 m thick; phosphatic grains are stillcommon in the lower 24 m.

Beneath the Florida-Hatteras slope and Blake Plateau, Miocene sedimentbecomes olive-gray to pale tan clay and foraminiferal calcarenite and calcilutite,reaching a maximum penetrated thickness of 130m (ASP 5). The abundance phosphatic grains is reduced compared to the shelf section, and these sedimentscompose the sea floor over wide stretches of the Slope.


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PLIOCENE Pliocene strata have been identified in nearshore cores off northernFlorida (Meisburger & Field 1976) in AMCOR 6004, in ASP 5, and in shortcores from the Blake Plateau. Pliocene strata thicken from about 6 m just off thenorthern Florida coast to about 15m on the continental slope. The lithologychanges from quartzose sand near shore to light olive-gray calcarenite on the slope.

Beneath the inner Blake Plateau, Pliocene beds are missing in extensive patches,but they have been documented on the outer plateau by piston cores. Kaneps (1970)described Pliocene strata there as unusually homogeneous, tan, foraminiferalcalcilutites about 8 m thick.

PLEIS’rOCENE Pleistocene sediments appear to be present at nearly every samplinglocation, but they have been lumped together with Pliocene and Holocene strata asundifferentiated post-Miocene beds in the JOIDES core holes.

On the inner shelf, Pleistocene strata are missing at several sites but, wheresampled, consist of locally channeled quartzose sand of about 6-m maximumthickness (Meisburger & Field 1976). This sand extends to the shelf edge (JOIDES2), where 49m of post-Miocene quartzose sand and gravel (grains as large 10-40 cm in diameter) were cored.

On the Florida-Hatteras slope, Pleistocene sediments change to yellowish orolive-gray calcarenite made up of foraminiferal and molluscan fragments withlesser amounts of silty clay (maximum thickness 15 m at ASP 5). Seismic profilesindicate that the thickest Pleistocene sediments are on the Florida-Hatteras slope.

Where present on the Blake Plateau and Escarpment, Pleistocene sediments arebathyally derived grayish-yellow or brownish foraminiferal calcarenite andcalcilutite, 18m thick or less where penetrated. Pleistocene beds are missing inextensive patches on the inner plateau and on the escarpment.

HOLOCENE Near the Florida shoreline, fine to coarse-grained, shelly, phosphoritic,Holocene quartz sand is present, apparently derived from reworking of Tertiarystrata. It is generally only a meter or so thick and is locally discontinuous(Meisburger & Field 1976).

With few exceptions, modern deposition does not occur on the middle andouter shelf (Milliman, Pilkey & Ross 1972), but, where present, Holocene surfacesediments of the inner Blake Plateau are sands, similar to those of the slope northof Florida. The most striking sedimentary feature is an area of phosphorite andmanganese (nodules and pavements) covering approximately 5000 2 oftheinnerplateau off South Carolina and Georgia. Elsewhere on the plateau, Holocenesediments are almost entirely calcareous, composed of coral debris in areas ofirregular topography, and of foraminiferal calcarenite in smooth areas.

Baltimore Canyon Trough and Environs

PHYSIOGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE This area, between latitudes 35°N and 40°N,extends eastward to about 72°W longitude, encompassing the continental shelfand slope from North Carolina to New Jersey (Figure 1). Geophysical data showthat the shelf and slope are the physiographic expression of a seaward-thickening


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262 POAG

wedge of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediment overlying crystalline basement. Thebasement is warped and faulted to form a series of basins and arches, the dominantfeature of which is the Baltimore Canyon trough. The trough extends subparallelto the shoreline for more than 600kin between Long Island and Cape Hatteras ; it iswidest (200km) off New Jersey, where its maximum sediment fill also occurs(> 15 km thick).

The seaward border of the Baltimore Canyon trough is a ridge of igneousbasement or Mesozoic sedimentary rocks that underlies the present uppercontinental slope. The trough’s southern margin is the Cape Fear arch, and itsnorthern border is the Long Island platform. Beneath the Coastal Plain of easternVirginia, Maryland, Delaware, and most of New Jersey, a westward extension ofthe trough is known as the Salisbury embayment (Figure 1). Another coastalembayment, the Albemarle embayment, plunges eastward beneath the NorthCarolina Coastal Plain and Cape Hatteras, and joins the southern end of theBaltimore Canyon trough. A third shallow embayment underlies the northern NewJersey Coastal Plain (Raritan embayment).

