EASTERN REGIONAL ROOTS, GLOBAL REACH: DEVELOPING GLOBAL SEA–LEVEL HISTORY AND A RECORD OF MAJOR EVENT BY DRILLING THE MID-ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN

ABSTRACT: A new sequence stratigraphic framework for Turonian to Santonian (94-84 Ma) sediments is established using data from the USGS Kure Beach and Elizabethtown cores collected from the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North Carolina (NC). These sediments represent some of the oldest marine units deposited on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain and record the early development of a clastic wedge atop crystalline basement. Sediments were deposited as transitional marginal-marine to marine units in a complex interplay of fluvial, estuarine, and shelf environments. Repetitive lithologies and minimal biostratigraphic control requires an integrated analysis of grain-size data, geophysical logs, biostratigraphy, and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic data to identify systems tracts and establish a sequence stratigraphic framework. From this integrated approach, three Turonian to Santonian sequences in the Elizabethtown core and six in the Kure Beach core are identified. The new sequences from oldest to youngest are Clubhouse II, Fort Fisher I, Fort Fisher II, Collins Creek I, Collins Creek II, Pleasant Creek I, and Pleasant Creek II. Sequences from North Carolina document significant shifts of global and regional sea-level during greenhouse conditions in the early Late Cretaceous. Maximum sea-level rise occurred globally during the early Turonian and is documented from the marine sediments of the Clubhouse II sequence. This sequence is unconformably overlain by terrestrial sediments deposited during a major fall in sea level and maximum progradation of the shoreline, as evidenced by the Fort Fisher I sequence. Global sea-level rise in the Coniacian resulted in the deposition of the Fort Fisher II sequence, which is present only in the Kure Beach core. Local marine circulation and erosion on the shelf is suggested by the absence of the Collins Creek I sequence at Kure Beach; this sequence is present only in the up-dip Elizabethtown core. Activation of a possible buried fault structure along the Cape Fear arch resulted in the formation of a regional depocenter during the late Coniacian to early Santonian and is reflected in the unusual thickness of the Collins Creek II and Pleasant Creek I sequences. The return to a more global sea-level influence occurred in the late Santonian with the deposition of the Pleasant Creek II sequence. A comparison of temporal distribution of sequences in the Elizabethtown and Kure Beach cores to corresponding sequences in New Jersey indicates significant differences in erosional and tectonic processes in the Cape Fear region during the Turonian and Santonian.

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Biostratigraphic Correlation of Pleistocene Marine Deposits and Sea Levels, Atlantic Coastal Plain of the Southeastern United States

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(80)90030-7 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 213-229 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Thomas M. Cronin

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

South Carolina ◽

Sea Level ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Coastal Plain ◽

Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽

Early Pleistocene ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Sea Levels ◽

Atlantic Coastal

AbstractMarine ostracodes from 50 localities were studied to determine the age and elevation of Pleistocene sea levels in the Atlantic coastal plain from Maryland to northern Florida. Using ostracode taxon and concurrent ranges, published planktic biostratigraphic, paleomagnetic, and radiometric data, ostracode assemblage zones representing early (1.8-1.0 my), middle (0.7-0.4 my), and late (0.3-0.01 my) Pleistocene deposition were recognized and used as a basis for correlation. Ostracode biofacies signifying lagoonal, oyster bank, estuarine, open sound, and inner sublittoral environments provided estimated ranges of paleodepths for each locality. From these data the following minimum and maximum Pleistocene sea-level estimates were determined for the southeastern coastal plain: late Pleistocene, 2–10 m from Maryland to northern Florida; middle Pleistocene, 6–15 m in northern South Carolina; early Pleistocene, 4–22 m in central North Carolina, 13–35 m in southern North Carolina, and 6–27 m in South Carolina. Climatically induced glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations adequately account for the late Pleistocene sea-level data, but other factors, possibly differential crustal uplift, may have complicated the early Pleistocene record.

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High eustatic sea level during the middle Pliocene:Evidence from the southeastern U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain

Geology ◽

10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<0435:hesldt>2.3.co;2 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 435 ◽

Cited By ~ 156

Author(s):

Harry J. Dowsett ◽

Thomas M. Cronin

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Coastal Plain ◽

Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽

Atlantic Coastal

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Theoretical Correlations and Lateral Discontinuities in the Quaternary Aminostratigraphic Record of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(92)90038-k ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 275-291 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

J. F. Wehmiller ◽

L. L. York ◽

D. F. Belknap ◽

S. W. Snyder

Keyword(s):

South Carolina ◽

Sea Level ◽

Coastal Plain ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽

Passive Margin ◽

Temperature History ◽

Cape Fear ◽

Atlantic Coastal ◽

The U.S

AbstractAminostratigraphic correlations of emergent Quaternary deposits along the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain have employed independent radiometric data, regional temperature history models, and assumptions regarding the nature of the preserved late Quaternary sea-level record on this passive margin. A substantial “aminostratigraphic offset” is required if regional aminozones are rigorously constrained by all available Th/U data. New insights regarding the relation of this offset to subsurface stratigraphy in the Cape Fear region of southeastern North Carolina can explain these conflicts as consequences of the highly incomplete post-Cretaceous depositional record of the region. Southward projection of theoretical aminostratigraphic correlation trends suggests that stage 5 correlative marine units are rarely preserved on the emergent portion of the Coastal Plain between Cape Lookout and central South Carolina and that samples of this age would be most frequently found in this region only as fragmentary (and/or reworked) deposits on the inner shelf or in the subsurface of modern barrier islands. If this hypothesis is correct, then the accuracy of several Th/U coral dates from the South Carolina Coastal Plain must be questioned, along with sea-level, tectonic, and paleoclimatic conclusions derived from these dates.

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A chronology of Pliocene sea-level fluctuations: The U.S. Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain record

Quaternary Science Reviews ◽

10.1016/0277-3791(91)90016-n ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 10 (2-3) ◽

pp. 163-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 81

Author(s):

David E. Krantz

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Coastal Plain ◽

Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽

Sea Level Fluctuations ◽

Middle Atlantic ◽

Atlantic Coastal ◽

The U.S

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Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Coniacian) sequence stratigraphy, sea level, and deltaic facies, Magothy Formation, U. S. Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain

Stratigraphy ◽

10.29041/strat.18.1.01 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-27

Author(s):

Peter J. Sugarman ◽

Kenneth G. Miller ◽

James V. Browning ◽

Peter P. McLaughlin, Jr. ◽

Denise K. Kulhanek

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Sea Level ◽

Sequence Stratigraphy ◽

Coastal Plain ◽

Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽

Dynamic Topography ◽

Middle Atlantic ◽

Sequence Boundaries ◽

Low Amplitude ◽

Atlantic Coastal

ABSTRACT: The peak "hothouse" interval of the Turonian-Coniacian (93-87 Ma) is represented on the U.S. middle Atlantic Coastal Plain by sequences of the Raritan/Bass River, Magothy, and Cheesequake Formations deposited on a passive continental margin as mixed wave-, tide-, and river dominated deltas. We apply sequence stratigraphy integrated with biostratigraphy to identify and map two major sequence boundaries separating the Raritan/Bass River, Magothy, and Cheesequake Formations and four to five (Mg1, Mg2, Mg3, ?Mg4, Mg5) Magothy sequences using continuous cores, outcrops, and geophysical logs in New Jersey. We extend correlations into New York and Delaware using well logs. The Magothy sequences disconformably overlie the well-dated (>93 Ma) lower Turonian to Cenomanian marine Raritan/Bass River sequences and are disconformably overlain by the marine Cheesequake Formation, which straddles the Coniacian/Santonian boundary. A "mid-Turonian" hiatus (ca. 93-90 Ma) associated with this major disconformity is a global sequence boundary (K-Tu4) reflecting a ~ 25 m sea-level lowering based on published NJ and Russian Platform backstripping records that indicate this was a major lowering of Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL).Higher-order (~1 Myr scale) sequence boundaries bracketing Mg1-Mg5 apparently correlate with global sequences but are only associated with low-amplitude (<25 m) sea-level falls.Mapping of sequences within the Magothy Formation shows the influence of 2 to 3 moderate-sized river sources, with thickening northeastward toward Long Island, New York, and thinning southwestward toward Delaware. Thick northern depocenters contrast with the preceding Potomac Formation (Barremian-early Cenomanian) with thick southern depocenters. This seesawing of basins on the 100-300 km and 2-10+ Myr scales is due to tectonism likely from changes inmantle dynamic topography. The remarkably widespread distribution of Magothy sequences and facies indicates stability of this deltaic depositional system over ~ 4Myr despite low-amplitude (less than 25m) sea-level variations.Widespread facies correlation provides a predictable distribution of aquifer sands and confining-unit clays tied to sea-level changes on complex deltaic facies.

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