A REVIEW OF CENOZOIC EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED-STATES ATLANTIC COAST NORTH OF THE GEORGIA TROUGH

From late Eocene or Oligocene to the present the pattern of cyclic sediment deposition on the Atlantic coastal plain of the southeastern United States is the product of: (1) a relatively stable trailing edge continental margin with gentle downwarping; (2) deposition of siliciclastics by major Appalachian Mountain and Piedmont draining rivers and shelf generated carbonates; (3) a humid temperate to subtropical climate; (4) a mesotidal coast with moderate wave energy and periodic tropical storms; (5) dominant longshore drift towards the southwest; (6) a history of sea level change that was moderately submergent from late Cretaceous through late Eocene or Oligocene and mildly emergent during the Neogene. Intermittent fluctuations in sea level (up to 100 m in the Neogene) subdivide the stratigraphy as unconformities during the late Oligocene through Holocene, but are less pronounced in the Paleogene. Each of these six factors has influenced the geomorphology, sedimentation, stratigraphy, petrology and geometry of the Cenozoic sedimentary units and the diversity of surficial Quaternary coastal deposits. During the Quaternary sea level change would have been produced by glacial-interglacial cycles. The late Eocene-Oligocene to early Miocene and the late Miocene transition experienced a major sea level decline influenced by ice cap formation in addition to climatic cycle induced sea level fluctuations.