Kenneth R Miller II - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Kenneth R Miller II
Operations: Cobbs, Cobbs III, McLaughlin, Miller Lithostratigraphy: Baxter, Browning, Cramer, Her... more Operations: Cobbs, Cobbs III, McLaughlin, Miller Lithostratigraphy: Baxter, Browning, Cramer, Hernandez, Katz, McLaughlin, McKenna, Miller, Monteverde, Pekar, Ramsey, Strohmeier, Sugarman, Uptegrove Biostratigraphy: Spores, pollen, and dinocysts: ...
This white paper is based on a workshop report (Fulthorpe et al., 2008a) that identifies two fund... more This white paper is based on a workshop report (Fulthorpe et al., 2008a) that identifies two fundamental objectives for sea-level studies: 1) determine the pattern of global sea-level (eustatic) change and identify and quantify the mechanisms responsible for eustatic change through geological time, and 2) define the sedimentary and sequence stratigraphic responses to eustatic change in siliciclastic, carbonates and mixed depositional settings. Strategies for achieving these objectives include applying a drilling transect approach (integrating offshore and onshore drilling transects) to both icehouse and greenhouse targets and extending the approach to active margins to complement ongoing passive-margin drilling. Only through IODP drilling can we decipher the origin of the preserved stratigraphic record on continental margins and, in particular, quantify the record of global sea-level change (eustasy). Continental margin sediments, deposited within a few hundred meters of sea level, ...
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150 Scientific Results, 1996
Drilling on the New Jersey continental slope and rise provides an Eocene bathyal to abyssal depth... more Drilling on the New Jersey continental slope and rise provides an Eocene bathyal to abyssal depth transect and an Oligocene to Miocene bathyal transect that allow the calibration of benthic foraminiferal abundance changes to independent depth estimates through time. New Jersey Transect benthic foraminiferal faunal changes reflect global, regional, and local influences and provide constraints on paleobathymetry and sediment provenance. The New Jersey Transect yields cosmopolitan Eocene deep-water benthic foraminiferal faunas. Early to middle Eocene bathyal biofacies are characterized by Lenticulina spp., Alabamina wilcoxensis, and Osangularia spp., whereas coeval abyssal locations contain a deeper Nuttallides truempyi-dominated biofacies. A late middle Eocene shift to a bathyal biofacies dominated by Osαngulαriα spp., Buliminα αlαzαnensis, and Pulleniα bulloides reflects a global event that affected bathyal and abyssal sites. However, we lack an abyssal record to evaluate the full regional impact of this global event. Late Eocene bathyal faunas on the New Jersey Transect contain high abundances of Buliminα αlαzαnensis (up to 50%), similar to peak B. αlαzαnensis abundances reported from other Atlantic locations. We speculate that this uniform biofacies indicates that circum-Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico sites were ventilated by similar intermediate to upper deep-water masses in the late Eocene. A cosmopolitan Lenticulina spp.-dominated biofacies prevailed in the Oligocene to early Miocene bathyal zone; polymorphinids and A. wilcoxensis were common secondary components of this biofacies. A Uvigerina hispida-B. alazanensis-dominated biofacies characterized the middle Miocene. A coeval increase in Uvigerina spp.-dominated faunas occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, indicating that this increase may be regional in extent. The shift from the Lenticulina spp.