In the fall and winter, 2005 the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program and the United States Geological Survey drilled a deep corehole into the center of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater (Gohn et al., 2006). The deep hole was located in the Cheriton-Eastville area of Northampton County, Virginia (the Delmarva Peninsula) on the Eyreville farm, (37° 19.3' N, 75° 58.54' W). In addition, a shallow corehole (2-460 ft; 1-140 m) was drilled in April and May, 2006 sampling the uppermost sediments not cored by the deep corehole. Both the shallow core and the interval above 1140 ft (416.3-1140 ft [127-347 m]; Oligocene and younger sediments; a total of 1459 ft [444 m] of post-impact cores) in the deep corehole are stored in the Rutgers core repository. These coreholes represent an excellent record of sea level and climate change from the Oligocene to the Recent. Following a moratorium period these cores will be available to scientists for study. Post-impact studies are supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Earth Science Division, Continental Dynamics Program.
Browning, J.V., Miller, K.G., McLaughlin, P.P., Jr., Edwards, L.E., Kulpecz, A.A., Powars, D.S., Wade, B.S., Feigenson, M.D., and Wright, J.D., 2009, Integrated sequence stratigraphy of the post-impact sediments from the Eyreville core holes, Chesapeake Bay impact structure inner basin: Geological Society of America Special Paper 458, p. 775-810. [pdf]
Gohn, G.S., Koeberl, C., Miller, K.G., and Reimold, W.U., 2009, Deep drilling in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure—An overview: Geological Society of America Special Paper 458, p. 1-20. [pdf]
Kulpecz, A.A., Miller, K.G., Browning, J.V., Edwards, L.E., Powars, D.S., McLaughlin, P.P., Jr., Harris, A.D., and Feigenson, M.D., 2009, Post-impact deposition in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Variations in eustasy, compaction, sediment supply, and passive-aggressive tectonism: Geological Society of America Special Paper 458, p. 811-837, doi: 10.1130/2009.2458(34). [pdf]
