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Research about Atlantic Coastal Plain

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Atlantic Coastal Plain.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2025

The stratigraphic record of the mid-Piacenzian warm period on the Atlantic Coastal Plain

Anthropogenic climate change is an existential threat to our planet, impacting everything from the delicate balance of ecosystems to the availability of vital resources. Coastal regions, particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to rising sea levels and changing weather patterns, are experiencing increased erosion, flooding, and habitat loss. Understanding how coastal regions responded to past warming is crucial for developing effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. One past interval commonly used to examine and compare with climate model projections of near future conditions is the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP) which occurred between*3.3 and 3.0 Ma. Here we review the stratigraphy of Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) sediments to determine the stratigraphic position of the MPWP by evaluating ages based upon existing and new planktic foraminifer occurrence data calibrated to the current geologic time scale (GTS2020). We identify geologic formations representing pre-, syn-, and post-MPWP environments. The Sunken Meadow Member of the Yorktown Formation in Virginia and North Carolina and the Wabasso beds in the subsurface of Georgia and Florida both fall within Planktic Foraminiferal Zone PL1 and represent pre-MPWP Pliocene deposits. Parts of the Yorktown Formation in southeastern Virginia and northern North Carolina, the Duplin Formation in North Carolina and South Carolina, and the Raysor Formation in South Carolina and Georgia, fall within Planktic Foraminiferal Zone PL3 and were deposited following a major regression associated with a global drop in sea level during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) M2 and represent syn-MPWP deposits. Representing the immediately post-MPWP climate conditions (Planktic Foraminiferal Zone PL5) are the Chowan River, Bear Bluff, and Cypresshead Formations. This work provides a record of the MPWP from Georgia to Virginia and provides a stratigraphic framework within which the impacts of a profound global warming on the east coast of the United States can be assessed.

Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia↗
USGS2023

Assessing environmental change associated with early Eocene hyperthermals in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

Eocene transient global warming events (hyperthermals) can provide insight into a future warmer world. While much research has focused on the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), hyperthermals of a smaller magnitude can be used to characterize climatic responses over different magnitudes of forcing. This study identifies two events, namely the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2 and H2), in shallow marine sediments of the Eocene-aged Salisbury Embayment of Maryland, based on magnetostratigraphy, calcareous nannofossil, and dinocyst biostratigraphy, as well as the recognition of negative stable carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) in biogenic calcite. We assess local environmental change in the Salisbury Embayment, utilizing clay mineralogy, marine palynology, δ 18 O of biogenic calcite, and biomarker paleothermometry (TEX 86 ). Paleotemperature proxies show broad agreement between surface water and bottom water temperature changes. However, the timing of the warming does not correspond to the CIE of the ETM2 as expected from other records, and the highest values are observed during H2, suggesting factors in addition to p CO 2 forcing have influenced temperature changes in the region. The ETM2 interval exhibits a shift in clay mineralogy from smectite-dominated facies to illite-rich facies, suggesting hydroclimatic changes but with a rather dampened weathering response relative to that of the PETM in the same region. Organic walled dinoflagellate cyst assemblages show large fluctuations throughout the studied section, none of which seem systematically related to CIE warming. These observations are contrary to the typical tight correspondence between climate change and assemblages across the PETM, regionally and globally, and ETM2 in the Arctic Ocean. The data do indicate very warm and (seasonally) stratified conditions, likely salinity-driven, across H2. The absence of evidence for strong perturbations in local hydrology and nutrient supply during ETM2 and H2, compared to the PETM, is consistent with the less extreme forcing and the warmer pre-event baseline, as well as the non-linear response in hydroclimates to greenhouse forcing.