-dominated biofacies to the Uvigerina hispida-B. alazanensis-dommatQá biofacies may be the regional expression of a global late early to early middle Miocene benthic foraminiferal turnover event and associated abundance changes. Oligocene to Miocene benthic foraminiferal biofacies changes at the slope sites exhibit sequence stratigraphic variations: (1) downslope-transported shelf taxa above several sequence boundaries (this may represent the slope expression of the shelf lowstand systems tracts) and in the upper parts of several sequences (within the slope equivalent of the shelf highstand systems tracts); (2) a preponderance of U. proboscidea occurs in the lower parts of several sequences (this may represent in situ biofacies within the slope expression of the lowstand systems tracts); (3) higher abundances of Stilostomella spp. occur in the upper parts of several sequences (this may represent the slope equivalent of the highstand systems tracts); and (4) and higher abundances of M. pompilioides span several sequence boundaries. We tentatively interpret the sections immediately above sequence boundaries as correlative to the lowstand systems tracts on the shelf. These sections contain predominantly in situ faunas with minor abundances of transported benthic foraminifers (<10% of the total fauna). Minor abundances of transported benthic foraminifers reappear in the upper parts of several sequences, and may reflect minor shedding of shelf sediments during highstand systems tracts progradation on the shelf. Sedimentation in the early middle Miocene and older intervals was dominated by pelagic settling at our slope sites (as it is today), and there is little benthic foraminiferal evidence for widespread downslope transport prior to the middle middle Miocene at our sites. In the Leg 150 region of the New Jersey slope, a dramatic change in the dominant mode of sedimentation occurred between Reflectors m3 (13.5 Ma) and m2 (12.5 Ma). This change is indicated by (1) a major increase in downslope transport of neritic (shelf) species; (2) dramatically increased sedimentation rates (>60 cm/yr); (3) increased terrigenous input; (4) submarine channel cutting; (5) high terrestrial carbon input; and (6) mobilization of biogenic carbonate to form diagenetic nodules. Transported benthic foraminifers dominate the upper middle Miocene to Pleistocene section of the slope cores, reflecting increased sediment supply due to the progradation of clinoforms that progressed from 90 km landward of Site 903 in the early Miocene to -60 km landward in the middle Miocene to less than 20 km landward in the Pleistocene. Cibicidoides eocaenus (Gümbel) Cibicidoides eocaenus/praemundulus intergrade Cibicidoides grimsdalei (Nuttall) Cibicidoides grosseperforatus van Morkhoven and Berggren Cibicidoides haitiensis (Coryell and Rivero) Cibicidoides havanensis (Cushman and Bermúdez) Cibicidoides havanensis/praemundulus intergrade Cibicidoides laurisae (Mallory) Cibicidoides micrus Bermúdez Cibicidoides mundulus (Brady, Parker, and Jones) Cibicidoides aff. mundulus Cibicidoides osangularis Cibicidoides pachyderma (Rzehak) Cibicidoides perlucidus (Nuttall) Cibicidoides popeliensis Myatlyuk Cibicidoides praemundulus Berggren and Miller Cibicidoides aff. praemundulus Cibicidoides? praemundulus Cibicidoides robertsonianus (Brady) Cibicidoides subhaidingerii (Parr) Cibicidoides subspiratus (Nuttall) Cibicidoides sp. A
Open-File Report, 2007
The imperfect direct record of Antarctic glaciation has led to the delayed recognition of the ini... more The imperfect direct record of Antarctic glaciation has led to the delayed recognition of the initiation of a continentsized ice sheet. Early studies interpreted initiation in the middle Miocene (ca 15 Ma). Most current studies place the first ice sheet in the earliest Oligocene (33.55 Ma), but there is physical evidence for glaciation in the Eocene. Though there are inherent limitations in sea-level and deep-sea isotope records, both place constraints on the size and extent of Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic Antarctic ice sheets. Sealevel records argue that small-to medium-size (typically 10-12 × 10 6 km 3 ) ephemeral ice sheets occurred during the greenhouse world of the Late Cretaceous to middle Eocene. Deep-sea δ 18 O records show increases associated with many of these greenhouse sea-level falls, consistent with their attribution to ice-sheet growth. Global cooling began in the middle Eocene and culminated with the major earliest Oligocene (33.55 Ma) growth of a large (25 × 10 6 km 3 ) Antarctic ice sheet that caused a 55-70 m eustatic fall and a 1‰ δ 18 O increase. This large ice sheet became a driver of climate change, not just a response to it, causing increased latitudinal thermal gradients and a spinning up of the oceans that, in turn, caused a dramatic reorganization of ocean circulation and chemistry.
