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R. B. Mixon

Publications and source records attributed to R. B. Mixon.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1994

Meteoroid mayhem in Ole Virginny: Source of the North American tektite strewn field

New seismic reflection data from Chesapeake Bay reveal a buried, 85-km-wide, 1.5-2.0-km-deep, peak-ring impact crater, carved through upper Eocene to Lower Cretaceous sedimentary strata and into underlying pre-Mesozoic crystalline basement rocks. A polymictic, late Eocene impact breccia, composed mainly of locally derived sedimentary debris (determined from four continuous cores), surrounds and partly fills the crater. Structural and sedimentary characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay crater closely resemble those of the Miocene Ries peakring crater in southern Germany. We speculate that the Chesapeake Bay crater is the source of the North American tektite strewn field.

Geology↗
USGS1988

The record of major quaternary sea-level changes in a large coastal plain estuary, Chesapeake Bay, Eastern United States

Seismic-reflection surveys of the Chesapeake Bay, combined with geologic mapping and analysis of boreholes on the Delmarva Peninsula, provide evidence of at least three generations of the Susquehanna River system and three generations of the Chesapeake Bay. The evidence for ancient courses of the Susquehanna River is preserved as three distinct paleochannels, and evidence for ancient versions of the Chesapeake Bay is preserved as three sets of paleochannel fill beneath the bay and three generations of barrier-spit deposits on the southern Delmarva Peninsula. The paleochannels represent relative sea-level minima and the channel-fill and barrier-spit deposits represents relative sea-level maxima. A history of three major marine transgressions is recorded in the stratigraphy preserved in the filled paleochannels and in the overlying barrier-spit complexes: three systematic progressions from fluvial to estuarine to bay or nearshore marine environments. This sea-level record seems to be compatible with the saw-toothed pattern of the marine oxygen-isotope record and with the concept of glacial-interglacial terminations. It also seems to have a climax character in which most of the preserved evidence is related to the largest terminations and to the extreme sea-level positions that bound those terminations. The three paleochannel-fill and barrier-spit complexes appear to correspond to oxygen-isotope stages 1,5, and either 7 or 11; the three related paleochannels correspond to stages 2, 6, and either 8 or 12.

Delaware, Maryland, Virginia↗
USGS1974

Preliminary report on geology along Atlantic continental margin of northeastern United States

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a geologic and geophysical study of the northeastern United States outer continental shelf and the adjacent slope from Georges Bank to Cape Hatteras. The study also includes the adjacent coastal plain because it is a more accessible extension of the shelf. The total study area is about 324,000 sq km, of which the shelf and slope constitute about 181,000 sq km and the coastal plain constitutes 143,000 sq km. The shelf width ranges from about 30 km at Cape Hatteras to about 195 km off Raritan Bay and on Georges Bank. Analyses of bottom samples make if possible to construct a preliminary geologic map of the shelf and slope to a water depth of 2,000 m. The oldest beds cropping out in the submarine canyons and on the slope are of early Late Cretaceous age. Beds of Early Cretaceous and Jurassic age are present in deep wells onshore and probably are present beneath the shelf in the area of this study. Such beds are reported beneath the Scotian shelf on the northeast where they include limestone, salt, and anhydrite. Preliminary conclusions suggest a considerably thicker Mesozoic sedimentary sequence than has been described previously. The region is large; the sedimentary wedge is thick; structures seem favorable; and the hydrocarbon potential may be considerable.

Atlantic continental margin↗