A diagrammatic cross section from coastal New Jersey through the deep COSTB-2 well illustrates the stratigraphic framework of the Baltimore Canyon trough-Salisbury embayment and environs (Figure 4).

BASEMENT, TRIASSIC, AND JURASSIC By analogy with basement rocks of the CoastalPlain, the basement offshore is inferred to be of Paleozoic and Precambrian (?)metamorphic rocks. Down-faulted basement grabens filled with Triassic arkosicsandstone, shale, basaltic lava flows, and diabase intrusions are recognized fromoffshore geophysical profiles and from outcrops and wells along the Coastal Plain.

The basal part of the sedimentary section may also include Paleozoic andmarine Triassic rocks. Seismic velocities in the strata below about 6km exceed5kmsec-1, which suggests that this is a thick section of carbonate rocks. Byanalogy with well data from the Scotian Shelf, these are interpreted as Jurassiccarbonates and evaporites, overlain by a kilometer of Jurassic sands and shales(Figure 4; Scholle 1977; Schlee et al 1977). More than half a kilometer of Jurassicsandstones and shales was penetrated by the COST B-2 well (E. I. Robbins,personal coininunication 1977).

CRETACEOUS Approximately 2km of largely nonmarine Lower Cretaceous sand-stone and shale with interbedded lignite and coal beds was penetrated by the COSTB-2 well. The sandstones are fine, medium, and coarse grained ; the shales are red,green, and gray.

Seaward, however, 6eneath the shelf edge and upper slope, seismic velocitiesincrease to more than 4kmsec-1 in what appear to be Upper Jurassic andLower Cretaceous beds. The increase of seismic velocity is interpreted to indicatelimestone or dolomite that may be part of the shelf-fringing reef complex (discussedearlier) that rimmed much of the east coast during the late Jurassic and earlyCretaceous.

Upper Cretaceous strata in the COST B-2 well are more marine; nearly 1000m


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+++

0


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264 POAG

of dominantly shallow marine sandstone, limestone, and shale was penetrated.Seaward from COST B-2, there is no major seismic velocity change in the UpperCretaceous beds, which extend with an increased dip under the slope. The slopesequence of Upper Cretaceous mudstone and foraminiferal ooze appears to havebeen deposited in bathyal conditions, as sampled in dredge hauls from the submarinecanyons off New Jersey.

PALEOCENE Paleocene rocks from beneath the shelf have been sampled only inthe COST B-2 well. Approximately 10 m of relatively densebuff limestone containsmicrofossil assemblages deposited on the middle to outer continental shelf.

EOCENE Eocene strata have been sampled in COST B-2, AMCOR 6011, ASP 15,22, and several dredges and cores in Hudson Canyon and on the shelf and slopeoff North Carolina.

Beneath the inner shelf of New Jersey AMCOR 6011 penetrated approximately20 m of blackish to gray-green Silty clay and fine, silty, glauconitic sand of mid toearly (?) Eocene age. The calcareous Foraminifera, which are mainly benthic species,indicate middle-shelf conditions during deposition. Eocene strata also are presentnear the sea floor on the inner North Carolina shelf. The beds there contain abryozoan hash and shallow-water benthic Foraminifera (Meisburger 1977).

Near the axis of the Baltimore Canyon trough (COST B-2 well), Eocene rocksare 270m thick and appear to represent the entire Eocene. They are composed ofimpermeable, buff, calcareous shale in the upper third, white chalky limestone in themiddle third, and buff shale with interbedded cream limestone in t~he lower third.These rocks are rich in planktic micro- and nannofossils that accumulated inbathyal conditions, and they represent the maximum marine transgression known inthe Baltimore Canyon trough area.

On the continental slope ASP 15, 22, DSDP 108, and Hudson Canyon dredgingshave encountered middle Eocene, pale yellow-gray, siliceous calcilutite, whichcontains rich radiolarian assemblages in addition to abundant planktic Foraminiferaand calcareous nannoplankton (bathyal deposition).

OLIGOCENE Oligocene rocks are best known from the COST B-2 well, whichpenetrated approximately 150m of Upper and Lower Oligocene strata, composedlargely of buff to light gray calcareous shale and claystone, with impermeablelimestone near the top of the section.

