Summary report of the sediments, structural framework, petroleum potential, environmental conditions, and operational considerations of the United States Mid-Atlantic Continental Shelf

Abstract

This report was compiled in response to Bureau of Land Management memorandum 3310 #49(722) which requested the U.S. Geological Survey to summarize the aeoloay, potential mineral resources, estimated oil and gas resources, potential environmental hazards, and operational considerations for proposed oil and gas Lease Sale #49 on the United States Mid-Atlantic continental shelf. Researchers from academic institutions, government agencies, and industry have studied the area. It is from their published knowledge and from ongoing U.S. Geological Survey research and field projects that this synthesis was made. The area under consideration for proposed oil and aas Lease Sale #49 is approximately 103,000 square kilometres (fig. 1). The landward limit of the proposed sale area is the 3-mile offshore boundary and the seaward limit is the 1,000 metre bathymetric contour. In the central part of the proposed sale area are 154 federal tracts (fig. 1) which will be up for lease in Sale #40 planned for late summer of 1976. Those tracts not leased in Sale #40 will be included in Sale #49. A glossary of geologic terms used in the text and a geologic time scale are included in the appendix at the back of this report.