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Geologic evaluation of waste-storage potential in selected segments of the Mesozoic aquifer system below the zone of fresh water, Atlantic Coastal Plain, North Carolina through New Jersey

Professional Paper 881
By P.M. Brown and M.S. Reid

Abstract

This report describes the distribution of subsurface environments in the Atlantic Coastal Plain-North Carolina through New Jersey, that are seen to have geologic potential for the storage of toxic waste. The environments described consist of layers of sand or sandstone, 20 feet or more in thickness, that are immediately overlain and underlain by layers of shale or clay, 20 feet or more in thickness, and which occur in Units F, G, and H of Mesozoic age in areas where the top of each of these units lies at a depth equal to or greater than 1,500 feet below mean sea level.

Using a group of geologic parameters derived from or combining 20 categories of basic data, established from study of well cuttings and geophysical logs, a series of 18 regional maps was constructed. For each of three geologic units delineated in the subsurface, the maps illustrate the distribution of potential waste-storage reservoirs in terms of their areal extent, depth below land surface, and the thicknesses of the component reservoir and reservoir-seal rocks.

The depth of burial, physical character, and extent and thickness of the reservoirs that have waste-storage potential are variable. The range in variability appears to be broad enough to satisfy the geologic requirements for different types of waste storage.

Brown, P.M., and Reid, M.S., 1976, Geologic evaluation of waste-storage potential in selected segments of the Mesozoic aquifer system below the zone of fresh water, Atlantic Coastal Plain, North Carolina through New Jersey: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 881, 47 p.