Atlantic Coastal Plain↗
USGS2021

Evaluating spectral ratio methods for characterizing fundamental resonance peaks on flat sediments: An example from the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Eastern United States

Damaging ground motions from the 2011 M w "> M w 5.8 Virginia earthquake were likely increased due to site amplification from the unconsolidated sediments of the Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP), highlighting the need to understand site response on these widespread strata along the coastal regions of the eastern United States. The horizontal‐to‐vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) method, using either earthquake signals or ambient noise as input, offers an appealing method for measuring site response on laterally extensive sediments, because it requires a single seismometer rather than requiring a nearby bedrock site to compute a horizontal sediment‐to‐bedrock spectral ratio (SBSR). Although previous studies show mixed results when comparing the two methods, the majority of these studies investigated site responses in confined sedimentary basins that can generate substantial 3D effects or have relatively small reflection coefficients at their base. In contrast, the flat‐lying ACP strata and the underlying bedrock reflector should cause 1D resonance effects to dominate site response, with amplification of the fundamental resonance peaks controlled by the strong impedance contrast between the base of the sediments and the underlying bedrock. We compare site‐response estimates on the ACP strata derived using the HVSR and SBSR methods from teleseismic signals recorded by regional arrays and observe a close match in the frequencies of the fundamental resonance peak ( ⁠ f 0 "> f 0 ⁠ ) determined by both methods. We find that correcting the HVSR amplitude using source term information from a bedrock site and multiplying the peak by a factor of 1.2 results in amplitude peaks that, on average, match SBSR results within a factor of 2. We therefore conclude that the HVSR method may successfully estimate regional linear weak‐motion site‐response amplifications from the ACP, or similar geologic environments, when appropriate region‐specific corrections to the amplitude ratios are used.

Atlantic Coastal Plain↗
USGS2018

Characterizing and imaging sedimentary strata using depth-converted spectral ratios: An example from the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the Eastern U.S.

Unconsolidated, near-surface sediments can have a profound influence on the amplitudes and frequencies of ground shaking during earthquakes, and these effects should be accounted for when using amplitude observations for seismic hazard assessments. This study explores methods to use teleseismic arrivals recorded on linear receiver arrays to characterize widespread, shallow sedimentary deposits, including estimation of the velocities, determination of the fundamental resonance peaks, and imaging of the major reflectors. The examples used are the extensive Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) and associated Mississippi Embayment (ME) strata of the Central and Eastern United States. The large contrast in material properties at the bedrock surface beneath these sediments produces a strong fundamental resonance peak in the 0.2 to 4 Hz frequency range, which is estimated here by computing spectral ratios at each receiver site relative to bedrock sites at the ends of the receiver arrays. Sediment thicknesses derived from published contour maps made from drill hole data allow for the computation of average velocities to match the observed frequencies of resonance peaks with theoretical values at each receiver site, with the sloping bedrock surface allowing for computation of an average velocity versus depth function if horizontal layers are assumed. The velocity function is then used to convert the spectral ratios from frequency to depth, resulting in an image of the subsurface similar to that of a seismic reflection profile. The results demonstrate the use of teleseismic signals for characterizing and imaging shallow sedimentary strata.

Atlantic Coastal Plain↗
USGS2013

A regional classification of the effectiveness of depressional wetlands at mitigating nitrogen transport to surface waters in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain

Nitrogen from nonpoint sources contributes to eutrophication, hypoxia, and related ecological degradation in Atlantic Coastal Plain streams and adjacent coastal estuaries such as Chesapeake Bay and Pamlico Sound. Although denitrification in depressional (non-riparian) wetlands common to the Coastal Plain can be a significant landscape sink for nitrogen, the effectiveness of individual wetlands at removing nitrogen varies substantially due to varying hydrogeologic, geochemical, and other landscape conditions, which are often poorly or inconsistently mapped over large areas. A geographic model describing the spatial variability in the likely effectiveness of depressional wetlands in watershed uplands at mitigating nitrogen transport from nonpoint sources to surface waters was constructed for the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain (NACP), from North Carolina through New Jersey. Geographic and statistical techniques were used to develop the model. Available medium-resolution (1:100,000-scale) stream hydrography was used to define 33,799 individual watershed catchments in the study area. Sixteen landscape metrics relevant to the occurrence of depressional wetlands and their effectiveness as nitrogen sinks were defined for each catchment, based primarily on available topographic and soils data. Cluster analysis was used to aggregate the 33,799 catchments into eight wetland landscape regions (WLRs) based on the value of three principal components computed for the 16 original landscape metrics. Significant differences in topography, soil, and land cover among the eight WLRs demonstrate the effectiveness of the clustering technique. Results were used to interpret the relative likelihood of depressional wetlands in each WLR and their likely effectiveness at mitigating nitrogen transport from upland source areas to surface waters. The potential effectiveness of depressional wetlands at mitigating nitrogen transport varies substantially over different parts of the NACP. Depressional wetlands are common in three WLRs covering 32 percent of the area, and have a relatively high potential to mitigate nitrogen transport from nonpoint sources. Conversely, 37 percent of the study area includes rolling hills with relatively high slope and relief, and little likelihood of depressional wetlands. The remainder of the Coastal Plain includes relatively flat watersheds with moderate to low relative likelihood of nitrogen mitigation. The delineation of WLRs in this model should be useful for targeting wetland conservation or restoration efforts, and for estimating the effects of depressional wetlands on the regional nitrogen budget, but should be considered in light of limitations and assumptions inherent in the model.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2010

