upper Shark River/Absecon Inlet Formations

The transition to the ice-house world began in the late Eocene (Miller, et al., 1991) and was associated with a new phase of deposition on the mid Atlantic margin. Sediments on the shelf shifted from carbonate-rich clays to siliciclastics beginning onshore in the late middle Eocene, and culminating on the modern continental slope at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (Miller, et al., 1998). The sediments also changed the nature of the shelf from a carbonate ramp to a prograding siliciclastic margin that fully developed by the latest Oligocene (~27 Ma pulse; Miller, et al., 1997) to early Miocene. 

Upper Shark RIver Formation from the Millville corehole (501-502 ft) consisting of glauconite and quartz sand in a clay matrix.

Absecon Inlet Formation from the Ocean View corehole (1200.5-1201.5 ft) consisting of slightly sandy clay.

Oligocene (left)/Eocene (right) contact from the Ocean View corehole (1171.5 ft).