Cheesequake Formation

Cheesequake Formation - Clay and clay-silt, micaceous, thin-bedded to laminated, dark-gray; weathers light tan. Contains abundant wood fragments intercalated with light-colored, fine-grained micaceous quartz sand and is rarely crossbedded. Rock fragments and feldspar are minor sand constituents. Small cylindrical burrows occur in the updip area. Abundant, rounded, pale-gray siderite concretions (about 8 cm (3 in) in diameter) occur in thin discontinuous beds. Sand interfingers rapidly within a short distance with extensively bioturbated, dark-gray, very micaceous, somewhat woody clay-silt. The basal clay-silt has extensive cylindrical burrows filled with fine-grained, light- to medium-green botryoidal glauconite. The basal contact with the underlying Magothy Formation is sharp. Reworked siderite concretions and some glauconite and coarse-grained quartz sand are found along the contact within the Cheesequake. Unit exposed only in the South Amboy and Keyport quadrangles. The unit is about 14 m (46 ft) thick. The age of the Cheesequake was determined from pollen (Litwin and others, 1993), which indicates the unit is between the Merchantville Formation microflora (CA2 Zone of Wolfe, 1976, lower Campanian) and the uppermost Magothy microflora (?Pseudoplicapollis cunceata-Semioculopollis verrucosa Zone of Christopher, 1979, upper Santonian). It is probable that the Cheesequake Formation contains the Santonian-Campanian boundary. This unit was not recognized by Petters (1976) who concluded that the Magothy and Merchantville interfingered in the subsurface and the Merchantville was, in part, Santonian.