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Paleoceanography, 2017
We present orbital‐scale resolution (~10 kyr) benthic foraminiferal δ18O and δ13C records from th... more We present orbital‐scale resolution (~10 kyr) benthic foraminiferal δ18O and δ13C records from the Kerguelen Plateau (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 751 and 747) from 14.5 to 20.0 Ma spanning the Miocene climate optimum (15–17 Ma). Our records fill a critical gap from ~17 to 18 Ma, a time when many other deep‐sea records are affected by dissolution. We tested the fidelity of published magnetobiostratigraphic age models for these sites by astronomically tuning to the 405 kyr eccentricity cycle. A comparison of spectral estimates between the untuned and tuned records, as well as coherency with Laskar's (2004) eccentricity solution, revealed quasi‐100 kyr cyclicity in δ18O and δ13C. There is only a weak signal associated with the 41 kyr obliquity cycle, likely due to the 10 kyr sampling limiting resolution. The δ18O variations point to persistent 405 and quasi‐100 kyr modulations of temperature and sea level changes through the early to middle Miocene as predicted by astronomical sol...
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150 Scientific Results, 1996
We analyzed specimens of mixed planktonic foraminifer species for Sr isotopes from the Oligocene ... more We analyzed specimens of mixed planktonic foraminifer species for Sr isotopes from the Oligocene to middle Miocene sections from boreholes (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 902, 903, 904, and 906; and outcrops on the New Jersey continental slope. We concentrated on the upper Oligocene-middle Miocene at Sites 903 and 904 (444 and 1129 m present water depth, respectively), the upper Oligocene-lowermost Miocene at Site 902 (811m water depth), and slope outcrops in Carteret and Lindenkohl canyons. Sr-isotopic age estimates of the Ocean Drilling Program boreholes provide a good stratigraphic framework for upper Oligocene to middle Miocene sections, overcoming problems with rare calcareous plankton zonal markers. When integrated with ongoing biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic studies, the Leg 150 sites will provide a precise chronology of slope reflectors that also correlate with sequences boundaries traced under the continental shelf. Preliminary integration is encouraging: (1) nine of the 10 Oligocene to middle Miocene slope reflectors (sequence boundaries) correlate with global δ 18 θ increases and with sequence boundaries in the onshore New Jersey coastal plain, arguing for a causal link between formation of sequence boundaries and glacioeustatic lowerings; and (2) several hiatuses on the slope also correlate with reflectors and the major δ 18 θ increases, although many of the seismic reflectors appear to be conformable at the slope boreholes. Outcrop studies date a major change in depositional regime in the earliest Oligocene; this "siliciclastic switch" from an Eocene carbonate ramp to a starved siliciclastic early Oligocene margin correlates with a global δ 18 θ increase and a regional cooling. Sediment starvation in the early Oligocene resulted in a poorly preserved record on the slope. Sedimentation rates subsequently increased in the middle Oligocene on the entire margin, when prograding clinoforms appeared beneath the modern shelf and rates increased again in the early to middle Miocene. We attribute this progradational change to lower long-term sea level, although hinterland tectonics may have played an important role.
Reviews of Geophysics, 1998
The New Jersey Sea Level Transect was designed to evaluate the relationships among global sea lev... more The New Jersey Sea Level Transect was designed to evaluate the relationships among global sea level (eustatic) change, unconformity‐bounded sequences, and variations in subsidence, sediment supply, and climate on a passive continental margin. By sampling and dating Cenozoic strata from coastal plain and continental slope locations, we show that sequence boundaries correlate (within ±0.5 myr) regionally (onshore‐offshore) and interregionally (New Jersey‐Alabama‐Bahamas), implicating a global cause. Sequence boundaries correlate with δ18O increases for at least the past 42 myr, consistent with an ice volume (glacioeustatic) control, although a causal relationship is not required because of uncertainties in ages and correlations. Evidence for a causal connection is provided by preliminary Miocene data from slope Site 904 that directly link δ18O increases with sequence boundaries. We conclude that variation in the size of ice sheets has been a primary control on the formation of sequenc...
