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THE PALYNOLOGY OF THE UPPER CRETACEOUS RARITAN FORMATION


made using these samples which con- tained larger quantities of pollen led to an agreement between them that pollen representing palynozone III (a continen- tal to marine transitional period) and palynozone IV were present. Based on this, the Cretaceous strata under the study area were confirmed as Upper Cretaceous in age (IT Corp.,1993).


In addition, Sirkin found pollen repre- senting palynozones II, IIB, IIC, V and VII in sediment samples from borings installed to the north of the study area and in samples from borings IT-011 and D12 (IT Corp., 1993). However, the author examined these sediment sam- ples and determined that the sediments all were Pleistocene glacial till and glacial sand. This finding suggests that sediment from the study area which had once comprised the Magothy Formation had been mixed with the glacial sedi- ments.


Discussion


Sirkin (1986) determined that the Raritan Formation of New Jersey con- tained palynozone IV pollen based upon his identification of the Cenomanian Stage indicator Complexiopollis- Atlantopollis assemblage. Additionally, Sirkin (1986) determined that the oldest pollen in the Raritan Formation under Long Island, New York belonged to paly- nozone IV. Other authors attributed the abundance and depth of occurrence of the Lower Cretaceous palynozone II, IIA, IIB and IIC pollen to downwarping of the Raritan Embayment. These authors also interpreted the presence of the palynozone II pollen as representing the updip onlap of the Patapsco Formation in the area of Staten Island (IT Corp., 1993). In contrast, this investigation does not evidence that the Albian Stage Patapsco Formation is present under the study area.


Considering the above, the Cretaceous sediments under the study area could be Cenomanian in age due to the presence of palynozone III and IV pollen. One also could interpret that the deposition of the Raritan Formation in the study area started earlier than on the Long Island Platform, making the formation time-transgressive.


Conclusion


IT Corp. et al., 1993, stated that the strata under the study represent- ed the Lower Cretaceous Patapsco Formation based on the dominance


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of Lower Cretaceous pollen. The sedi- mentology and stratigraphy of the Patapsco Formation differs from that of the Cretaceous sediments under the study area. The Patapsco Formation is described as comprising interlensing sands, silts and clays. The clay is thick and massive with laminated silt-clay successions and thinly interbedded fine sand and silty clays. Fine to medium sands predominate. Coarse grained sedi- ments with gravel and coarse sands are less common (Brenner, 1963; Glaser, 1969). However, Owens and Sohl (1969), Soren (1988), IT Corp (1993), Jengo (1995 and 2011) and Sugarman (1996), state that the Farrington Sand and the Lloyd Sand consist of fine to medium sand, with layers of coarse sand with gravel, and fines upward. They also state that the Woodbridge Clay and the Raritan Clay consist of a lower light gray unit with dense refractory clay at the bottom which is overlain by a dark gray unit consisting of very thinly bedded micaceous clay with thin layers of very fine sand. This author has determined from examining the sediment cores that the Lloyd Sand exists under the study area as a discrete thick layer of primarily very fine to very coarse sand with layers of gravelly sand. Also evident is that the Lloyd Sand is directly overlain by the Raritan Clay which contains a lower light gray, dense, refractory clay unit and an upper dark gray, micaceous, very thinly bedded clayey silt unit (Figures 3 and 4).


The information gained from the Fresh Kills Landfill and Brookfield Landfill hydrogeological investigations suggests that a division of the Upper Cretaceous sediments under the study area into the Lloyd Sand and the Raritan Clay is reasonable. These formational designa- tions were made based upon the sedi- mentology of each unit, the stratigraphic interrelationships, and similar manners of deposition to the Farrington Sand and Woodbridge Clay of New Jersey. Considering all of the information that had been generated by the study, the author interprets the areas from eastern New Jersey to Staten Island and Long Island as consisting of one contiguous depositional region.


References


Baskerville, C.A., 1965, A micropaleontologic study of Cretaceous sediments on Staten Island, New York, New York University doctoral dissertation, 65 pp.


Brenner, G.J., 1963, The spores and pollen of the Potomac Group of Maryland, Maryland Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources, Bulletin 27, 200 pp.


Buxton, H.T. Soren J., Posner, A., and Shernoff, P.K., 1981, Reconnaissance of the groundwater sources Kings and Queens counties, New York: U.S. Geol. Sur. Open File Report 81-1186, 59 pp.


Camp Dresser & McKee, 1998, Brookfield Avenue Landfill Remediation Proect, Final Remediation Investigation Report, 3 vols., New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Corona, NY, 2096 pp.


Christopher, R.A., 1977, The stratigraphic distribution of Normapolles and tripo- rate pollen in zones IV, V and VII of the Raritan and Magothy Formations (Upper Cretaceous) of New Jersey: American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Abstracts with Programs, 10th Annual Meeting, p. 7-8.


Christopher, R.A., 1979, Normapolles and triporate pollen assemblages from the Raritan and Magothy formations (Upper Cretaceous) of New Jersey: Palynology, v.3, p.73-122.


Doriski, T.P., and Widle-Katz, Francesca, 1983, Geology of the Twenty Foot Clay and Gardiners Clay in southern Nassau and southwestern Suffolk Counties, Long Island, NY, U.S.Geol.Sur. Water Resources Investigation Report 82-4056, 17 pp.


Doyle, J.A., 1969, Angiosperm pollen evolu- tion and biostratigraphy of the basal Cretaceous Formations of Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, Part 7, p. 51.


Doyle, J.A. and Robbins, E.I., 1977, Angiosperm pollen zonation of the conti- nental Cretaceous of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and its application to deep wells in the Salisbury embayment: Palynology, v.1, p. 43-78.


Glaser, J.D., 1969, Petrology and origin of Potomac and Magothy (Cretaceous) sediments; middle Atlantic Coastal Plain, Report of Investigations No. 11, Maryland Geological Survey, 102 pp.


International Technology Corporation, Wehran EnviroTech, and O’Brien & Gere, 1993, Fresh Kills Leachate Mitigation System Proect Final Hydrogeological Report, City of New York, Department of Sanitation, 39 volumes, 22,722 pp.


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