100 Myr record of sequences, sedimentary facies and sea level change from Ocean Drilling Program onshore coreholes, US Mid‐Atlantic coastal plain

Abstract

We analyzed the latest Early Cretaceous to Miocene sections (∼110–7 Ma) in 11 New Jersey and Delaware onshore coreholes (Ocean Drilling Program Legs 150X and 174AX). Fifteen to seventeen Late Cretaceous and 39–40 Cenozoic sequence boundaries were identified on the basis of physical and temporal breaks. Within‐sequence changes follow predictable patterns with thin transgressive and thick regressive highstand systems tracts. The few lowstands encountered provide critical constraints on the range of sea‐level fall. We estimated paleowater depths by integrating lithofacies and biofacies analyses and determined ages using integrated biostratigraphy and strontium isotopic stratigraphy. These datasets were backstripped to provide a sea‐level estimate for the past ∼100 Myr. Large river systems affected New Jersey during the Cretaceous and latest Oligocene–Miocene. Facies evolved through eight depositional phases controlled by changes in accommodation, long‐term sea level, and sediment supply: (1) the Barremian–earliest Cenomanian consisted of anastomosing riverine environments associated with warm climates, high sediment supply, and high accommodation; (2) the Cenomanian–early Turonian was dominated by marine sediments with minor deltaic influence associated with long‐term (107 year) sea‐level rise; (3) the late Turonian through Coniacian was dominated by alluvial and delta plain systems associated with long‐term sea‐level fall; (4) the Santonian–Campanian consisted of marine deposition under the influence of a wave‐dominated delta associated with a long‐term sea‐level rise and increased sediment supply; (5) Maastrichtian–Eocene deposition consisted primarily of starved siliciclastic, carbonate ramp shelf environments associated with very high long‐term sea level and low sediment supply; (6) the late Eocene–Oligocene was a starved siliciclastic shelf associated with moderately high sea‐level and low sediment supply; (7) late early–middle Miocene consisted of a prograding shelf under a strong wave‐dominated deltaic influence associated with major increase in sediment supply and accommodation due to local sediment loading; and (8) over the past 10 Myr, low accommodation and eroded coastal systems were associated with low long‐term sea level and low rates of sediment supply due to bypassing.

Chapter 3 History of continental shelf and slope sedimentation on the US middle Atlantic margin

“…Siliciclastic input resulted in moderately thick (c. 2-3 km) offshore Cretaceous strata containing several major sandbodies and onshore deposits that are generally deltaically influenced (e.g. Sugarman et al 1995;Kulpecz et al 2008;Browning et al 2008). After these Cretaceous pulses of sand input into the BCT, accumulation rates were generally low -moderate during the latest Cretaceous-Palaeogene when siliciclastic and carbonate fine-grained sediment accumulated (Poag 1985).…”

“…Scholle 1980), and 32 exploration wells primarily on the outer continental shelf and slope. Although oil and gas prospects were deemed uneconomical, focus on the stratigraphy of continental margins and sea-level change led to this region becoming a target of academic drilling by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 95 (summary in Poag 1985), the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) legs 150 (Mountain et al 1994), 174A (ChristieBlick et al 2003) and onshore ODP legs 150X and 174AX (summary in Browning et al 2008), and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 313, New Jersey Shallow Shelf (Mountain et al 2010). These academic efforts have returned a wealth of information that provides unparalleled documentation of Cretaceous -Miocene sedimentation from the onshore coastal plain to the continental rise.…”

A late eocene-early Oligocene transgressive event in the Golfo San Jorge basin: Palynological results and stratigraphic implications

“…Several Cenozoic eustatic sea-level curves has been lately published (Miller et al, 2005;Komenz et al, 2008;Browning et al, 2008). All the proposal show a gradual, but consistent lowering of the sea-level since late middle Eocene, with an abrupt fall in the late Eocene (Fig.…”

Cronología y geología de una asociación de mamíferos del Mioceno Temprano en el Norte de América del Sur, cerro La Cruz (Formación Castillo), Estado Lara, Venezuela: implicaciones para las hipótesis del ‘cambio del curso del río Orinoco’.

“…During this interval, according to several authors (Haq et al, 1987;Kominz et al, 1998;Miller et al, 2005;Browning et al, 2008;Kominz et al, 2008), the sea level started to regress between ~19-18 Ma, follow by a transgression starting about ~18 until ~17 Ma. This sequence could be correlated with the dynamics of the change in the facies present at Cerro La Cruz.…”