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B. W. Blackwelder

Publications and source records attributed to B. W. Blackwelder.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1984

Age and correlation of emerged pliocene and pleistocene deposits, U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain

Paleontologic and paleomagnetic investigations were conducted on several hundred Pliocene and Pleistocene marine samples from five regions of the emerged Atlantic Coastal Plain: (1) the Delmarva Peninsula, (2) eastern Virginia, (3) central and northern North Carolina, (4) southern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina, and (5) the Charleston area, South Carolina. Molluscan and ostracode interval and assemblage zonations, which are the primary means of regional correlation, have been calibrated using planktic biochronologic, paleomagnetic, radiometric and amino-acid recemization data. These multiple dating criteria were used to determine the age and, where possible, the duration of marine transgressive/regressive sequences. A correlation chart illustrates the age relationships of 27 formations from five regions. One important conclusion is some of the Yorktown Formation of Virginia and North Carolina (including the “Duplin” Formation), and some of the Raysor of South Carolina are late Pliocene in age. The late Pliocene Chowan River Formation of North Carolina is older than the early Pleistocene Waccamaw Formation of South Carolina, which in turn may be older than the James City Formation of North Carolina. During the last 1.0 million years, multiple marine transgressions occurred in each region, but the age of these middle and late Pleistocene formations often may differ from one area to the next. A significant result of the study is the evidence for the lack of time equivalence of formations in the five different regions; that is, the sequence of marine transgressions in one region does not necessarily correspond to that in another. This appears to be the result of differing subsidence and uplift histories, the patchiness of the depositional record, and the limitations of the dating techniques in light of the rapidity and frequency of sea-level fluctuations.

Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina↗
USGS1982

Stratigraphy, structure, absolute age, and paleontology of the upper Pleistocene deposits at Sankaty Head, Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

The Sankaty Head cliff exposes drift of at least two glaciations and interglacial marine deposits. Radiocarbon, amino-acid- racemization, and uranium-thorium analyses were used to determine the absolute ages of the beds. The results indicate that 1) the Sankaty Sand correlates with oxygen-isotope stage 5 (Sangamonian), 2) the underlying drift is older than stage 5 (Illinoian or older) , and 3) the overlying drift is Wisconsinan in age. -from Authors

Massachusetts↗
USGS1981

Late Cenozoic marine deposition in the United States Atlantic Coastal Plain related to tectonism and global climate

Major hiatuses in upper Cenozoic marine deposits in the United States Atlantic Coastal Plain are recognized on the basis of molluscan faunal changes at erosional unconformities. These hiatuses generally coincided with periods of global cooling and ice sheet formation. Such hiatuses provide information to supplement global climatic data. Major hiatuses are recognized within the early Miocene (23-20 m.y. ago), at the end of the middle Miocene (∼ 11-10 m.y. ago), at the end of the late Miocene (∼6.5-5 m.y. ago), at the end of the early Pliocene (∼4.0–2.5 m.y. ago), at the end of the late Pliocene (∼1.9 or 1.8 m.y. ago), within the Pleistocene (∼1.1-0.5 m.y. ago) and several times within the last 0.4 m.y. Estimates of the amount of water contained in ice sheets at different times in the Pliocene and Pleistocene facilitate calculation of probable minimum sea levels on the Coastal Plain during different high stands of the sea. The altitudes of dated shoreline deposits in the Atlantic Coastal Plain show that the amount of uplift in the Cape Fear area has averaged at least 1.3 cm per 1000 years since the beginning of Pliocene time. The Coastal Plain of Georgia has apparently experienced relatively little vertical deformation during this same time.

Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South ↗
USGS1981

The Georgia Embayment continental shelf: stratigraphy of a submergence.

The Holocene-Pleistocene sediment veneer is thin, generally less than 4m thick. Lagoon sediments deposited during the last regression or the Holocene transgression occur in patches on the inner and central shelf. During each transgression or submergence, the surficial sand sheet is recharged with a new biogenic carbonate fraction along with the addition of small amounts of clastic sediments derived from 'overrun' estuaries and erosion of underlying Tertiary sediments. The stratigraphy based on the vibracores supports the concept of cross-shelf migration of the shore face-barrier island systems in response to rising sea level. -from Authors

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗
USGS1980

Late Wisconsin and Holocene tectonic stability of the United States mid-Atlantic coastal region

Deposits that formed in the intertidal zone during sea-level rise 12,000 to 9,000 yr ago have undergone very little differential vertical deformation in the area between New York City and South Carolina. The lack of north-south vertical deformation contrasts with tide-gauge and with precise leveling measurements that have been used to indicate that considerable differential vertical movement is occurring along the coast. Probably, present rates of deformation cannot be extrapolated to early Holocene. Depths of dated in-place intertidal deposits and estimates that suggest the U.S. mid-Atlantic shelf was downwarped during Holocene glacio-isostatic adjustment are used to indicate that eustatic sea levels were not substantially below 30 m depth about 12,000 yr B.P.

Geology↗