Marine Geology, 1999
We have reconstructed the Oligocene to Middle Miocene paleobathymetry and stratigraphy of the New... more We have reconstructed the Oligocene to Middle Miocene paleobathymetry and stratigraphy of the New Jersey margin using a modified backstripping technique. By analyzing the geometry of the margin through time, we investigate its response to fluctuating sea level, changing climate, and variable sediment supply during the Tertiary. The reconstructions reveal a change in the margin morphology from a more steeply dipping (1 : 300 to 1 : 500) carbonate ramp in the Eocene to a flatter shelf with a sharp shelf edge at present. This was accomplished by an increase in the terrigenous sediment supply that filled available accommodation and caused progradation across the margin. We link the increase in sediment flux with climatic cooling rather than tectonic processes. The progradation is evidenced by a series of clinoforms whose formation was modulated by sea level and which extend over 100 km across the shelf. The height and dip of the clinoforms increased as they extended onto the deeper parts of the earlier ramp. The Miocene clinoform rollovers at the New Jersey margin had water depths of ¾60-130 m and are interpreted as the edge of a new continental shelf built over the older ramp. Sea-level fall was probably insufficient to drive the Miocene shorelines past the shelf breaks. Thus, measurements of sea-level amplitude based upon 'coastal' onlap over the clinoforms are not reliable.
Marine and Petroleum Geology, 1996
The sedimentary fill of the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand, is the product of a long-term (80 Ma),... more The sedimentary fill of the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand, is the product of a long-term (80 Ma), tectonically controlled relative sea-level cycle with a megasequence geometry analogous to the sequence stratigraphic model of Vail (Am. Assoc.
Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2008
Operations: Cobbs, Cobbs III, McLaughlin, Miller Lithostratigraphy: Baxter, Browning, Cramer, Her... more Operations: Cobbs, Cobbs III, McLaughlin, Miller Lithostratigraphy: Baxter, Browning, Cramer, Hernandez, Katz, McLaughlin, McKenna, Miller, Monteverde, Pekar, Ramsey, Strohmeier, Sugarman, Uptegrove Biostratigraphy: Spores, pollen, and dinocysts: ...
This white paper is based on a workshop report (Fulthorpe et al., 2008a) that identifies two fund... more This white paper is based on a workshop report (Fulthorpe et al., 2008a) that identifies two fundamental objectives for sea-level studies: 1) determine the pattern of global sea-level (eustatic) change and identify and quantify the mechanisms responsible for eustatic change through geological time, and 2) define the sedimentary and sequence stratigraphic responses to eustatic change in siliciclastic, carbonates and mixed depositional settings. Strategies for achieving these objectives include applying a drilling transect approach (integrating offshore and onshore drilling transects) to both icehouse and greenhouse targets and extending the approach to active margins to complement ongoing passive-margin drilling. Only through IODP drilling can we decipher the origin of the preserved stratigraphic record on continental margins and, in particular, quantify the record of global sea-level change (eustasy). Continental margin sediments, deposited within a few hundred meters of sea level, ...
