Lucy Edwards
Lucy Edwards is a Scientist Emeritus at the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center.
Lucy E Edwards focuses her research on the stratigraphy of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. Her specialty is dinoflagellates (a type of algae), and she studies their fossil cysts for what they reveal about the time and environment of deposition and how they came to be preserved in the fossil record. She also specializes in stratigraphic nomenclature and methods of stratigraphic correlation.
Mentorship/Outreach
- Courses taught at George Washington University, Indiana University, University of Kansas, University of Oslo, George Mason University, Türkiye Petrolleri AO.
Professional Experience
1974, 1975 (summers) Biostratigrapher, Exxon Production Research Co., Houston, TX
1977-2018 Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA
2018-present Scientist Emerita, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA
Education and Certifications
B.A. (Honors College), 1972, Geology, University of Oregon
Ph. D., 1977, Geological Sciences, University of California, Riverside
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Association for Advancement of Science (Fellow)
Geological Society of America (Fellow)
North American Micropaleontology Section of the Society for Sedimentary Geology
The Paleontological Society (Fellow)
The Palynological Society
American Geophysical Union
USGS representative to North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature
Science and Products
Post-middle Miocene origin of modern landforms in the eastern Piedmont of Virginia
A new species of Pentadinium from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Pentadinium galileoi
Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure Deep Drilling Project completes coring
Hydrogeology, water quality, and saltwater intrusion in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in the offshore area near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Tybee Island, Georgia, 1999-2002
Paleontology of the upper Eocene to quaternary postimpact section in the USGS-NASA Langley core, Hampton, Virginia
Recent research on the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USA - Impact debris and reworked ejecta
North American Commission on stratigraphic nomenclature
Drilling the central crater of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: A first look
ICDP-USGS workshop on deep drilling in the central Crater of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA: Proceedings volume
Supergroup stratigraphy of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains (Middle? Jurassic through holocene, Eastern North America)
Impact damage to dinocysts from the Late Eocene Chesapeake Bay event
Palynology of Eocene strata in the Sagavanirktok and Canning Formations on the North Slope of Alaska
Science and Products
- Maps
- Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 105
Post-middle Miocene origin of modern landforms in the eastern Piedmont of Virginia
Diverse late middle Miocene dinoflagellate floras, obtained from two sites along the western edge of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in central Virginia, indicate that the eastern Virginia Piedmont was covered by marine waters about 12-13 Ma. This transgression extended farther westward across the Virginia Piedmont than any other transgression that has been documented. Extensive fluvial deposits that mAuthorsRobert E. Weems, Lucy E. EdwardsA new species of Pentadinium from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Pentadinium galileoi
The new gonyaulacoid dinoflagellate Pentadinium galileoi Sancay et al., sp. nov. from the Oligocene-Lower Miocene sediments of Eastern Anatolia has been identified. It is spherical, chordate with prominant discoidal cingulum and distally furcate apical, sulcal, and antapical processes. It has a type P(3???) archeopyle, and periarcheopyle is larger than endoarcheopyle. Tabulation is distinct and itAuthorsR.H. Sancay, Z. Bati, Lucy E. Edwards, K.I. ErtugChesapeake Bay Impact Structure Deep Drilling Project completes coring
No abstract available.AuthorsGregory Gohn, C. Koeberl, K.G. Miller, W.U. Reimold, Oleg Abramov, Wilma B. Alemán‑González, N. Bach, K. Blazej, J. Browning, T. Bruce, C. Budet, L. M. Bybell, E.F. Cobbs, Eugene Cobbs, C. Cockell, Barbara S. Corland, Colleen T. Durand, H. Dypvik, J. Eckberg, Lucy E. Edwards, S. Eichenauer, T. Elbra, A.J. Elmore, J. GlidewellHydrogeology, water quality, and saltwater intrusion in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in the offshore area near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Tybee Island, Georgia, 1999-2002
