Stratigraphy and depositional sequences of the US Atlantic shelf and slope
Litho-, bio-, and seismostratigraphic analyses of Georges Bank basin, Baltimore Canyon trough, and Blake Plateau basin reveal common aspects of stratigraphic framework and depositional history. Synrift graben-fill is inferred to be chiefly coarse terrigenous siliciclastics of Triassic-Early Jurassic age, as thick as 5 km. Following widespread erosion, restricted marine carbonates and evaporites formed initial post-rift deposits during an Early-Middle Jurassic transition to sea floor spreading. As sea floor spreading proceeded, shallow-water limestones and shelf-edge reefs built up, culminating in a discontinuous, margin-rimming reefal bank during the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. During the Early Cretaceous, thick siliciclastics buried the shelf-edge barrier north of Cape Hatteras, whereas shallow-water carbonates persisted in the Blake Plateau basin. Late Cretaceous deposits became increasingly finer-grained as they accumulated beneath a deepening shelf-sea; maximum thickness is more than 2 km. Cretaceous deposition was terminated by marginwide erosion and followed by widespread carbonate deposition in the Paleogene. Neogene and Quaternary deposition was chiefly siliciclastic, characterized by deltaic progradation. Cenozoic sediment thickness reaches 2 km in the Baltimore Canyon trough.
- Research Organization:
- Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6460841
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8510489-
- Journal Information:
- Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CONTINENTAL SHELF
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
STRATIGRAPHY
USA
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BALTIMORE CANYON
CONTINENTAL SLOPE
DEPOSITION
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEORGES BANK
JURASSIC PERIOD
LITHOLOGY
PLATE TECTONICS
SEA-FLOOR SPREADING
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTS
TRIASSIC PERIOD
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGY
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
ROCKS
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
TECTONICS
580300* - Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics- (-1989)
580201 - Geophysics- Seismology & Tectonics- (1980-1989)