Collaborative Research: Paleogene to Neogene Depositional Sequences on the New Jersey Coastal Plain: A Drilling Project

This project involves an integrated transect of boreholes on the U.S. mid-Atlantic region to address the continental margin record of the Oligocene-Recent global sea-level changes. These changes have been controlled by glacioeustatic (ice-volume) variations. Transects of passive continental margins from outcrop to the deep sea are needed to evaluate the timing and amplitude of sea-level variations. The transect requires drilling both onshore and offshore (ODP Leg 150). The Principal Investigators will drill three continuously cored and logged boreholes in the New Jersey coastal plain near Island Beach, Atlantic City, and Cape May, NJ. The project will be a collaborative effort among Rutgers, LDGO/Columbia, and the Eastern Regional Branch of the USGS. The multidisciplinary use of magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, Sr-isotope stratigraphy and oxygen isotope glacioeustatic curves combined with seismic stratigraphy to tie together onshore and offshore wells will provide a comprehensive data set. The geologic record of sea level changes gives factual constraints for developing models of global paleoclimatological change.