Lithologic and stratigraphic data from rocks dredged from the continental shelf off Onslow Bay, North Carolina, provide surface control for seismic studies of the southeastern United States continental margin and help to explain the distribution of potentially economic phosphate-rich sediments on this shelf. Outcropping Miocene rocks in this area indicate that the region has long been a positive geologic feature and has received relatively little Pliocene and Pleistocene sedimentation. -from Authors