1. ERDC Knowledge Core
2. Pre - Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)
3. Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC) - (1963 - 1996)
4. Publication
5. Technical Paper

Title:	Reconnaissance geology of the inner continental shelf, Cape Fear region, North Carolina
Authors:	Meisburger, Edward P.
Keywords:	Continental shelf--North Carolina--Fear, Cape Marine sediments--North Carolina--Fear, Cape Seismic reflection method
Publisher:	Coastal Engineering Research Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.:	Technical Paper (Coastal Engineering Research Center (U.S.));no. 79-3
Abstract:	The Inner Continental Shelf off the North Carolina coast between the South Carolina border and Cape Lookout, North Carolina, was surveyed to obtain information on bottom and subbottom sediment deposits and structures. The location and the extent of deposits of sand suitable for restoration and nourishment of nearby beaches were investigated. Primary kilometers survey coverage consisted of 824 (445 nautical miles) of seismic reflection survey and 139 cores ranging in length from 0.6 to 6.1 meters (2 to 20 feet). More than half of the area surveyed is underlain by two thick sections of Coastal Plain sediments characterized by seaward-dipping progradational internal beds which generate a characteristic acoustic pattern on seismic reflection records. These beds are exposed on the shelf floor in places and elsewhere are covered by a thin sediment blanket . . Samples of these extensive units indicate that one is of Cretaceous age and the other of Oligocene age. Both units consist predominantly of fine quartz sand. Other sediment units closely underlying the shelf floor consist of planarto complex-bedded sheet and channel-fill deposits of predominantly quartz sand or biogenic calcium carbonate. These deposits range in age from Eocene to Holocene. Modern sediment accretion on the inner shelf appears to be largely restricted to the shoal fields off Cape Lookout and Cape Fear, and to inlet shoals along the coast. Elsewhere on the inner shelf floor, modern sediments are thin and discontinuous, and modern shelf processes appear to be largely confined to reworking, winnowing, and redepositing older deposits.
Description:	Technical Paper
Rights:	Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/25655
Appears in Collections:	Technical Paper