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150 Scientific Results, 1996
Drilling on the New Jersey continental slope and rise provides an Eocene bathyal to abyssal depth... more Drilling on the New Jersey continental slope and rise provides an Eocene bathyal to abyssal depth transect and an Oligocene to Miocene bathyal transect that allow the calibration of benthic foraminiferal abundance changes to independent depth estimates through time. New Jersey Transect benthic foraminiferal faunal changes reflect global, regional, and local influences and provide constraints on paleobathymetry and sediment provenance. The New Jersey Transect yields cosmopolitan Eocene deep-water benthic foraminiferal faunas. Early to middle Eocene bathyal biofacies are characterized by Lenticulina spp., Alabamina wilcoxensis, and Osangularia spp., whereas coeval abyssal locations contain a deeper Nuttallides truempyi-dominated biofacies. A late middle Eocene shift to a bathyal biofacies dominated by Osαngulαriα spp., Buliminα αlαzαnensis, and Pulleniα bulloides reflects a global event that affected bathyal and abyssal sites. However, we lack an abyssal record to evaluate the full regional impact of this global event. Late Eocene bathyal faunas on the New Jersey Transect contain high abundances of Buliminα αlαzαnensis (up to 50%), similar to peak B. αlαzαnensis abundances reported from other Atlantic locations. We speculate that this uniform biofacies indicates that circum-Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico sites were ventilated by similar intermediate to upper deep-water masses in the late Eocene. A cosmopolitan Lenticulina spp.-dominated biofacies prevailed in the Oligocene to early Miocene bathyal zone; polymorphinids and A. wilcoxensis were common secondary components of this biofacies. A Uvigerina hispida-B. alazanensis-dominated biofacies characterized the middle Miocene. A coeval increase in Uvigerina spp.-dominated faunas occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, indicating that this increase may be regional in extent. The shift from the Lenticulina spp.-dominated biofacies to the Uvigerina hispida-B. alazanensis-dommatQá biofacies may be the regional expression of a global late early to early middle Miocene benthic foraminiferal turnover event and associated abundance changes. Oligocene to Miocene benthic foraminiferal biofacies changes at the slope sites exhibit sequence stratigraphic variations: (1) downslope-transported shelf taxa above several sequence boundaries (this may represent the slope expression of the shelf lowstand systems tracts) and in the upper parts of several sequences (within the slope equivalent of the shelf highstand systems tracts); (2) a preponderance of U. proboscidea occurs in the lower parts of several sequences (this may represent in situ biofacies within the slope expression of the lowstand systems tracts); (3) higher abundances of Stilostomella spp. occur in the upper parts of several sequences (this may represent the slope equivalent of the highstand systems tracts); and (4) and higher abundances of M. pompilioides span several sequence boundaries. We tentatively interpret the sections immediately above sequence boundaries as correlative to the lowstand systems tracts on the shelf. These sections contain predominantly in situ faunas with minor abundances of transported benthic foraminifers (<10% of the total fauna). Minor abundances of transported benthic foraminifers reappear in the upper parts of several sequences, and may reflect minor shedding of shelf sediments during highstand systems tracts progradation on the shelf. Sedimentation in the early middle Miocene and older intervals was dominated by pelagic settling at our slope sites (as it is today), and there is little benthic foraminiferal evidence for widespread downslope transport prior to the middle middle Miocene at our sites. In the Leg 150 region of the New Jersey slope, a dramatic change in the dominant mode of sedimentation occurred between Reflectors m3 (13.5 Ma) and m2 (12.5 Ma). This change is indicated by (1) a major increase in