The Setters Formation, identified on the southeast side of Pleasant Hill valley in well Cb13-16, contains the prograde mineral assemblages (1) microcline, biotite, and sillimanite +/- garnet, and (2) microcline, biotite, sillimanite, and muscovite +/- garnet. These pelitic assemblages allow us to infer peak metamorphic conditions between 620° and 680°C and 4 to 6 kilobars pressure, if PH20/Pfluid is > 0.5. There is some evidence in the drill cuttings to indicate that partial melting accompanied the formation of sillimanite, thus constraining peak temperature to > 640°C.

Investigation of the Neogene and Quaternary geology of the Milford and Mispillion River quadrangles has identified six formations: the Calvert, Choptank, and St. Marys formations of the Chesapeake Group, the Columbia Formation, and the Lynch Heights and Scotts Comers formations of the Delaware Bay Group. Stream, swamp, marsh, shoreline, and estuarine and bay deposits of Holocene age are also recognized. The Calvert, Choptank, and St. Marys formations were deposited in inner shelf marine environments during the early to late Miocene.

Radiocarbon dates from 231 geologic samples from the offshore, coastal, and upland regions of Delaware have been compiled along with their corresponding locations and other supporting data. These data now form the Delaware Geological Survey Radiocarbon Database.

The Delaware Academy of Science has been instrumental in informing Delaware citizens about science and utilization of local resources. Since 1970 the annual meeting of the Delaware Academy of Science has been used as a time for presentation of ongoing research in various areas of science in the Delaware region. The proceedings of these meetings have resulted in publication of transactions of the Delaware Academy of Science. The 1976 annual meeting focused on aspects of the geology of Delaware.

There is no abstract on file for this publication.

This map shows the total thickness (regolith) of both the loose, transported material and the weathered rock that overlies crystalline rocks of the Delaware Piedmont. Transported material is generally thin and the weathered rock in place (saprolite) usually makes up the bulk of the regolith. Saprolite may vary gradationally from a weathered rock that has retained much of the characteristics of the parent rock to a product mineralogically and texturally different from its source rock.

The information contained in this Guidebook was compiled on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the Association of American State Geologists held in Delaware in June 1977. The Delaware Geological Survey is pleased to have been selected to host this national meeting. The field trip logs were designed to familiarize geologists from across the United States with basic features of Delaware's geology and resources. We have also sought to identify some points of historical and cultural interest that may help the visitor become familiar with our State.

This review summarizes the present knowledge of the subsurface geology and resource potential of southern Delaware and outlines the needs for future studies to gain further understanding of these matters. Because of the present interest in exploring for oil and gas beneath the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf it is most timely that the primary resource considered in this report be the hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) potential of the State.

This report is a compilation of four papers presented by DGS staff members at the Baltimore Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America, March, 1974.

The Delaware Piedmont is underlain by metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks of Middle Proterozoic to Paleozoic age. The rocks have been studied for many years, but because of poor exposure, high-grade metamorphism, and intense deformation, it has been difficult to identify units, understand their stratigraphic relationships to one another, and determine their origin and history; however, northern Delaware occupies a critical position in the central Appalachian Piedmont, and understanding its geology is key to understanding the geology of this region.