Between Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, North Carolina, shallow cores andseismic reflection profiles reveal a homogeneous fine sand, up to 80m thick,which contains shallow-water benthic Foraminifera of Oligocene age (Meisburger1977). The deepest-water Oligocene locality is on the Hatteras Slope, wherecalcareous glauconitic siltstone, sandstone, and tan chalk have been dredged.

MIOCENE Miocene strata are known in this area in considerably more detail thanthe older rocks. They were penetrated by AMCOR 6007, 6009, 6010, 6011, 6012,and 6016 ; ASP 10, 14, 15, and 22 ; and COST B-2.

Near the New Jersey shore AMCOR 6011 drilled approximately 172 m of largely


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shelly, gray to grayish-brown, fine, medium, and coarse sand, with interspersedbeds of gray clay and grayish-brown silty clay. Microfossils in this section arelargely diatoms; radiolarians are also common, but calcareous nannoplanktonand Foraminifera are few. These strata accumulated in shallow marginal marineconditions.

In the Baltimore Canyon trough (COST B-2), Miocene rocks thicken dramatic-ally. More than 800m of unconsolidated to semi-consolidated gray sand, gravel,and clay were penetrated. Diatoms are again prominent, and Foraminifera arelargely benthic species indicative of deltaic or near-deltaic conditions. Thicksequences of foreset bedding seen on geophysical profiles support the interpretationthat the biota are deltaic. Along the outer shelf from Virginia to MassachusettsAMCOR 6007, 6009, 6010, and 6012 encountered Upper (?) Miocene sedimentsof similar lithology, microfossils, and derivation (maximum thickness about 130 in 6009).

On the New Jersey slope (ASP 14, 15), diatomaceous sediments probably Miocene age are composed of dark olive-gray to yellowish brown glauconiticsand and silty clay (possibly as thick as 83 m in ASP 14). Outer shelf conditions deposition are inferred for these strata.

In the Norfolk Canyon area off Virginia (ASP 10, 22), Middle Miocenediatomaceous beds were cored. The thickest section (110m at ASP 22) is composedof olive-gray to yellowish brown clay, sandy clay, and clayey sand, withoutconspicuous glauconite, except in the lower few meters. The diatoms are benthicand planktic marine species and suggest inner-shelf deposition. Slightly upslope,at ASP 10, the sediments and fossils are similar, but the recovered section is slightlythinner; it also contains more abundant freshwater diatoms, a factor suggestingthat fluvial-marine deposition occurred nearby.

PLIOCEYE Pliocene sediments,in this region are known in AMCOR 6007, 6009,and 6010; in ASP 7, 10, and 22, and in scattered piston cores. Beneath theinner New Jersey shelf, about 65 m of gray-to-white sand and silty clay is barrenof fossils ; some of it may be Pliocene. Beneath the middle and outer New Jerseyshelf (AMCOR 6010 and COST B-2), a 66-m interval of similar strata containssparse inner-shelf benthic Foraminifera that suggest Pliocene age.

To the south, AMCOR 6007 and 6009 and ASP 22 encountered gray clay andsilty clay containing marine and freshwater diatoms and shallow shelf assemblagesof Pliocene Foraminifera.

On the Hatteras Slope (ASP 7) and in Hudson Canyon, olive-gray, highlycalcareous, clayey sand and sandy clay contains abundant Upper Pliocene plankticForaminifera, and calcareous nannoplankton.

PLEISTOCENE Pleistocene sediments have been recovered in almost every core thathas been taken in this area. Beneath the inner shelf (AMCOR 6008 and 6011),up to 120m of unconsolidated gravel and gray, shelly-to-barren sand and siltyclay have been penetrated. These strata constitute marginal marine, lagoonal, andprobably fluvial channel-fill deposits. Beneath the outer shelf, Pleistocene sediments


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266 POAG

thicken and change facies. At AMCOR 6007, 6009, and 6010, Pleistocene bedsare dark gray to olive=gray clayey and silty sand (often shelly) and silty clay.The maximum thickness is around 170m at AMCOR 6010. Complex verticalfacies are formed of alternating lagoonal, inner-shelf, and middle-to-outer shelfstrata; glacial/interglacial cycles have not yet been clearly defined.

