Stratigraphy of the Coastal Plain

All named stratigraphic units described below have age-equivalent analogs throughout the Atlantic Coastal Plain (from Florida to Newfoundland). Names change from one location to another in the literature. The discussion below focuses on the stratigraphic succession of the coastal plain exposed around Raritan Bay where the units are perhaps most well exposed. Units are described in descending order, from youngest to oldest respectively. Quaternary, Tertiary, and Cretaceous units that crop out onshore also exist in the subsurface offshore where they grow progressively thicker southward and eastward on the continental shelf (see Figure 112 and Figures 115 and 116). Pleistocene and Holocene deposits represent a host of glacial, non-glacial terrestrial, nearshore and marine environments.

Figure 115. Geologic map of the Coastal Plain in eastern New Jersey and New York City (modified after Lyttle & Epstein, 1987).

Figure 116. Generalized cross section of the Coastal Plain along a portion of the Garden State Parkway in eastern New Jersey (after Lyttle & Epstein, 1987).