Internal Stratigraphic Correlation Of The Subsurface Potomac Formation, New Castle County, Delaware, And Adjacent Areas In Maryland And New Jersey
Date
2006
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Newark, DE: Delaware Geological Survey, University of Delaware
Abstract
This report presents a new time-stratigraphic framework for the subsurface Potomac Formation of New Castle County, Delaware, part of adjacent Cecil County, Maryland, and nearby tie-in boreholes in New Jersey. The framework is based on a geophysical well-log correlation datum that approximates the contact between Upper and Lower Cretaceous sediments. This datum is constrained by age determinations based on published and unpublished results of studies of fossil pollen and spores in samples of sediment cores from boreholes in the study area. Geophysical log correlation lines established above and below the datum approximate additional chronostratigraphic surfaces. The time-stratigraphic units thus defined are not correlated parallel to the basement unconformity, as in previous practice, but instead onlap it in an updip direction. In future studies, the sedimentary facies of the Potomac Formation within each time-stratigraphic layer may be mapped and analyzed as genetically related contemporaneous units. This new stratigraphic framework will allow better delineation of the degree of lateral connection between potential aquifer sands, thus enhancing understanding of aquifer architecture.
Description
This report has 3 plates listed as separate files.
Keywords
Internal Stratigraphic Correlation, Subsurface Potomac Formation, New Castle County, Delaware, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey