Buried Triassic basin in the central Savannah River area, South Carolina and Georgia

GSA Bulletin
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Abstract

A basin filled with Triassic red beds, located on the South Carolina–Georgia line ∼32 km southeast of Augusta, Georgia, is buried beneath ∼350 m of Coastal Plain sediments. An extensive aeromagnetic survey, seismic refraction and reflection surveys, and geophysical logs and samples from three wells define the extent and character of the basin. This basin, herein named the Dunbarton Triassic basin, is ∼50 km long, 10 km wide, and trends northeast.

The northwest margin of the basin is well defined by the aeromagnetic survey, a seismic reflection traverse, and a well that passed through 485 m of Triassic fanglomerate before entering the crystalline metamorphic rocks below. Near the center of the Triassic basin, a well passed through 902 m of maroon Triassic mudstone and sandstone of fluvial origin without penetrating the bottom of the basin.

The permeability of the Triassic rock is extremely low, and water-transmitting fractures were not penetrated. Even slight water-level disturbances in the Triassic wells require many years to recover. Total dissolved solids of the water from the Triassic basin are about twice that in the crystalline metamorphic rocks that surround it.

The inferred geologic history of this basin is similar to the history of Triassic basins that crop out in North Carolina.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Buried Triassic basin in the central Savannah River area, South Carolina and Georgia
Series title GSA Bulletin
DOI 10.1130/0016-7606(1974)85%3C311:BTBITC%3E2.0.CO;2
Volume 85
Issue 2
Year Published 1974
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Description 10 p.
First page 311
Last page 320
Country United States
State Georgia, South Carolilna
Other Geospatial central Savannah River area
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