The COST B-2 well penetrated nearly 250 m of white-to-gray, unconsolidated,shelly-to-barren gravel, sand, and clay of Pleistocene age. The vertical facies changeswere somewhat masked by the drilling methods, but shallow marine to nonmarinestrata appear to dominate.

On the continental slope, surprisingly thick Pleistocene sequences of gray to darkgray, gassy, silty, and sandy clays were found in AMCOR 6012 and 6021 and inASP 7 and 23. Thicknesses range from around 285m in AMCOR 6012 andASP 7 to more than 300m in AMCOR 6021 and ASP 23, where pre-Pleistocenestrata were not reached. Planktic Foraminifera of temperate water origin arescattered throughout the strata, and some intervals are rich in diatoms, middle-to-outer-shelf benthic Foraminifera, and dark organic particles. This associationsuggests deposition in anoxic depressions on the shelf. With the exception of a thininterval of slope deposits in the bottom of AMCOR 6021, all Pleistocene stratasampled in AMCOR and ASP cores were derived from the shelf.

More than 30 piston cores from the Hudson Canyon area (slope and rise) werestudied by Ericson et al (1961), who recognized among them an abundance Pleistocene turbidites. High-resolution seismic profiles indicate that Pleistoceneturbidites and submarine slumps are con-u-non all along the incised continentalslope of this region.

HOLOCENE Emery & Uchupi (1972) have concluded that about 73~ of the surfacesediment on the middle and outer Atlantic Shelf is relict (early Holocene). Thestrata arc largely coarse yellow-brown sand (iron-stained quartz and feldspargrains), often containing peat, remains of land vertebrates, and oyster shells. Theonly area on the shelf that seems to be accumulating modern sediments is a narrowstrip (a few kilometers wide) next to the shoreline, where gray-to-white sandappears to be prograding over the relict iron-stained beds.

Modern sediments on the continental slope are mainly green silty clay andclayey silts, whose carbonate content (mainly planktic Foraminifera) increases withdepth, and which are subject to frequent mass movement downslope.

Georyes Bank Basin and Environs

PHYSIOGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE This area, bounded by latitudes 74° W and 66° Wand longitudes 40° to 43° N, encompasses the continental shelf and slope off LongIsland and New England (including Georges Bank; see Figure 1). The majorphysiographic feature here is Gcorges Bank, a broad, shallow, topographic high,150 km wide, extending about 350 km east-southeast from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Multichannel seismic profiles across Georges Bank reveal a thick sedimentarywedge (more than 8 km) occupying a broad northeast-southwest trending depressionover irregularly flexed and faulted basement rocks. The southern edge of the basin


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ATLANTIC SHELF AND SLOPE STRATIGRAPHY

+ + +~=+ + +..

+++÷ + o ~

+ -,-

/~:’ /...-.

267

.~,

~.i~


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268 ~’OAG

is underlain by a faint irregular ridge that is double-humped (about 20km wide)along some seismic reflection profiles (Figure 5). Under the shelf, the ridge is about3km below the sea surface, but it rises to within lkm under the continentalslope. The northeastern end of the basin is bounded by a block-faulted structuralhigh known as the LaHave platform (Figure 1; some authors have called thesouthern tip of the LaHave platform the "Yarmouth arch"). A part of this platformappears to extend into Georges Bank basin, dividing the northeastern end into twosub-basins. The southwestern boundary of Georges Bank basin is another block-faulted high--the Long Island platform. Figure 5 shows a diagrammatic crosssection of the Georges Bank basin.

BASEMENT Basement rocks have not been penetrated in Georges Bank basin.Schultz & Grover (1974) assumed, however, that the rocks would be similar basement beneath the Scotian basin where Cambro-Ordovican slate, quartzite,argillite, schist, and gneiss and Devonian granite have been encountered.

xRIaSSIC (?) The nature of pre-Tertiary rocks filling the Georges Bank basin inferred almost entirely from geophysical data and by extrapolation of rock unitsdrilled on the Scotian Shelf, for as yet, no data have been released from two deepstratigraphic tests drilled in 1976-1977 on Georges Bank (COST G-1 and G-2).Schlee et al (1976) interpreted a gently undulating major seismic reflector around8 km below sea level to be the top of Triassic or pre-Triassic rocks. More recentinterpretations of additional seismic profiles place the Triassic (?) top near 10km(J. Schlee, personal communication 1977). The presumed Triassic/pre-Triassic rocksare thought to be basaltic volcanics, evaporites, and continental sandstones andshales similar to those filling the Triassic grabens of the northeastern UnitedStates and the Bay of Fundy (Klein 1962, Sanders 1963).

JURASSIC Presumed Jurassic rocks thicken from less than 1 km on the northernedge of the basin to more than 8kin on the southern margin. High acousticvelocities within these rocks are probably produced by dense carbonates andshales. ~

CRETACEOUS Inferred Cretaceous rocks also thicken southward across the basinfrom less than 1 km to nearly 2km. Acoustic reflectors are anastomosing anddiscontinuous to the north but become continuous and regular southward. Thisprobably is associated with facies change from shallow-water marine shale andterrestrial sandstone in the north to more evenly bedded marine shale in the south(Schlee et al 1976). The lower rocks of this unit appear to intersect the ridgethat forms the southern edge of the basin. Schlee et al (1976) tentatively suggestedthat this ridge is a reef or structureless carbonate mass that could be part of thesame system of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous reefs bordering the Blake Plateauand Baltimore Canyon trough.

Rocks of late Cretaceous age have been recovered in dredges and cores fromAlvin, Block, Oceanographer, Lydonia, and Veatch Canyons. In addition, ASPcore holes 17 and 18 penetrated around 400m of late Cretaceous sediments inVeatch Canyon (Coniacian? through Maestrichtian). The Coniacian-Santonian


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section is around 300m thick, consisting largely of dark to light olive-gray,calcareous to noncalcareous clay and claystone with occasional silty and sandylayers. The remaining 100 m of Campanian and Maestrichtian strata is principallydark olive-gray to brownish gray, laminated and massive silt, with minor amountsor dark olive-gray sand and medium-gray clay. Microfossils and nannofossilsindicate bathyal deposition.

Two U.S. Geological Survey core holes on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucketencountered Upper and Lower (?) Cretaceous sediments (maximum thickness 350m beneath Nantucket). These beds are principally unconsolidated, light gray,fine-to-coarse clayey sand with interbedded light gray, red, and yellow, micaceous,silty, and sandy clay of terrestrial origin.

PALEOCENE Seismic profiles show presumed Tertiary strata containing flat-lying,weak, discontinuous reflectors; the beds thicken southward across the basin fromless than 0.5 km to about 1 km.

Paleocene rocks are known from Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard,and are composed of clayey silt containing a few planktic and benthic Foraminiferaof outer shelf origin. A dredge sample from Oceanographer Canyon containsbathyal brown silty clay, with abundant planktic Foraminifera.

EOCENE Eocene strata have been sampled in or near Block Canyon, AlvinCanyon, and Veatch Canyon, from Fippennies Ledge in the Gulf of Maine, inAMCOR 6019 on northern Georges Bank, and from the core holes beneathNantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Beneath Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, Eocene rocks are sparsely fossiliferousclayey silt and greensand, no more than 20m thick. However, only a part of theEocene is present here (Lower Eocene ?). A shallow mid-shelf environment postulated.

On the northern edge of Georges Bank, AMCOR 6019 bottomed in about 15 mof light to dark green, glauconitic clay, and hard gray limestone of Middle Eoceneage. The rich foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil assemblages indicatedeposition on the outer shelf and upper slope.

Lowei-, Middle, and Upper Eocene strata have been sampled in the canyonsof the continental slope. The sediments include greenish gray silty clay, yellow clayand chalk, and white chalk with rich radiolarian and diatom assemblages alongwith bathyal Foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils.

At the northernmost locality, Fippennies Ledge, pebbles and cobbles of hard,light gray, fossiliferous, calcareous, opaline porcellanite of mid to late Eocene agehave been dredged (Schlee & Cheetham 1967).

OLIGOCENE The only Oligocene rocks sampled to date come from OceanographerCanyon. Two samples--one a buff calcareous clay, the other a brown glauconiticsandy clay--contain planktic Foraminifera.

MtOCENE Miocene r0cks have been recovered from a well on Nantucket Island,AMCOR 6016, Lydonia, Double, and Hydrographer Canyons, and four dredgestations on the northern edge of Georges Bank.