downslope transport of neritic (shelf) species; (2) dramatically increased sedimentation rates (>60 cm/yr); (3) increased terrigenous input; (4) submarine channel cutting; (5) high terrestrial carbon input; and (6) mobilization of biogenic carbonate to form diagenetic nodules. Transported benthic foraminifers dominate the upper middle Miocene to Pleistocene section of the slope cores, reflecting increased sediment supply due to the progradation of clinoforms that progressed from 90 km landward of Site 903 in the early Miocene to -60 km landward in the middle Miocene to less than 20 km landward in the Pleistocene. Cibicidoides eocaenus (Gümbel) Cibicidoides eocaenus/praemundulus intergrade Cibicidoides grimsdalei (Nuttall) Cibicidoides grosseperforatus van Morkhoven and Berggren Cibicidoides haitiensis (Coryell and Rivero) Cibicidoides havanensis (Cushman and Bermúdez) Cibicidoides havanensis/praemundulus intergrade Cibicidoides laurisae (Mallory) Cibicidoides micrus Bermúdez Cibicidoides mundulus (Brady, Parker, and Jones) Cibicidoides aff. mundulus Cibicidoides osangularis Cibicidoides pachyderma (Rzehak) Cibicidoides perlucidus (Nuttall) Cibicidoides popeliensis Myatlyuk Cibicidoides praemundulus Berggren and Miller Cibicidoides aff. praemundulus Cibicidoides? praemundulus Cibicidoides robertsonianus (Brady) Cibicidoides subhaidingerii (Parr) Cibicidoides subspiratus (Nuttall) Cibicidoides sp. A
Open-File Report, 2007
The imperfect direct record of Antarctic glaciation has led to the delayed recognition of the ini... more The imperfect direct record of Antarctic glaciation has led to the delayed recognition of the initiation of a continentsized ice sheet. Early studies interpreted initiation in the middle Miocene (ca 15 Ma). Most current studies place the first ice sheet in the earliest Oligocene (33.55 Ma), but there is physical evidence for glaciation in the Eocene. Though there are inherent limitations in sea-level and deep-sea isotope records, both place constraints on the size and extent of Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic Antarctic ice sheets. Sealevel records argue that small-to medium-size (typically 10-12 × 10 6 km 3 ) ephemeral ice sheets occurred during the greenhouse world of the Late Cretaceous to middle Eocene. Deep-sea δ 18 O records show increases associated with many of these greenhouse sea-level falls, consistent with their attribution to ice-sheet growth. Global cooling began in the middle Eocene and culminated with the major earliest Oligocene (33.55 Ma) growth of a large (25 × 10 6 km 3 ) Antarctic ice sheet that caused a 55-70 m eustatic fall and a 1‰ δ 18 O increase. This large ice sheet became a driver of climate change, not just a response to it, causing increased latitudinal thermal gradients and a spinning up of the oceans that, in turn, caused a dramatic reorganization of ocean circulation and chemistry.
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150X Scientific Results, 1997
Paleoceanography, 2017
We present orbital‐scale resolution (~10 kyr) benthic foraminiferal δ18O and δ13C records from th... more We present orbital‐scale resolution (~10 kyr) benthic foraminiferal δ18O and δ13C records from the Kerguelen Plateau (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 751 and 747) from 14.5 to 20.0 Ma spanning the Miocene climate optimum (15–17 Ma). Our records fill a critical gap from ~17 to 18 Ma, a time when many other deep‐sea records are affected by dissolution. We tested the fidelity of published magnetobiostratigraphic age models for these sites by astronomically tuning to the 405 kyr eccentricity cycle. A comparison of spectral estimates between the untuned and tuned records, as well as coherency with Laskar's (2004) eccentricity solution, revealed quasi‐100 kyr cyclicity in δ18O and δ13C. There is only a weak signal associated with the 41 kyr obliquity cycle, likely due to the 10 kyr sampling limiting resolution. The δ18O variations point to persistent 405 and quasi‐100 kyr modulations of temperature and sea level changes through the early to middle Miocene as predicted by astronomical sol...
Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 150 Scientific Results, 1996
We analyzed specimens of mixed planktonic foraminifer species for Sr isotopes from the Oligocene ... more We analyzed specimens of mixed planktonic foraminifer species for Sr isotopes from the Oligocene to middle Miocene sections from boreholes (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 902, 903, 904, and 906; and outcrops on the New Jersey continental slope. We concentrated on the upper Oligocene-middle Miocene at Sites 903 and 904 (444 and 1129 m present water depth, respectively), the upper Oligocene-lowermost Miocene at Site 902 (811m water depth), and slope outcrops in Carteret and Lindenkohl canyons. Sr-isotopic age estimates of the Ocean Drilling Program boreholes provide a good stratigraphic framework for upper Oligocene to middle Miocene sections, overcoming problems with rare calcareous plankton zonal markers. When integrated with ongoing biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic studies, the Leg 150 sites will provide a precise chronology of slope reflectors that also correlate with sequences boundaries traced under the continental shelf. Preliminary integration is encouraging: (1) nine of the 10 Oligocene to middle Miocene slope reflectors (sequence boundaries) correlate with global δ 18 θ increases and with sequence boundaries in the onshore New Jersey coastal plain, arguing for a causal link between formation of sequence boundaries and glacioeustatic lowerings; and (2) several hiatuses on the slope also correlate with reflectors and the major δ 18 θ increases, although many of the seismic reflectors appear to be conformable at the slope boreholes. Outcrop studies date a major change in depositional regime in the earliest Oligocene; this "siliciclastic switch" from an Eocene carbonate ramp to a starved siliciclastic early Oligocene margin correlates with a global δ 18 θ increase and a regional cooling. Sediment starvation in the early Oligocene resulted in a poorly preserved record on the slope. Sedimentation rates subsequently increased in the middle Oligocene on the entire margin, when prograding clinoforms appeared beneath the modern shelf and rates increased again in the early to middle Miocene. We attribute this progradational change to lower long-term sea level, although hinterland tectonics may have played an important role.
Reviews of Geophysics, 1998
The New Jersey Sea Level Transect was designed to evaluate the relationships among global sea lev... more The New Jersey Sea Level Transect was designed to evaluate the relationships among global sea level (eustatic) change, unconformity‐bounded sequences, and variations in subsidence, sediment supply, and climate on a passive continental margin. By sampling and dating Cenozoic strata from coastal plain and continental slope locations, we show that sequence boundaries correlate (within ±0.5 myr) regionally (onshore‐offshore) and interregionally (New Jersey‐Alabama‐Bahamas), implicating a global cause. Sequence boundaries correlate with δ18O increases for at least the past 42 myr, consistent with an ice volume (glacioeustatic) control, although a causal relationship is not required because of uncertainties in ages and correlations. Evidence for a causal connection is provided by preliminary Miocene data from slope Site 904 that directly link δ18O increases with sequence boundaries. We conclude that variation in the size of ice sheets has been a primary control on the formation of sequenc...
Marine Geology, 1999
We have reconstructed the Oligocene to Middle Miocene paleobathymetry and stratigraphy of the New... more We have reconstructed the Oligocene to Middle Miocene paleobathymetry and stratigraphy of the New Jersey margin using a modified backstripping technique. By analyzing the geometry of the margin through time, we investigate its response to fluctuating sea level, changing climate, and variable sediment supply during the Tertiary. The reconstructions reveal a change in the margin morphology from a more steeply dipping (1 : 300 to 1 : 500) carbonate ramp in the Eocene to a flatter shelf with a sharp shelf edge at present. This was accomplished by an increase in the terrigenous sediment supply that filled available accommodation and caused progradation across the margin. We link the increase in sediment flux with climatic cooling rather than tectonic processes. The progradation is evidenced by a series of clinoforms whose formation was modulated by sea level and which extend over 100 km across the shelf. The height and dip of the clinoforms increased as they extended onto the deeper parts of the earlier ramp. The Miocene clinoform rollovers at the New Jersey margin had water depths of ¾60-130 m and are interpreted as the edge of a new continental shelf built over the older ramp. Sea-level fall was probably insufficient to drive the Miocene shorelines past the shelf breaks. Thus, measurements of sea-level amplitude based upon 'coastal' onlap over the clinoforms are not reliable.
Marine and Petroleum Geology, 1996
The sedimentary fill of the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand, is the product of a long-term (80 Ma),... more The sedimentary fill of the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand, is the product of a long-term (80 Ma), tectonically controlled relative sea-level cycle with a megasequence geometry analogous to the sequence stratigraphic model of Vail (Am. Assoc.
Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2008