Magothy Formation

Magothy Formation - Sand, fine- to coarsegrained, locally very gravelly (pebbles less than 1.3 cm (0.5 in) in diameter) especially in updip areas, typically cross stratified, massive, horizontally bedded, light-gray to white, carbonized wood (several centimeters long) and colorless mica scattered throughout. Black to dark-gray, very carbonaceous clay is locally interstratified with the sand. No calcareous fossils were recovered from the Magothy Formation in the shallow subsurface. In the Freehold drillhole the thin basal bed of the Magothy is composed of quartz gravel (maximum clast diameter, about 2.5 cm (1 in)). The lower part of the formation above the gravel consists of thin-bedded white clay interbedded with fine- to coarse-grained, poorly sorted, thickbedded, light-colored, somewhat micaceous quartz sand. The interbedded clay becomes dark gray up section and the sand is slightly glauconitic and locally shelly. Quartz is the major sand mineral. Siliceous rock fragments, mica, and feldspar are minor constituents. In general, this formation appears to be fluvial near the base (upper delta plain) and gradually becomes more marine upward (shelf). The overall sedimentologic pattern suggests a net transgression during deposition of the Magothy with shelf deposits overriding a nonmarine (probably deltaic) facies. Downdip at Buena, Atlantic County, the Magothy is 22 m (72 ft) thick and is primarily a massive to finely laminated, dark-gray, woody clay-silt. Unit is as much as 55 m (180 ft) thick in the northern part of the central sheet and generally thins to the southwest. The age of the Magothy is best defined by pollen. Christopher (1979) placed this palynoflora in his Zone V of early and late Santonian age. He also recognized three assemblage zones within Zone V, the Complexiopollis exiqua-Santalacites minor Zone (lowest), the ?Pseudoplicapollis longiannulata-Plicapollis incisa Zone (middle), and the ?Pseudoplicapollis cuneata-Semioculopollis verrucosa Zone (highest). All three zones are present in the Magothy in New Jersey. The foraminifera Marginotruncana marginata and Rosita fornicata were collected from the Island Beach corehole at 550 m (1804 ft) and are indicative of the Dicarinella asymmetrica Zone. Because of the overall character of the foram assemblage it is probable that these fossils indicate a late Santonian rather than early Campanian age (H.J. Dowsett, written commun., 1992). The Magothy, therefore, is Santonian or older in age.