Groundwater availability in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North and South Carolina

The Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifers and confining units of North and South Carolina are composed of crystalline carbonate rocks, sand, clay, silt, and gravel and contain large volumes of high-quality groundwater. The aquifers have a long history of use dating back to the earliest days of European settlement in the late 1600s. Although extensive areas of some of the aquifers have or currently (2009) are areas of groundwater level declines from large-scale, concentrated pumping centers, large areas of the Atlantic Coastal Plain contain substantial quantities of high-quality groundwater that currently (2009) are unused. Groundwater use from the Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifers in North Carolina and South Carolina has increased during the past 60 years as the population has increased along with demands for municipal, industrial, and agricultural water needs. While North Carolina and South Carolina work to increase development of water supplies in response to the rapid growth in these coastal populations, both States recognize that they are facing a number of unanswered questions regarding availability of groundwater supplies and the best methods to manage these important supplies. An in-depth assessment of groundwater availability of the Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifers of North and South Carolina has been completed by the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program. This assessment includes (1) a determination of the present status of the Atlantic Coastal Plain groundwater resources; (2) an explanation for how these resources have changed over time; and (3) development of tools to assess the system's response to stresses from potential future climate variability. Results from numerous previous investigations of the Atlantic Coastal Plain by Federal and State agencies have been incorporated into this effort. The primary products of this effort are (1) comprehensive hydrologic datasets such as groundwater levels, groundwater use, and aquifer properties; (2) a revised hydrogeologic framework; (3) simulated water budgets of the overall study area along with several subareas; and (4) construction and calibration of a numerical modeling tool that is used to forecast the potential effects of climate change on groundwater levels.

North Carolina, South Carolina↗
USGS2005

Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation in floodplains of Atlantic Coastal Plain rivers, USA

Net nutrient accumulation rates were measured in riverine floodplains of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, USA. The floodplains were located in watersheds with different land use and included two sites on the Chickahominy River (urban), one site on the Mattaponi River (forested), and five sites on the Pocomoke River (agricultural). The Pocomoke River floodplains lie along reaches with natural hydrogeomorphology and on reaches with restricted flooding due to channelization and levees. A network of feldspar clay marker horizons was placed on the sediment surface of each floodplain site 3–6 years prior to sampling. Sediment cores were collected from the material deposited over the feldspar clay pads. This overlying sediment was separated from the clay layer and then dried, weighed, and analyzed for its total carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content. Mean C accumulation rates ranged from 61 to 212 g·m −2 ·yr −1 , N accumulation rates ranged from 3.5 to 13.4 g·m −2 ·yr −1 , and P accumulation rates ranged from 0.2 to 4.1 g·m −2 ·yr −1 among the eight floodplains. Patterns of intersite variation in mineral sediment and P accumulation rates were similar to each other, as was variation in organic sediment and C and N accumulation rates. The greatest sediment and C, N, and P accumulation rates were observed on Chickahominy River floodplains downstream from the growing metropolitan area of Richmond, Virginia. Nutrient accumulation rates were lowest on Pocomoke River floodplains that have been hydraulically disconnected from the main channel by channelization and levees. Sediment P concentrations and P accumulation rates were much greater on the hydraulically connected floodplain immediately downstream of the limit of channelization and dense chicken agriculture of the upper Pocomoke River watershed. These findings indicate that (1) watershed land use has a large effect on sediment and nutrient retention in floodplains, and (2) limiting the hydraulic connectivity between river channels and floodplains minimizes material retention by floodplains in fluvial hydroscapes.

