--> Abstract: Mesozoic Basin Distribution Along U.S. Eastern Continental Margin, by Kim D. Klitgord, John C. Behrendt; #90968 (1977).

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Abstract: Mesozoic Basin Distribution Along U.S. Eastern Continental Margin

Kim D. Klitgord, John C. Behrendt

Integration of information from the 1975 U.S. Geological Survey aeromagnetic survey, CDP multichannel-seismic lines, and drill-hole data on the Atlantic continental margin of the United States indicates that the margin is segmented into a series of basins which probably are filled with Mesozoic sedimentary material. Two-dimensional depth-to-magnetic basement determinations, by means of the Werner deconvolution method, are used to interpolate between the multichannel lines to estimate the lengths, widths, depths, and orientations of these basins. Trend of the basins ranges between about N25°E and N30°E, which is approximately perpendicular to the initial direction of rifting for North America and Africa. Lengths of the basins appear to be controlled by the many fracture zones that segmented the margin during the initial rifting. Widths for the basins are 70 km between the Blake Spur nd Cape Hatteras, 100 km off the Delaware-New Jersey coast (Baltimore Canyon Trough), 20 km each for several troughs along the southern New England coast, and about 150 km for the Georges Bank Trough. Along the outer shelf south of Long Island and Cape Cod, one additional major trough trends about N90°E between the east coast magnetic anomaly on the south and the southern edge of the Long Island platform (a series of shallow ridges and troughs); this trough is about 60 km wide and connects the Baltimore Canyon Trough with the Georges Bank Trough.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90968©1977 AAPG-SEPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, Washington, DC