PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF THE PALEOCENE-EOCENE RECORD OF A MID-ATLANTIC SHALLOW-MARINE SECTION: THE WOODLAND BEACH CORE, DELAWARE

The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is a global warming event found within a long-term warming trend in the early Cenozoic Era (56 million years ago). The PETM has been detected in the marine paleoclimate record as a sudden global temperature increase of approximately 5°C with an associated increase in the amount of 13C-depleted carbon in the ocean. Drill cores from New Jersey and Virginia, USA show that shallow-marine deposits of the Marlsboro Clay/Formation recorded the PETM event. In this study, the Woodland Beach Core drilled in northern Delaware for the Delaware Geological Survey is examined for evidence of the PETM. The core is investigated using microfauna assemblages and geochemical data, and core photoscans to assess the possible presence of the PETM, the nature of depositional changes stratigraphically around the P/E boundary, and to search for a potential record of Milankovitch cycles. Preliminary observations suggest that Woodland Beach Core sediments near the PETM are different from typical kaolinite-clay-rich silts of the Marlsboro in other cores in the Mid-Atlantic region. Both planktonic and benthic foraminifera are present throughout the P/E boundary interval. Photoscans of the upper Vincentown to lower Manasquan formations detect 0.3-0.5 ft sedimentary cycling; longer cycles are masked by 2-ft artifacts, and spectral analysis suggests that multiple hiatuses occur in the section.