The Chesapeake Bay Crater


Book Description

The authors have synthesized 16 years of geological and geophysical studies which document an 85-km-wide impact crater buried 500 m beneath Chesapeake Bay in south eastern Virginia, USA. In doing so, they have integrated extensive seismic reflection profiling and deep core drilling to analyze the structure, morphology, gravimetrics, sedimentology, petrology, geochemistry, and paleontology of this submarine structure. Of special interest are a detailed comparison with other terrestrial and extraterrestrial craters, as well as a conceptual model and computer simulation of the impact. The extensive illustrations encompass more than 150 line drawings and core photographs.
















The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure


Book Description

"In 2005 and 2006, an international deep drilling project, conceived and organized under the auspices of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program and the U.S. Geological Survey, continuously cored three boreholes to a total depth of 1.766 km near the center of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure in Northampton County, Virginia. This volume presents the initial results of geologic, petrographic, geochemical, paleontologic, geophysical, hydrologic, and microbiologic analyses of the Eyreville cores, which constitute a step forward in our understanding of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure and marine impact structures in general. The editors have organized this extensive volume into the following sections: geologic columns; borehole geophysical studies; regional geophysical studies; crystalline rocks, impactites, and impact models; sedimentary breccias; post-impact sediments; hydrologic and geothermal studies; and microbiologic studies. The multidisciplinary approach to the study of this impact structure should provide a valuable example for future scientific drilling investigations."--Publisher's description.