Pii: S0025-3227(00)00082-7

Sea ̄oor geomorphology and sur®cial stratigraphy of the New Jersey middle continental shelf provide a detailed record of sea-level change during the last advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet (t120 kyr B.P. to Present). A NW±SE-oriented corridor on the middle shelf between water depths of ,40 m (the mid-shelf apaleo-shoreo) and ,100 m (the Franklin apaleoshoreo) encompasses ,500 line-km of 2D Huntec boomer pro®les (500±3500 Hz), an embedded 4.6 km 3D volume, and a 490 km swath bathymetry map. We use these data to develop a relative stratigraphy. Core samples from published studies also provide some chronological and sedimentological constraints on the upper ,5 m of the stratigraphic succession. The following stratigraphic units and surfaces occur (from bottom to top): (1) aRo, a high-amplitude re ̄ection that separates sediment . , 46.5 kyr old (by AMS C dating) from overlying sediment wedges; (2) the outer shelf wedge, a marine unit up to ,50 m thick that onlaps aRo; (3) aChannelso, a re ̄ection sub-parallel to the sea ̄oor that incises aRo, and appears as a dendritic system of channels in map view; (4) aChannelso ®ll, the upper portion of which is sampled and known to represent deepeningupward marine sediments ,12.3 kyr in age; (5) the aTo horizon, a seismically discontinuous surface that caps aChannelso ®ll; (6) oblique ridge deposits, coarse-grained shelly units comprised of km-scale, shallow shelf bedforms; and (7) ribbon̄oored swales, bathymetric depressions parallel to modern shelf currents that truncate the oblique ridges and cut into sur®cial deposits. We interpret this succession of features in light of a global eustatic sea-level curve and the consequent migration of the coastline across the middle shelf during the last ,120 kyr. The morphology of the New Jersey middle shelf shows a discrete sequence of stratigraphic elements, and re ̄ects the pulsed episodicity of the last sea-level cycle. aRo is a complicated marine/ non-marine erosional surface formed during the last regression, while the outer shelf wedge represents a shelf wedge emplaced during a minor glacial retreat before maximum Wisconsin lowstand (i.e., marine oxygen isotope stage 3.1). aChannelso is a widespread ̄uvial subarial erosion surface formed at the late Wisconsin glacial maximum ,22 kyr B.P. The shoreline migrated back across the mid-shelf corridor non-uniformly during the period represented by aChannelso ®ll. Oblique ridges are relict features on the New Jersey middle shelf, while the ribbon̄oored swales represent modern shelf erosion. There is no systematic relationship between modern sea ̄oor morphology and the very shallowly buried stratigraphic succession. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.