North Carolina Shelf-Edge Sandstone: Age, Environment of Origin, and Relationship to Pre-existing Sea Levels

Petrographic and geochemical characteristics and the molluscan assemblage of six sandstone samples indicate that sandstone occurring off the coast of North Carolina at the shelf break or along the shelf edge is the result of subtidal submarine lithification and did not form as intertidal beachrock. Therefore, a recently constructed sea-level curve for this area, which is based in part on radiocarbon-dated sandstone as intertidal beachrock, may contain anomalously deep data points.