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R. E. Sheridan

Publications and source records attributed to R. E. Sheridan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2009

Late Pleistocene Sea level on the New Jersey Margin: Implications to eustasy and deep-sea temperature

We assembled and dated a late Pleistocene sea-level record based on sequence stratigraphy from the New Jersey margin and compared it with published records from fossil uplifted coral reefs in New Guinea, Barbados, and Araki Island, as well as a composite sea-level estimate from scaling of Red Sea isotopic values. Radiocarbon dates, amino acid racemization data, and superposition constrain the ages of large (20-80??m) sea-level falls from New Jersey that correlate with Marine Isotope Chrons (MIC) 2, 3b, 4, 5b, and 6 (the past 130??kyr). The sea-level records for MIC 1, 2, 4, 5e, and 6 are similar to those reported from New Guinea, Barbados, Araki, and the Red Sea; some differences exist among records for MIC 3. Our record consistently provides the shallowest sea level estimates for MIC3 (??? 25-60??m below present); it agrees most closely with the New Guinea record of Chappell (2002; ??? 35-70??m), but contrasts with deeper estimates provided by Araki (??? 85-95??m) and the Red Sea (50-90??m). Comparison of eustatic estimates with benthic foraminiferal ?? 18 O records shows that the deep sea cooled ??? 2.5????C between MIC 5e and 5d (??? 120-110??ka) and that near freezing conditions persisted until Termination 1a (14-15??ka). Sea-level variations between MIC 5b and 2 (ca. 90-20??ka) follow a well-accepted 0.1???/10??m linear variation predicted by ice-growth effects on foraminiferal ?? 18 O values. The pattern of deep-sea cooling follows a previously established hysteresis loop between two stable modes of operation. Cold, near freezing deep-water conditions characterize most of the past 130??kyr punctuated only by two warm intervals (the Holocene/MIC 1 and MIC 5e). We link these variations to changes in Northern Component Water (NCW). ?? 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Global and Planetary Change↗
USGS2009

Evidence for an Alleghanian (Early Carboniferous to Late Permian) tectonothermal event in the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement from 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite data, geochemistry and gravity modeling

40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of biotite from felsic orthogneiss recovered from the -3890-foot level of the Island Beach State Park (IBSP) well beneath the outer New Jersey Coastal Plain was accomplished using CO 2 laser incremental-heating techniques. Over 75% of the Ar released from the incremental-heating experiment form a well-behaved plateau with a calculated age of 243.98 ?? 0.10 Ma. The new 244 Ma biotite age reported here is a cooling age younger than the metamorphic event that crystallized or reheated the biotite. We consider reheating of older biotite to be unlikely because the concordant 40 Ar/ 39 Ar spectrum upon repeated incremental laser heating showed a well-developed plateau. Thus, biotites from the IBSP gneiss are interpreted as having crystallized during a single thermal event, followed by cooling to below 300 ??C. The IBSP well falls on a structural and geophysical anomaly trend that is along strike with rocks of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium to the north of the IBSP gneiss. Locally graphitic metasedimentary schists and gneisses recovered from New Jersey wells inboard of the IBSP well gneiss correlate to similar lithologies of the Connecticut Valley synclinorium west of the Hartford basin. Our reinterpretation of the IBSP gneiss as metamorphosed dacite or dacitic tuff is consistent with a correlation to some rocks of the Bronson Hill magmatic arc east of the Hartford basin. If correct, this would imply a Late Ordovician age for the protolith of the IBSP gneiss. Reported 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite ages of 235-253 Ma from southwestern Rhode Island, and of 238-247 Ma from southeastern Connecticut, are interpreted as cooling ages following a tectonothermal event associated with the Alleghanian orogeny (Early Carboniferous to Late Permian). Cooling ages of Alleghanian age (Early Carboniferous to Late Permian) are not recognized west of the Bronson Hill volcanic arc in either central Connecticut or in Massachusetts. Therefore, the 244 Ma cooling age presented here, and the geochemical affinity of the IBSP gneiss to some orthogneisses of the Bronson Hill arc, support an interpretation of the IBSP well as representing the southern continuation of the Bronson Hill arc into New Jersey. Moreover, it documents the presence of rocks beneath the outer New Jersey Coastal Plain that experienced a Permian Alleghanian metamorphism. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal of Geodynamics↗
USGS2004

