Seismic stratigraphy of Baltimore Canyon Trough

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6441320

Schlee, J S

Examination of approximately 3000 km of multichannel seismic-reflection profiles collected over the US Middle Atlantic Shelf (Cape Hatteras to Long Island) shows that the margin was rifted prior to the separation of Africa and North America and that it broadly subsided after the separation. Major accumulation of sediment is centered in the Baltimore Canyon Trough, where more than 15 km of Triassic and younger sedimentary rocks has been deposited. The trough is asymmetric in that the thickest sedimentary section is beneath the outer part of the shelf seaward of a hinge zone; further, the trough is wider on the north off New Jersey than it is seaward of Virginia. Flanking the trough are two block-fault platforms (Long Island and Carolina) where thickness of the sedimentary cover is 1 to 4 km. Eight depositional sequences have been delineated in analysis of the profiles by use of the techniques Vail and others have presented in AAPG Memoir 26. Marked changes in reflection characteristics and unconformities are used to bound the sequences. The records confirm the presence of a carbonate platform along the seaward edge of the trough during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The stages of formation of the continental margin here are similar to those of the margin off the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA
• OSTI ID: 6441320
• Journal Information: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull.; (United States) Vol. 65:1; ISSN AAPGB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580100* -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BALTIMORE CANYON
CENOZOIC ERA
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
JURASSIC PERIOD
MESOZOIC ERA
RIFT ZONES
ROCKS
SEAS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEISMOLOGY
STRATIGRAPHY
SURFACE WATERS
TERTIARY PERIOD
TRIASSIC PERIOD