Delaware, Maryland, Virginia↗
USGS1984

Age and correlation of emerged pliocene and pleistocene deposits, U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain

Paleontologic and paleomagnetic investigations were conducted on several hundred Pliocene and Pleistocene marine samples from five regions of the emerged Atlantic Coastal Plain: (1) the Delmarva Peninsula, (2) eastern Virginia, (3) central and northern North Carolina, (4) southern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina, and (5) the Charleston area, South Carolina. Molluscan and ostracode interval and assemblage zonations, which are the primary means of regional correlation, have been calibrated using planktic biochronologic, paleomagnetic, radiometric and amino-acid recemization data. These multiple dating criteria were used to determine the age and, where possible, the duration of marine transgressive/regressive sequences. A correlation chart illustrates the age relationships of 27 formations from five regions. One important conclusion is some of the Yorktown Formation of Virginia and North Carolina (including the “Duplin” Formation), and some of the Raysor of South Carolina are late Pliocene in age. The late Pliocene Chowan River Formation of North Carolina is older than the early Pleistocene Waccamaw Formation of South Carolina, which in turn may be older than the James City Formation of North Carolina. During the last 1.0 million years, multiple marine transgressions occurred in each region, but the age of these middle and late Pleistocene formations often may differ from one area to the next. A significant result of the study is the evidence for the lack of time equivalence of formations in the five different regions; that is, the sequence of marine transgressions in one region does not necessarily correspond to that in another. This appears to be the result of differing subsidence and uplift histories, the patchiness of the depositional record, and the limitations of the dating techniques in light of the rapidity and frequency of sea-level fluctuations.

Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina↗
USGS1981

Quaternary climates and sea levels of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain

Uranium-series dating of corals from marine deposits of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain coupled with paleoclimatic reconstructions based on ostracode (marine) and pollen (continent) data document at least five relatively warm intervals during the last 500,000 years. On the basis of multiple paleoenvironmental criteria, we determined relative sea level positions during the warm intervals, relative to present mean sea level, were 7 ± 5 meters at 188,000 years ago, 7.5 ± 1.5 meters at 120,000 years ago, 6.5 ± 3.5 meters at 94,000 years ago, and 7 ± 3 meters at 72,000 years ago. The composite sea level chronology for the Atlantic Coastal Plain is inconsistent with independent estimates of eustatic sea level positions during interglacial intervals of the last 200,000 years. Hydroisostatic adjustment from glacial-interglacial sea level fluctuations, lithospheric flexure, and isostatic uplift from sediment unloading due to erosion provide possible mechanisms to account for the discrepancies. Alternatively, current eustatic sea level estimates for the middle and late Quaternary may require revision.

Atlantic Coastal Plain↗
USGS1978

Evaluation of the geologic and hydrologic factors related to the waste-storage potential of Mesozoic aquifers in the southern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, South Carolina and Georgia

This report describes the subsurface distribution of rocks of Cretaceous to Late Jurassic(?) age in the Atlantic. Coastal Plain, South Carolina and Georgia, and examines their potential for deep-well waste storage. For mapping purposes a waste-storage "operational unit" is established and defined. It is a sand or sandstone layer, 20 feet or more in thickness, that is immediately overlain and underlain by a layer of shale or clay, 20 feet or more in thickness, and which occurs in regional chronostratigraphic units (Units A, B, C, D, E, F, G(?), and H(?)) of Mesozoic age in areas where each of these units contains nonusable ground water. Nonusable ground water is defined as water that contains sodium chloride in excess of 10,000 mg/L. Using a group of geohydrologic parameters derived from or combining 21 categories of basic data, established from study and interpretation of well cuttings and geophysical logs, a series of 32 regional maps and 8 stratigraphic cross sections was constructed. For each of the eight geologic units delineated in the subsurface, the maps illustrate the distribution of waste-storage potential in terms of areal extent, depth below land surface, sand-shale geometry, and the approximate sodium chloride concentration of a unit's nonusable ground water.

