1964; Kilboume, 1970; Schnitiker, 1971; Sen Gupta, 1972; Meisburger and 

 Field, 1976). The inner shelf zone generally lies between the shore and 

 water depths of 15 meters (49 feet) and is dominated by the species of 



ElphidiwTij Quinquelocutinaj and Ammonia. 



Foraminifera in most of the surficial deposits of the study are 

 typical of the dominance of species in the inner shelf assemblage. A 

 few cores from near the seaward limits of the study area contain fauna 

 with some characteristic midshelf types, particularly Peneroplis proteus 

 d'Orbigny. A few cores from the shorewardmost locales contained assem- 

 blages strongly dominated by species of Ammonia and Elphidium. Meisburger 

 and Field (1976) found a similar fauna to be characteristic of a nearshore 

 subzone, roughly coincident with the shoreface; Kilboume (1970) reported 

 that off Georgia these two genera were dominant throughout the entire 

 inner shelf zone. 



2. Evolution of the Inner Shelf Zone . 



a. General . The topography and sediments on the inner shelf of the 

 Cape Fear Region, as with most of the Atlantic shelf province, reflect 

 both modem and relict events. For example, some of the events which 

 have shaped the gross morphology of the Cape Fear shelf region are clearly 

 related to structural, erosional, and depositional processes that occurred 

 during or before the Tertiary period. The present morphology of the shelf 

 surface with its characteristic low relief was probably established by 

 planation of the Tertiary substrate during the repeated recession- 

 transgression cycles consequent to Plio-Pleistocene glacial events. This 

 pre-Holocene surface probably corresponds in most places to the blue 

 reflector which was used as the isopach datum in Figures 7 and 8. It 

 seems unlikely that the relatively rapid Holocene transgression materially 

 affected the existing gross morphology of the shelf floor in most places. 

 However, the prominent Frying Pan and Lookout shoals are exceptions and 

 may have been established during the transgression (Swift, et al., 1972). 



Shelf sediment distribution patterns were significantly affected by 

 glacioeustatic sea level fluctuations, particularly by the mid-Wisconsin 

 eustatic fall of sea level and its subsequent rise during the early and 

 middle Holocene. The minimum sea level stage reached during the mid- 

 Wisconsin low was about 122 meters below present level; thus, the entire 

 shelf off Cape Fear was exposed to subaerial processes. During the sub- 

 sequent Holocene transgression each part of the shelf came, in turn, under 

 the influence of shallow marine processes and environmental conditions 

 followed by gradually deepening water as sea level rose to its present 

 worldwide stand. 



It is generally believed that eustatic sea level reached it lowest 

 stand some 15,000 to 19,000 years ago and the present stand about 3,000 

 years ago (Curray, 1965; Milliman and Emery, 1972). In most places, sea 

 level today seems to be rising slowly (see Lisitzin, 1974). This rise 

 is, however, considerably less than that which existed before about 3,000 

 years ago. 



63 



