Stratigraphic framework and heavy minerals of the continental shelf of Onslow and Long Bays, North Carolina

One hundred fourteen vibracores from the Atlantic continental shelf offshore of southeastern North Carolina were opened, described, and processed over several contract years (years 6-9) of the Minerals Management Service-Association of American State Geologists Continental Margins program. Reports for years 9 and 10 of the program compiled the results of the work and assembled the data for release as an interactive CD-ROM report, respectively. The continental shelf of Onslow and Long Bays consists predominantly of outcropping Cretaceous through late Tertiary geologic units. Nearshore these units are covered and incised by late Tertiary and Quaternary units. From oldest to youngest, formally recognized geologic units mapped as part of this study are the Late Cretaceous Peedee Formation-a muddy, fine- to medium-grained quartz sand with trace amounts of glauconite and phosphate; the Paleocene Beaufort Formation-a muddy, fine- to medium-grained glauconitic quartz sand with locally occurring turritelid-mold biosparrudite; the middle Eocene Castle Hayne Formation-a sandy bryozoan biomicrudite and biosparrudite; the Oligocene River Bend Formation-a sandy molluscan-mold biosparrudite; and the Miocene Pungo River Formation-a medium-grained, poorly sorted slightly shelly phosphatic sand. Informal units include a very widespread, unnamed fine- to very fine grained, well-sorted, dolomitic muddy quartz sand that is biostratigraphically equivalent to the Oligocene River Bend Formation; several large valley-fill lithosomes composed of biomicrudite, biomicrite, and biosparrudite of Plio/Pleistocene age; muddy, shelly sands and silty clays of Pliocene, Pleistocene, or mixed Plio/Pleistocene age; and loose, slightly shelly, medium- to coarse-grained sands assigned a Holocene age. Heavy minerals (SG > 2.96) comprise an average of 0.54 wt% (on a bulk-sample basis) of the sediments in 306 samples derived from the 114 vibracores. Heavy-mineral content ranges from