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270 POAG

At least 9m of clayey silt in a core hole on Nantucket (USGS 6001) containbenthic Foraminifera of Miocene-Pliocene age deposited in a middle-shelfenvironment. The basal section of AMCOR 6016 contains about 10 m of stiff, darkgray, micaceous, clayey silt with mid-shelf benthic Foraminifera and a few plankticForaminifera. On the northern edge of Georges Bauk, dredged blocks of induratedpebble sandstone yielded mainly Miocene molluscan remains, but a few inner-shelfbenthic Foraminifera also were recovered.

The submarine canyon samples are brown silty clay, green clayey silt, and greensandstone containing sparse benthic and planktic Foraminifera probably of shelforigin (Gibson, Hazel & Mello 1968).

eLIOCENE Definite Pliocene sediments are unknown in this region, and althougha quartzose greensand recovered from Lydonia Canyon has been reported to be ofPliocene age (Stetson 1949), confirmation is needed.

PLEISTOCENE Detailed high-resolution seismic profiles across Georges Bank (Lewis& Sylwester 1977) reveal an eastern and a western wedge of inferred Pleistocenestrata lying on either side of a Tertiary "mid-bank divide." The western wedgethickens westward to at least 175 m. Seismic reflectors within it appear to representthree sets of truncated foreset beds. The eastern wedge resembles a massive deltaicsequence that progrades eastward and thickens to at least 200m. The youngestsedimentary unit is generally 20-50m thick and is devoid of internal reflectors. Itoverlies a nearly horizontal unconformity that truncates all pre-existing bankstructures and is thought to be of late Pleistocene age.

The most important Pleistocene sample locations are AMCOR 6012-6019 andASP 18. AMCOR 6014, 6016, and 6018, drilled on top of Georges Bank, penetratedthe western wedge of Pleistocene sediments. To the north, 6016 encountered 60mof gray sand and gravel, and in the south, 6014 drilled 102 m of shelly, glauconitic,olive or gray, silty sand and clay. In between 6018 sampled 40m of coarse shellysand containing a few richly organic layers. These strata were deposited in innershelf, lagoonal, near-delta, and possibly fluvial environments.

On the northern flank of the Bank (6019), sediments are finer grained. Fifty-five were cored, which consisted of dark, olive-gray, sandy or silty clay with a fewgravel layers. The upper 18 m is rich in organic detritus and diatoms. Lithoclastsderived from underlying Eocene rocks are common in the lower beds, which weredeposited on the inner and middle shelf.

At AMCOR 6017, in the Franklin Basin just north of Georges Bank (Figure 1),90m of soft, dark olive-gray, sandy, and silty clay with scattered large pebbles(5 cm in diameter) compose the Pleistocene section. Miocene and, especially, Eocenelithoclasts and microfossils are abundantly reworked into the inner and middleshelf Pleistocene at this locality.

On the continental slope south of the Bank (AMCOR 6013 and 6015), thePleistocene section contains at least 305 m of dark gray or olive, glauconitic, siltysand and silty clay with diatom-rich intervals. Most of these beds also originated onthe inner and middle shelf.


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ATLANTIC SHELF AND SLOPE STRATIGRAPHY271

HOLOCENE Little modern sediment is accumulating except along the shoreline,especially in estuaries and near river mouths and stream channels. Surficial sedimentsof this region are largely sand, gravel, and boulders of glacial origin, winnowedduring the last post-glacial rise in sea level.

RELATIONSHIPS TO SCOTIAN SHELF AND GRAND BANKS

Several investigators (McIver 1972, King 1975, Jansa & Wade 1975, Gradstein etal 1975, King & MacLean 1976, Given 1977) have shown that the sedimentaryrocks offshore from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are largely a continuation ofthe Mesozoic and Cenozoic succession underlying the Atlantic Margin of theUnited States. Jansa & Wade (1975) have shown that the Scotian basin is a basementdepression beneath the eastern Scotian Shelf, the Laurentian Channel, the westernGrand Banks, and the adjacent continental slope and rise (Figure 1). This shift locus of deposition to the rise is a major difference from the U. S. basins, whichare largely confined to the shelf and slope

Geological data from more than 100 deep exploratory wells, coupled withextensive seismic reflection profiling, have revealed a sequence of mappable sub-surface formations (Figure 6), whose stratigraphic framework and terminology wereoriginally set up by McIver (1972) and Amoco Canada Petroleum Co., Ltd. andImperial Oil Ltd. (1974), and were modified by Jansa & Wade (1975), Williams(1975), Parsons (1975), and Given (1977). Figure 7 shows a diagrammatic section of the Scotian basin, and Figure 8 shows the relationships between theU.S. and Canadian margins.

In general, Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks of the Scotian basin have thicknesses,lithologies, and depositional environments similar to their presumed equivalentsfarther south, but more details and older strata are known as a result of thenumerous wells.

Some investigators have concluded that the Triassic through Pleistocene sectionsof the Scotian basin are free of regional unconformities (Jansa & Wade 1975),although numerous local diastems have been recognized (King, MacLean & Fader1973). In contrast, several regional unconformities have been detected off the U.S.Margin, although much more drilling is needed to determine their precise nature.Perhaps the most significant difference in the known stratigraphic sequences ofthe two areas is the proven presence of thick Jurassic salt that forms numerousdiapirs in the Scotian basin. Some authors expect deep drilling in Georges Bankbasin to reveal a southward extension of the salt (Schultz & Grover 1974), andrecently obtained multichannel seismic reflection profiles (Schlee et al 1977) haverevealed a few diapirs of possible salt composition in the eastern part of the basin.Also, Grow & Markl (1977) and Grow, Dillon & Sheridan (1977) have observed diapirs (salt ?) in the Baltimore Canyon trough off New Jersey and under thecontinental slope off North Carolina.

More direct evidence of deep-seated salt beds in the Baltimore Canyon troughand Georges Bank basin comes from measurements of interstitial salinity in ASP 15


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272 POAG

AGE FORMATION GROUP"~ PLEISTOCENE LAURENTIANo

PLIOCENE

MIOCENE

OLIGOCENE

EOCENE

PALEOCENE

N

LATE

EARLY

LATE

MIDDLE

EARLY

~ LATE

MIDDLE |?)p.

BANQUEREAU

W YA N DOT

DAWSON CANYON/

,~SABLE zMbrLOGAN CAN,_.~_~~,,. ~

) NASKAPI 0~’ Mbr

MISSISAUGA ~ .J z_~o

MIC MAC’> ,-,. z

ENAKI~

MOHAWK

IROQUOIS

ARGO

EURYDICE

UNNAMED

UNDIVIDED

BASEMENT

COMPLEX

GULLY

N OVA

_ SCOTIA

WESTERNBANK

MEGUMA

Figure 6 Stratigraphic chart of formations recognized in the Scotian basin. (After McIver

1972, Jansa & Wade 1975, Given 1977.)


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and 17 (Figure 1). Manheim & Hall (1976) concluded that the increase in salinitytoward the bottom of these core holes (as high as 53 gkg-1) represents diffusionfrom buried Jurassic evaporites.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Atlantic Margin of the United States is underlain by a series of elongatesedimentary basins and coastward embayments that are filled with as much as15km of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. The older rocks (Triassic and Jurassic)are almost completely unsampled, their characteristics having been interpretedfrom seismic reflection and refraction profiles and extrapolation from deep wellsnearby. The oldest strata are believed to be Triassic continental redbeds thatoverlie downfaulted crustal blocks formed during the initial separation of NorthAmerica and Africa. Salt and evaporites may have accumulated in all the U.S.Atlantic Margin basins during the early Jurassic (e.g. diapirs on seismic profilesin George~ l~ank basin, Baltimore Canyon trough, and beneath North Carolinaslope), but the only firm geologic evidence of this comes from wells on the adjacentBahamas uplift (southern edge of Blake Plateau trough) and Scotian basin andfrom high interstitial salinities in two offshore core holes. Upper Jurassic andLower Cretaceous rocks are largely thick, nonmarine sands and silty shales underthe inner parts of the present shelves, but there are probably thick marine carbonatesin the seaward parts of the basins. At the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceousshelf edge, dense limestones formed a discontinuous series of sediment dams (reefsand carbonate platforms) that spanned much of the coastline. During the Middleand Upper Cretaceous, increasingly marine calcareous sands and shales filledthe backreef basins, eventually burying the reefs and spilling across them into theoceanic basin. Faunal evidence points to a wide latitudinal distribution of nearlyhomogeneous microfaunas during this time.

