Geological Society of America

35 Offshore Research on the Mid- and South-Atlantic Continental Shelf

Friday, 29 March 2019
8:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Rutledge Room

LATE QUATERNARY EVOLUTION OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF AND COASTAL SYSTEM OF THE DELMARVA PENINSULA

Paper number: 35-7
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 10:15 AM – 10:35 AM

Authors

Laura Brothers Presenting Author
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
David S. Foster
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA
Elizabeth A. Pendleton
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
Wayne E. Baldwin
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
Kelvin W. Ramsey
Delaware Geological Survey, Newark, DE
John Wehmiller
Swarthmore, PA
C. Robin Mattheus
University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Abstract

Using over 14,000 trackline kilometers of multi-channel, single-channel boomer, sparker and Chirp seismic reflection profile data collected over 12,000 km² we define the geologic framework offshore of the Delmarva Peninsula. We ground truth these findings with published borehole and vibracore data, as well as vibracore samples and radiometric and amino acid racemization and Carbon 14 age estimates recently acquired as part of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Atlantic Sand Assessment Project. We find Holocene sediment thickness to range from 0-14 meters in the study area. We also map an extensive paleochannel network to the shelf edge. These data and interpretations comprise one of the most data-rich, and aerially extensive continental shelf studies on the U.S. Atlantic Coast. This project builds on the scope and scale of other inner continental shelf studies conducted by the USGS in conjunction with state and academic cooperators in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 3

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019SE-328299

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