• journal_title：Geological Society of America Bulletin
• Contributor：Peter J. Sugarman ; Kenneth G. Miller ; David Bukry ; Mark D. Feigenson
• Publisher：Geological Society of America
• Date：1995-
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• Identifier：10.1130/0016-7606(1995)107<0019:UCMSIB>2.3.CO;2
• journal_abbrev：Geological Society of America Bulletin
• issn：0016-7606
• volume：107
• issue：1
• firstpage：19

d="p-1">Firm stratigraphic correlations are needed to evaluate the global significance of unconformity bounded units (sequences). We correlate the well-developed uppermost Campanian and Maestrichtian sequences of the New Jersey Coastal Plain to the geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS) by integrating Sr-isotopic stratigraphy and biostratigraphy. To do this, we developed a Maestrichtian (ca. 73–65 Ma) Sr-isotopic reference section at Deep Sea Drilling Project Hole 525A in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. Maestrichtian strata can then be dated by measuring their ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr composition, calibrating to the GPTS of S. C. Cande and D. V. Kent (1993, personal commun.), and using the equation Age (Ma) = 37 326.894–52 639.89 (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr). Sr-stratigraphic resolution for the Maestrichtian is estimated as ±1.2 to ±2 m.y.

d="p-2">At least two unconformity-bounded units comprise the uppermost Campanian to Maestrichtian strata in New Jersey. The lower one, the Marshalltown sequence, is assigned to calcareous nannofossil Zones CC20/21 (∼NC19) and CC22b (∼NC20). It ranges in age from ∼74.1 to 69.9 Ma based on Sr-isotope age estimates. The overlying Navesink sequence is assigned to calcareous nannoplankton Zones CC25–26 (∼NC21–23); it ranges in age from 69.3 to 65 Ma based on Sr-isotope age estimates. The upper part of this sequence, the Tinton Formation, has no calcareous planktonic control; Sr-isotopes provide an age estimate of 66 ± 1.2 Ma (latest Maestrichtian).

d="p-3">Sequence boundaries at the base and the top of the Marshalltown sequence match boundaries elsewhere in the Atlantic Coastal Plain (Owens and Gohn, 1985) and the inferred global sea-level record of Haq et al. (1987); they support eustatic changes as the mechanism controlling depositional history of this sequence. However, the latest Maestrichtian record in New Jersey does not agree with Haq et al. (1987); we attribute this to correlation and time-scale differences near the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary. High sedimentation rates in the latest Maestrichtian of New Jersey (Shrewsbury Member of the Red Bank Formation and the Tinton Formation) suggest tectonic uplift and/or rapid progradation during deposition of the highstand systems tract.