High-resolution seismic-reflection profiles collected aboard R/V GYRE, cruise GYRE 80-G-7A, over the continental slope and upper continental rise, offshore New Jersey

1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.C. Hampson

1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Mosher ◽  
David J. W. Piper ◽  
Gustavs V. Vilks ◽  
A. E. Aksu ◽  
Gordon B. Fader

AbstractA composite thickness of about 25 m of sediment has been cored from the Verrill Canyon on the Scotian Slope. It is interpreted that the majority of this sequence was deposited in a glaciomarine environment during oxygen isotopic stage 2 and the top of stage 3. These sediments, as seen in high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, are well stratified, become thicker upslope, are laterally variable in thickness, and pass upslope into possible outer shelf tills. Three wedge-shaped units of incoherent reflections interfinger with the parallel reflections and terminate in water depths greater than 700 m. These wedge-shaped units are interpreted as slumped diamict and outwash deposits. The age of the uppermost wedge-shaped unit is 26,000–21,000 yr based on extrapolation of radiocarbon dates. This unit documents a late Wisconsinan glacier readvance on the outer Scotian Shelf. The underlying wedge-shaped unit, estimated to be 70,000 yrs old, extends further west along the continental slope, and may represent a more extensive early Wisconsinan ice advance. A third wedge-shaped unit, inferred to have formed during isotopic stage 6, is possibly a remnant of the first glaciation in the study area.



1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis H. King ◽  
Brian MacLean ◽  
Gordon B. Fader

Four erosional unconformities have been recognized within the Mesozoic-Cenozoic succession on the Scotian Shelf, on the basis of data from high resolution seismic reflection profiles. Older unconformities are known from well data and others may be revealed by detailed biostratigraphic studies.The oldest of the four unconformities discussed in this paper is of Early Cretaceous age and appears to mark, with discordance, the boundary between Jurassic and Cretaceous strata on the western part of the shelf. A second angular unconformity, of Late Cretaceous age, has been recognized on the central part of the shelf where the basal part of the Banquereau Formation (Tertiary and uppermost Cretaceous) oversteps the zero-edge of the Wyandot Formation (Upper Cretaceous) and lies upon truncated beds of the Dawson Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous). Cut-and-fill relationships characterize a third unconformity developed during Early Tertiary time. A fourth unconformity was developed in Late Tertiary – Pleistocene time by fluvial processes and later by glacial processes. Although in many areas the latest unconformity appears to be the most conspicuous one on the shelf, its configuration closely follows the geomorphic expression developed during the previous period of erosion. The regional extent of the Cretaceous unconformities is not known, and they might only occur near basin margins and on structural and basement highs.



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