The Upper Cretaceous formations (Table 1) are lithologically very similar and consist of 

 semiconsolidated clays, silts, glauconitic sands and sandy quartz gravels. Tertiary age 

 Hornerstown and Vincentown consist primarily of glauconitic sands whereas the Cohansey 

 consists of medium to coarse quartz sand. All of the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations are 

 apparently the result of deposition in a marine environment. (Johnson and Richards, 1952), 

 (Carter, 1972.) 



Total thickness of Pleistocene and Recent sediments varies greatly in the northern New 

 Jersey area. The Pleistocene sediments, usually assigned to the Cape May Formation 

 (Sangamon Age), consist primarily of mixtures of sand and gravel which are derived from 

 erosion and reworking of older Coastal Plain sediments or the result of fluvial transport and 

 deposition by the ancestral Raritan, Hudson, Navesink, and Shrewsbury Rivers. The Raritan 

 and Hudson Rivers flowed through glaciated terrain to the north during Pleistocene glacial 

 stages and because of the unconsolidated nature of the till, large volumes of assorted 

 detritus were spread as a veneer on the then exposed land areas south of the actual terminal 

 moraines. Recent sediments appear to be a combination of reworked glacial outwash and an 

 almost insignificant contribution of fine silts and clays transported by the local rivers. 

 Probably the largest contemporary source of sediment results from ocean disposal of waste 

 material from the New York metropolitan area (Gross, 1972.) 



c. Water Movement and Circulation Patterns. Water motion and circulation patterns of 

 the surface and bottom water masses in the New York Bight region have been investigated in 

 the past with limited success. (Ketchum, Redfield, and Ayers, 1951), (Bumpus, 1965.) This 

 region is an extremely complex system involving the interaction of tidal and wind-driven 

 currents being acted upon and modified by freshwater discharge from the Hudson, Raritan, 

 Shrewsbury, and Navesink Rivers. Each of these contributors changes regularly and the 

 whole interacting system adjusts in an attempt to maintain a semiequilibrium condition of 

 water mass movement in and out of the New York estuary. Because winds, tides and 

 freshwater discharges change so frequently it is difficult to obtain an accurate synoptic view 

 of the complete New York Bight water mass circulation system; however, generalized 

 observations can be presented. 



Because of the bight orientation the primary direction of floodtide approach is 

 east-southeast. Jeffries (1962), found that floodtides enter the Lower Bay through Ambrose 

 Channel; at initiation of flood, ebb flow exists both at the surface and the bottom of the 

 channel. Jeffries also found that ebbtides exceed floodtides by 10 percent more volume; this 

 is, no doubt, related to freshwater discharge into Lower Bay from the area rivers. Ketchum, 

 Redfield, and Ayers (1951), have estimated the duration of total flushing of bay water to be 

 6 to 10 days and more dependent on tidal oscillations rather than on river discharges. 



Wind-driven currents affect surface water down to variable depths. Because winds 

 predominate from the northwest except during July and August, the net surface water 

 movement is southeast. During these two months the predominate wind directions are from 



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