The sediments and geomorphology of a portion of the northeastern continental shelf between Hudson Canyon and Georges Bank have been investigated. Wave-cut terraces at 13, 45, 65, and 80 fathoms indicate four former low sea levels, while concentrations of beach ridges around 35 fathoms reveal a fifth. The pre-Holocene drainage pattern, still exposed over part of the area, shows that Block Channel was the main stream system which drained most of southern New England. The surface sediments on the western part of the study area are Late Pleistocene fluvial deposits. Overlying these coarse deposits in the central part of the outer shelf is a sandy silt facies that is also relict. The youngest facies and the only area of present deposition, is in the northeastern part where sand eroded from Nantucket Shoals is being deposited on the shelf.

Surficial geologic maps play and important role in understanding the present sea floor and the processes that shape it. Between 1984 and 1991, over 1,700 bottom sample stations were occupied in the northwestern Gulf of Maine. Although the data were originally collected for a variety of research projects, contracts, and graduate student theses, they were eventually compiled as part of a Maine Geological Survey and University of Maine program to map the inner continental shelf of this region.

These data were collected as part of a survey of the bottom sediments of Georges Bank. The purpose of the survey was to provide basic data for use in studying the relationships between substrate composition and the occurrence of benthic animals, especially those which are common foods of fishes. Particle size composition was the principal sediment character that was studied.

The data in this set are part of the "Ocean Pulse" benthic studies that were conducted on the U.S. northeast shelf by the National Marine Fisheries Service. This data set represents only those data collected as part of this program during 1981-1982 and off New England. Those stations occupied in the New York Bight are not included. Although chemical analyses (organic carbon and total Kjeldahl nitrogen) were also conducted, only textural descriptions are included here.

The coastal dunes, beaches, and inner neritic zone of the Merrimack Embayment constitute a petrologic province. In addition to heavy mineral analyses, grain size statistics were generated on most of the samples. Neritic and beach sediments can be differentiated using scatter plots of statistics, but statistical parameters are ineffective in differentiating between river and neritic sediments.

Short cores were collected on the continental rise off Georges Bank. The character of the sediments and measured bottom currents show that the Western Boundary Undercurrent is a significant factor in sediment transport and deposition along the east coast continental rise. Size data for the sand and mud fractions were estimated by the compilers by subtracting the percent carbonate (composed largely of sand-sized planktonic foraminifera) from the coarse fraction. Silt and clay were not differentiated; the fine fraction is reported as mud.

The data in this layer were generated as part of an environmental impact statement evaluating the construction of a proposed 250,000 barrel per day oil refinery and marine terminal. Permits for this facility, which would serve the Eastport, Maine area, were requested by the Pittston Company of New York.

The data in this layer are from a number of published and unpublished sets produced by the Bigelow Laboratory. The source projects were conducted primarily to examine contaminant (e.g. trace metals, PAHs) distributions, but also produced sediment textural data. The data were originally converted into digital format for inclusion in the Gulf of Maine Contaminated Sediments Database.

This data set contains lithologic information on bottom sediments from the Continental Margin Program. The program was a joint collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during the 1960s to conduct a geological reconnaissance investigation of the continental shelf and slope off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Only those records without complete size analyses and only those stations from the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and southeastern New England shelf and slope are included in this data set. Other stations where detailed textural analyses are available or are from other areas have been excluded. Furthermore, dredges were used to collect most of the bottom samples, resulting in winnowing that has resulted in lithologic descriptions that are texturally coarser than actually present. Care should be taken when using this dataset.

This data set contains sediment grain size and textural information from the Continental Margin Program. The program was a joint collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during the 1960s to conduct a geological reconnaissance investigation of the continental shelf and slope off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Only those records with complete size analyses are included in this data set. Other stations where only lithologic descriptions are available have been excluded.