Sand, quartz, and glauconite in varying proportions, very clayey and locally indurated by siderite into hard, massive ledges. Sand is dark gray to dark yellow where unweathered; where weathered, siderite changes color of unit to orange brown because of iron oxides, and the formation is stained or cemented in exotic patterns. The Tinton crops out in the northern part of the central sheet from Sandy Hook, Monmouth County, to the northernmost part of the Roosevelt quadrangle, near Perrineville. Unit unconformably overlies the Red Bank Formation in the high hills of the northern Coastal Plain, most notably near Perrineville and Morganville, Monmouth County. In these updip areas, fine gravel, 1 cm (0.4 in) maximum diameter, or large shell concentrations are found along the basal contact. The typical basal bed is a massive, glauconitic (10-35 percent), fine to medium-grained quartz sand with scattered gravel. The massive character of the basal bed is the result of extensive bioturbation. Burrows, filled with glauconite sand of the Tinton, project down into the quartz sand of the underlying Red Bank Formation. At lower elevations downdip, the Tinton is less weathered, much darker, more glauconitic, and typically indurated. The type locality on Pine Brook at Tinton Falls, Monmouth County, is in this downdip area. At Tinton Falls, 7 to 8 m (23-26 ft) of the Tinton is exposed and has a higher glauconite content than in the updip area. Glauconite at Tinton Falls is light green to pale yellow, and many of the grains have a smooth polished surface that is almost lustrous. Thin sections of the Tinton reveal that many of the grains are oolitic (Owens and Sohl, 1973). X-ray analyses indicate the presence of mixed clay minerals; therefore, the unit is not pure glauconite. The Tinton Formation at Tinton Falls has scattered molds of calcitic fossils and aragonitic shells. Richards (1958) recorded 30 species of mollusks from the Tinton in this area. Of importance are Sphenodiscus lobatus, Cucullaea (Idonearca) littlei, and Scabrotrigonia cerulia. In New Jersey, Scabrotrigonia cerulia is restricted to the Tinton. All three species are common to the upper Maastrichtian Haustator bilira Zone of Sohl (in Owens and others, 1977). Strontium-isotope analysis on calcareous shells from the Tinton yielded ages of 66.2 to 65.6 Ma or a late Maastrichtian age (Sugarman and others, 1995).