Georgia, South Carolina↗
USGS1972

Structural and stratigraphic framework, and spatial distribution of permeability of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, North Carolina to New York

This report describes and interprets the results of a detailed subsurface mapping program undertaken in that part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain which extends from the South Carolina and North Carolina border through Long Island, N.Y. Data obtained from more than 2,200 wells are analyzed. Seventeen chronostratigraphic units are mapped in the subsurface. They range in age from Jurassic(?) to post-Miocene. The purpose of the mapping program was to determine the external and internal geometry of mappable chronostratigraphic units and to derive and construct a permeability-distribution network for each unit based upon contrasts in the textures and compositions of its contained sediments. The report contains a structure map and a combined isopach, lithofacies, and permeability-distribution map for each of the chronostratigraphic units delineated in the subsurface. In addition, it contains a map of the top of the basement surface. These maps, together with 36 stratigraphic cross sections, present a three-dimensional view of the regional subsurface hydrogeology. They provide focal points of reference for a discussion of regional tectonics, structure, stratigraphy, and permeability distribution. Taken together and in chronologic sequence, the maps constitute a detailed sedimentary model, the first such model to be constructed for the middle Atlantic Coastal Plain. The chronostratigraphic units mapped record a structural history dominated by lateral and vertical movement along a system of intersecting hinge zones. Taphrogeny, related to transcurrent faulting, is the dominant type of deformation that controlled the geometry of the sedimentary model. Twelve of the seventeen chronostratigraphic units mapped have depositional alinements and thickening trends that are independent of the present-day configuration of the underlying basement surface. These 12 units, classified as genetically unrooted units, are assigned to a first-order tectonic stage. A structural model is proposed whose alinements of positive and negative structural features are accordant with the depositional geometry of the chronostratigraphic units assigned to this tectonic stage. The dominant features of the structural model are northeast-plunging half grabens arranged en echelon and bordered by northeast-plunging fault-block anticlines. Tension-type hinge zones that strike north lie athwart the half grabens. Five of the seventeen chronostratigraphic units mapped have depositional alinements and thickening trends that are accordant with the present-day configuration of the underlying basement surface. These five units, classified as genetically rooted units, are assigned to a second-order tectonic stage. A structural model is proposed whose alinements of positive and negative features are accordant with the depositional geometry of the chronostratigraphic units assigned to this tectonic stage. The dominant feature of this model is a graben that stands tangential to southeast-plunging asymmetrical anticlines. Tension-type hinge zones that strike northeast lie athwart the graben.

Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Ca↗
USGS1967

Geologic framework and petroleum potential of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and continental shelf, with a section on stratigraphy

The Atlantic Coastal Plain and Continental Shelf of North America is represented by a belt of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks, 150 to 300 miles wide and 2,400 miles long, extending from southern Florida to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. This belt of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks encompasses an area of about 400,000 to 450,000 square miles, more than three-fourths of which is covered by the Atlantic Ocean. The volume of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks beneath the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Continental Shelf exceeds 450,000 cubic miles, perhaps by a considerable amount. More than one-half of this is seaward far enough to contain marine source rocks in sufficient proportion to attract exploration for oil. A larger fraction, perhaps three-quarters of the volume, may be of interest in exploration for gas. The Coastal Plain consists of land between the crystalline piedmont of the Appalachian System and mean low-tide from southern Florida to the tip of Long Island plus a few small offshore islands and the Cape Cod Peninsula. This is an area of more than 100,000 square miles. The Continental Shelf extends from mean law-tide to the break marking the beginning of the continental rise, which is somewhat less than 600 feet in depth at most places. It is a gently sloping platform, about 350,000 square miles in area, that widens from less than 3 miles off southern Florida to about 285 miles off Newfoundland. The Blake Plateau occupies an area of about 70,000 square miles between the 500 and 5,000-foot bottom contours from the Cape Hatteras vicinity to the northernmost bank of the Bahamas. It has a gentle slope with only minor irregularities and scattered patches of Recent sediments. Both gravity and magnetic anomalies along the Atlantic Coast reflect primarily compositional differences at considerable depths in the earth's crust, but are related to some extent to the structure and composition of the Coastal Plain sedimentary rocks and shallow basement. Four alternating belts of predominantly positive and predominantly negative Bouguer gravity anomalies extend diagonally across the region from southwest to northeast. These correspond roughly with the continental rise and slope, the Continental Shelf and Coastal Plain, the Appalachian Mountain System front, and the Piedmont Plateau-Blue Ridge-Appalachian Basin region.

Atlantic Coastal Plain↗