Geophysical modeling of the northern Appalachian Brompton-Cameron, Central Maine, and Avalon terranes under the New Jersey Coastal Plain

A regional terrane map of the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement was constructed using seismic, drilling, gravity and magnetic data. The Brompton-Cameron and Central Maine terranes were coalesced as one volcanic island arc terrane before obducting onto Laurentian, Grenville age, continental crust in the Taconian orogeny [Rankin, D.W., 1994. Continental margin of the eastern United States: past and present. In: Speed, R.C., (Ed.), Phanerozoic Evolution of North American Continent-Ocean Transitions. DNAG Continent-Ocean Transect Volume. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 129-218]. Volcanic island-arc rocks of the Avalon terrane are in contact with Central Maine terrane rocks in southern Connecticut where the latter are overthrust onto the Brompton-Cameron terrane, which is thrust over Laurentian basement. Similarities of these allochthonous island arc terranes (Brompton-Cameron, Central Maine, Avalon) in lithology, fauna and age suggest that they are faulted segments of the margin of one major late Precambrian to early Paleozoic, high latitude peri-Gondwana island arc designated as "Avalonia", which collided with Laurentia in the early to middle Paleozoic. The Brompton Cameron, Central Maine, and Avalon terranes are projected as the basement under the eastern New Jersey Coastal Plain based on drill core samples of metamorphic rocks of active margin/magmatic arc origin. A seismic reflection profile across the New York Bight traces the gentle dipping (approximately 20 degrees) Cameron's Line Taconian suture southeast beneath allochthonous Avalon and other terranes to a 4 sec TWTT depth (approximately 9 km) where the Avalonian rocks are over Laurentian crust. Gentle up-plunge (approximately 5 degrees) projections to the southwest bring the Laurentian Grenville age basement and the drift-stage early Paleozoic cover rocks to windows in Burlington Co. at approximately 1 km depth and Cape May Co. at approximately 2 km depths. The antiformal Shellburne Falls and Chester domes and Chain Lakes-Pelham dome-Bronson Hill structural trends, and the synformal Connecticut Valley-Gaspe structural trend can be traced southwest into the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement. A Mesozoic rift basin, the "Sandy Hook basin", and associated eastern boundary fault is identified, based upon gravity modeling, in the vicinity of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The thickness of the rift-basin sedimentary rocks contained within the "Sandy Hook basin" is approximately 4.7 km, with the basin extending offshore to the east of the New Jersey coast. Gravity modeling indicates a deep rift basin and the magnetic data indicates a shallow magnetic basement caused by magnetic diabase sills and/or basalt flows contained within the rift-basin sedimentary rocks. The igneous sills and/or flows may be the eastward continuation of the Watchung and Palisades bodies. ?? 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal of Geodynamics↗
USGS2000

Offshore-onshore correlation of upper Pleistocene strata, New Jersey Coastal Plain to continental shelf and slope

High-resolution seismic reflection profiles (~ 1-5 m resolution), including Geopulse(TM), Uniboom(TM), minisparker, small air gun, and water gun sources, are used to trace the ?? 18O stage 5 portion of the outcropping Cape May Formation across the shelf to the continental slope. The ?? 18O stage 5/6 boundary identified at Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) Site 903 on the continental slope anchors the onshore-offshore seismic correlations. Above the ?? 18O stage 5 sequence, there are distinguishable lowstand systems tracts (LST), transgressive systems tracts (TST) and highstand systems tracts (HST) that correlate with ?? 18O stages 4 through 1. Atlantic Margin Coring Project (AMCOR) holes 6009, 6010, 6011, 6020, and 6021C provide age and paleoenvironmental indicators that agree with these correlations. The sub-arctic paleoenvironmental indicators in sequences of ?? 18O stage 3 agree with the cooler temperatures and lower sea-level highstands of that time. Thicker ?? 18O stage 3 and 4 sequences are preserved in the Paleo-Hudson River incised valley across the shelf. The expanded ice sheets during stage ?? 18O 3 compared to ?? 18O stages 1 and 5 probably increased sediment discharge in the Hudson River drainage system. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1979