Marine conditions continued during the early Tertiary. Highly calcareoussediments of Paleocene and Eocene age are known the length of the margin,but latitudinally distinctive lithofacies and biofacies began to develop. Thickdolomitic limestone characterized by abundant larger benthic Foraminifera occupythe Southeast Georgia embayment, but give way to smaller types in the moreclastic environments of the northerly basins. The thick limestones of the southernshelf change seaward to thin calcilutites of bathyal origin beneath the continentalslope and Blake Plateau. Rich radiolarian faunas dilute the biogenic carbonate inEocene rocks all along the lower Continental Slope.

Oligocene beds are also widespread and rich in carbonate and larger Foraminiferaunder the southern shelf, but their northern extent is restricted. Oligocene rocksare currently not known on the U.S. Atlantic Margin north of the COST B-2well. Their absence on much of the northern Coastal Plain and from the shallowwater facies southward suggest a major regressive cycle of deposition.

Clastic deposition increased dramatically during the Miocene all along theMargin, and it continued, although at a diminished rate, through the Pleistocene.Calcareous, often phosphatic, open-shelf facies predominate south of Cape Hatteras,


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but are replaced by diatomaceous deltaic facies off Maryland and New Jersey.Southern facies are also characterized by warmer water planktic organisms thanthose north of Cape Hatteras.

Plioecne depositional regimes were similar; mixed carbonate-elastic shelf faciessouth of Cape Hatteras become dominantly clastic to the north. A major deltacomplex, characterized by freshwater diatom assemblages, developed off Virginiaand Maryland.

Pleistocene sands and silts are widespread and they also become increasinglyclastic to the north, culminating in abundant glacial sediments on Georges Bank.Pleistocene strata are especially thick on the northern continental slope; densityand turbidity flows have transported large volumes of shelf sediments onto the slopeand rise through shelf-edge canyons.

Holocene sediments are virtually absent from the middle and outer continentalshelf. The only significant modern accumulations are gray and ’white sands andsilts along the coastline and green silty clays on the continental slope.

Similar sequences of Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata occupy the adjacent Scotianbasin under the eastern Scotian shelf, slope, and rise, the Laurentian Channel,and the western Grand Banks.

The stratigraphic record as summarized above is based mainly on indirectgeophysical methods (i.e. seismic reflection and refraction studies that have beenconcentrated on the continental shell), and on geological extrapolations from theBahama uplift, the Canadian Margin, and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Newtechnology (multichannel recording) and new methods of interpretation (seismicstratigraphy) have greatly improved the reliability of geophysical techniques, butwith respect to direct analysis of actual rock samples, the U.S. Atlantic Marginhas hardly been scratched. However, during the next few years, many new rocksamples should become available when data from the three additional COST wellsare released, and numerous exploratory wells are drilled on the shelf, slope andBlake Plateau. Geologic data from each new exploratory well are to becomepublic two years after each well is drilled, according to new Federal regulations.Continuing programs of seismic, gravitational, and magnetic profiling will allowextrapolation into undrilled areas, especially on the continental slope and rise, thatwill eventually fill many of the gaps in the present stratigraphic framework.

Nevertheless, in spite of this expected abundance of wells, much critical geologicalevidence will be left in the ground because the strata will not be continuouslysampled (i.e. the upper 300m are generally not sampled and, below that, rotarycuttings are recovered only about every 3 to lOm). We desperately needstrategically located deep boreholes that are cored continuosuly, if we expectever to completely understand the geology of this vast region. Stratigraphcrs mustimmediately devote their best efforts to achieving this goal.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I should like to thank John Schlee, William P. Dillon, John A. Grow, andThomas G. Gibson for their editorial and technical advice in preparing this summary.


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Page C. Valentine, Raymond E. Hall, Charles C. Smith, William H. Abbott, Paul F.l-Iuddlestun, Norman Frederiksen, Raymond A. Christopher, and Richard N.Benson contributed biostratigraphic and paleoecologic interpretations. PeggyHempenius, David Towner, and Diane Johnson prepared the typescript andillustrations.

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stratigraphy of the atlantic continental shelf and...

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