Manasquan Formation

Manasquan Formation
Name	Manasquan Formation
Type	Geological formation
Period	Paleogene
Pr period	Paleocene
Primary lithology	Sand, clay, marl
Namedby	William B. Clark
Region	New Jersey, United States
Coordinates	40.1167°N 74.0333°W

Manasquan Formation The Manasquan Formation is a Paleogene sedimentary unit exposed in coastal New Jersey and recognized in regional stratigraphic frameworks by United States Geological Survey stratigraphers and New Jersey Geological Survey mappers. It has been described in state geological reports, university theses at Rutgers University and Princeton University, and in professional papers associated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and coastal engineering studies. Multiple municipal planning documents for Ocean County and Monmouth County reference the unit in mapping of barrier-island stratigraphy, shoreface deposits, and aquifer interactions with the Atlantic Coastal Plain.

Description

The unit consists of unconsolidated to weakly consolidated sand, silty sand, clay, and calcareous marl that occur in the subsurface and in coastal exposures along the Atlantic Seaboard, where mapping by the New Jersey Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and state university field groups has delineated its extent. Geologists working with the U.S. Geological Survey, Rutgers University, Princeton University, and the New Jersey Geological Survey have correlated the unit to regional sequences by using borehole logs, seismic reflection profiles from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and micropaleontological analysis performed in collaboration with institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution.

Stratigraphy and Lithology

Stratigraphically the unit lies above Cretaceous and older Paleogene formations recognized in the Atlantic Coastal Plain framework, and it is overlain locally by younger Pleistocene and Holocene deposits described in Quaternary studies by researchers at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Lithologically the formation displays a mix of quartz-rich sand, glauconitic lenses, silty clay, and marl, consistent with descriptions in regional stratigraphic columns prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and New Jersey Geological Survey; borehole datasets from the U.S. Geological Survey, Rutgers University, and state environmental agencies provide core-based evidence. Correlative units and regional equivalents have been discussed in comparison with the Vincentown Formation, Kirkwood Formation, and Tinton Formation in reports by academic groups at Columbia University and Yale University and by consulting firms engaged by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Age and Paleontology

Biostratigraphic age control for the unit derives from foraminifera, molluscan assemblages, and rare calcareous nannofossils identified in collaborator laboratories at the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, and Rutgers University, supporting a Paleocene to early Eocene assignment in some regional treatments referenced by the U.S. Geological Survey. The unit has yielded marine mollusks, bivalves, and gastropods comparable to assemblages described in North American Paleogene faunal lists and discussed in paleontological literature associated with the Paleontological Research Institution and the Geological Society of America. Microfossil work by university paleontologists and museum specialists has been used to refine correlations with global Paleogene stage boundaries recognized in International Commission on Stratigraphy charts and in stratigraphic syntheses by the Paleontological Society.

Depositional Environment and Paleogeography

Interpretations of depositional environment draw on sedimentologic studies conducted by coastal geomorphologists at Rutgers University, Princeton University, and the U.S. Geological Survey and on seismic stratigraphy analyses completed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; these indicate nearshore to shallow marine deposition within the Atlantic Coastal Plain embayment that was influenced by rising Paleogene seas and regional factors recorded in Atlantic margin reconstructions by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Comparisons with contemporaneous coastal successions studied at Duke University, University of North Carolina, and Virginia Institute of Marine Science place the unit within broader paleogeographic scenarios for eastern North America and the western North Atlantic Basin, with influences from shoreline transgression, sediment supply from the Appalachian region, and paleoceanographic conditions examined in studies by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Geographic Extent and Type Locality

The formation is principally recognized in central and southern New Jersey, including exposures and subsurface occurrences in Monmouth County, Ocean County, and adjacent coastal townships noted in county planning documents and state geological maps prepared by the New Jersey Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey. The historical type locality and original descriptive work were published in regional bulletins and university theses associated with Rutgers University and cited in subsequent maps by the New Jersey Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and coastal research supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Economic and Scientific Significance

The unit is important for coastal engineering projects overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and for municipal planning in Ocean County and Monmouth County due to its influence on beach nourishment, groundwater resources assessed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and hazard mapping used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Scientifically, it provides Paleogene paleoenvironmental data utilized by researchers at Rutgers University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and the U.S. Geological Survey for studies on Atlantic Coastal Plain evolution, Paleogene climate research linked to work at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and biostratigraphic investigations integrated into Geological Society of America syntheses.

Category:Geologic formations of New Jersey