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John Charles Behrendt

Publications and source records attributed to John Charles Behrendt.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1975

Structure of continental margin off Mid-Atlantic states (Baltimore Canyon Trough)

Increasing interest in the Atlantic continental margin as a future petroleum province has resulted in several recent papers (Emmerich, 1974; Burk and Drake, 1974) that attempt to summarize the structure and stratigraphic framework of this area. Most papers tend to portray the margin as a wedge of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediment that thins at the edge of the shelf over a "basement ridge" and then thickens again under the continental rise. Off the northeastern United States, the sediment wedge under the shelf attains a thickness of 8-11 km in the Georges Bank basin (Schultz and Glover, 1974; Mattick and others, 1974; Sheridan, 1974b; Behrendt and others, 1974) and 12 km in thickness in the Baltimore Canyon trough off the middle Atlantic states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey (fig. 1). Seaward of the continental shelf and its sediment prism, Emery and Uchupi (1972, figs. 133-135) infer slump deposits (eroded in some areas) covering a buried ridge thought to extend from the Laurentian Channel to Cape Hatteras, where it splits in two. The lower slope and continental rise are inferred by Drake and later investigators to be a thick prism of deep sea sediment (turbidites, hemipelagic clays, slump deposits) overlying oceanic basement in a welt that parallels the continental edge and reaches a maximum thickness of 6 km (Emery and Uchupi, 1972, fig. 188). Our purpose is to present the results of a geophysical survey across the margin seaward of the middle Atlantic states that comments on the structural - stratigraphic framework of the margin.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1974

Atlantic OCS resource and leasing potential

Thick marine sedimentary sections and geologic structures favorable for the accumulation of petroleum are indicated in Georges Bank basin, the Baltimore Canyon trough, and the Southeast Georgia embayment. Undiscovered recoverable resources of petroleum on the Atlantic OCS are estimated to be 10 billion to 20 billion barrels of oil and 55 trillion to 110 trillion cubic feet of gas. Such estimates carry a high degree of uncertainty. Preliminary results suggest that the most favorable areas for leasing are under the deeper waters of the shelf.

Atlantic OCS, Baltimore Canyon trough, Georges Ban↗