To assess the hydrogeology, water quality, and the potential for saltwater intrusion in the offshore Upper Floridan aquifer, a scientific investigation was conducted near Tybee Island, Georgia, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Four temporary wells were drilled at 7, 8, 10, and 15 miles to the northeast of Tybee Island, and one temporary well was drilled in Calibogue Sound west of Hilton HeaAuthorsW. Fred Falls, Camille Ransom, James Landmeyer, Eric J. Reuber, Lucy E. EdwardsPaleontology of the upper Eocene to quaternary postimpact section in the USGS-NASA Langley core, Hampton, Virginia
The USGS-NASA Langley corehole was drilled in 2000 in Hampton, Va. The core serves as a benchmark for the study of calcareous nannofossils, dinoflagellates, diatoms and silico flagellates, mollusks, ostracodes, planktonic foraminifera and bolboformids, and vertebrate remains in the upper Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene sediments in southeastern Virginia. These sediments were deposited aftAuthorsLucy E. Edwards, John A. Barron, David Bukry, Laurel M. Bybell, Thomas M. Cronin, C. Wylie Poag, Robert E. Weems, G. Lynn WingardRecent research on the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USA - Impact debris and reworked ejecta
Four new coreholes in the western annular trough of the buried, late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure provide samples of shocked minerals, cataclastic rocks, possible impact melt, mixed sediments, and damaged microfossils. Parautochthonous Cretaceous sediments show an upward increase in collapse, sand fluidization, and mixed sediment injections. These impact-modified sediments are scoured anAuthorsJ. Wright Horton, John N. Aleinikoff, Michael J. Kunk, Gregory S. Gohn, Lucy E. Edwards, Jean M. Self-Trail, David S. Powars, Glen A. IzettNorth American Commission on stratigraphic nomenclature
No abstract available.AuthorsR. M. Easton, J.O. Jones, A.C. Lenz, Ismael Ferrusquia-Villafranca, E. A. Mancini, Bruce R. Wardlaw, Lucy E. Edwards, B.R. PrattDrilling the central crater of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: A first look
The late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure is a well‐preserved example of one of Earth's largest impact craters, and its continental‐shelf setting and relatively shallow burial make it an excellent target for study. Since the discovery of the structure over a decade ago [Edwards et al., 2004; Poag et al., 2004], test drilling by U.S. federal and state agencies has been limited to the structurAuthorsWard E. Sanford, Gregory Gohn, David S. Powars, J. Wright Horton, Lucy E. Edwards, Jean Self-Trail, Roger H. MorinICDP-USGS workshop on deep drilling in the central Crater of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA: Proceedings volume
No abstract available.AuthorsLucy E. Edwards, J. Wright Horton, Gregory S. GohnSupergroup stratigraphy of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains (Middle? Jurassic through holocene, Eastern North America)
An inclusive supergroup stratigraphic framework for the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains is proposed herein. This framework consists of five supergroups that 1) are regionally inclusive and regionally applicable, 2) meaningfully reflect the overall stratigraphic and structural history of the Coastal Plains geologic province of the southeastern United States, and 3) create stratigraphic units thatAuthorsRobert E. Weems, Jean Self-Trail, Lucy E. EdwardsImpact damage to dinocysts from the Late Eocene Chesapeake Bay event
The Chesapeake Bay impact structure, formed by a comet or meteorite that struck the Virginia continental shelf about 35.5 million years ago, is the focus of an extensive coring project by the U.S. Geological Survey and its cooperators. Organic-walled dinocysts recovered from impact-generated deposits in a deep core inside the 85-90 km-wide crater include welded organic clumps and fused, partiallyAuthorsLucy E. Edwards, David S. PowarsPalynology of Eocene strata in the Sagavanirktok and Canning Formations on the North Slope of Alaska
This paper describes, illustrates, and interprets Eocene palynomorph assemblages from the North Slope of Alaska, mainly from 31 outcrop samples from seven stratigraphic sections at Franklin Bluffs on the Sagavanirktok River. The top of the Sagwon Member of the Sagavanirktok Formation is shown to be a thin, coaly, apparently nonmarine sequence almost certainly of early Eocene age; the remainder ofAuthorsNorman O. Frederiksen, Lucy E. Edwards, Thomas A. Ager, Thomas P. Sheehan
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government