Seismic refraction study of the continental edge off the eastern United States

Three long, strike-parallel, seismic-refraction profiles were made on the continental shelf edge, slope and upper rise off New Jersey during 1975. The shelf edge line lies along the axis of the East Coast Magnetic Anomaly (ECMA), while the continental rise line lies 80 km seaward of the shelf edge. Below the unconsolidated sediments (1.7–3.6 km/sec), high-velocity sedimentary rocks (4.2–6.2 km/sec) were found at depths of 2.6–8.2 km and are inferred to be cemented carbonates. Although multichannel seismic-reflection profiles and magnetic depth-to-source data predicted the top of oceanic basement at 6–8 km beneath the shelf edge and 10–11 km beneath the rise, no refracted events occurred as first arrivals from either oceanic basement (layer 2, approximately 5.5 km/ sec) or the upper oceanic crust (layer 3A, approximately 6.8 km/sec). Second arrivals from 10.5 km depth beneath the shelf edge are interpreted as events from a 5.9 km/sec refractor within igneous basement. Other refracted events from either layers 2 or 3A could not be resolved within the complex second arrivals. A well-defined crustal layer with a compressional velocity of 7.1–7.2 km/sec, which can be interpreted as oceanic layer 3B, occurred at 15.8 km depth beneath the shelf and 12.9 km beneath the upper rise. A well-reversed mantle velocity of 8.3 km/sec was measured at 18–22 km depth beneath the upper continental rise. Comparison with other deep-crustal profiles along the continental edge of the Atlantic margin off the United States, specifically in the inner magnetically quiet zone, indicates that the compressional wave velocities and layer depths determined on the U.S.G.S. profiles are very similar to those of nearby profiles. This suggests that the layers are continuous and that the interpretation of the oceanic layer 3B under the shelf edge east of New Jersey implies progradation of the shelf outward over the oceanic crust in that area. This agrees with magnetic anomaly evidence which shows the East Coast Magnetic Anomaly landward of the shelf edge off New Jersey and with previous seismic reflection data which reveal extensive outbuilding of the shelf edge during the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous, probably by carbonate bank-margin accretion.

East Coast Magnetic Anomaly↗
USGS1976

Evidence of post-Pleistocene faults on New Jersey Atlantic outer continental shelf

Recently obtained high-resolution seismic profiles (400-4,000-Hz band) show evidence of faults in shallow sedimentary strata near the edge of the Atlantic continental shelf off New Jersey. Apparent normal faults having a throw of about 1.5 m displace sediments to within 7 m of the sea floor. The faults appear to be overlain by undeformed horizontal beds of relatively recent age. Several faults 1 to 2 km apart strike approximately N70°E and dip northwest. The data suggest that the faults are upthrown on the southeast. Projection of the faults on the high-resolution profiles to a nearby multichannel seismic-reflection profile indicates that these shallow faults might be the near-surface expression of a more fundamental deep-seated fault. Several prominent reflectors in the multichannel records are offset by a high-angle normal fault reaching depths of 4.0 to 5.0 sec (6.0 to 6.5 km). The deep fault on the multichannel line also is upthrown on the southeast. Throws of as much as 90 m are apparent at depth, but offsets of as much as 10 m could be present in the shallower parts of the section that may not be resolved in the multichannel data. The position and strike of these faults coincide with and parallel the East Coast magnetic anomaly interpreted as the fundamental seaward basement boundary of the Baltimore Canyon trough. Recurring movements along such boundary faults are expected theoretically if the marginal basins are subsiding in response to the plate rotation of North America and seafloor spreading in the Atlantic.

New Jersey↗