Coastal plain sediments are underlain by pre-Mesozoic crystalline rocks. The inner coastal plain is underlain by schist that is correlated with the Potomac Terrane, as well as by mafic rocks probably equivalent to the Wilmington or Bel Air-Rising Sun terranes. The northern and central outer coastal plain is underlain by metasedimentary rocks similar to the Brompton-Cameron Terrane. Rocks beneath the southern coastal plain probably correlate with those of the Chopawamsic and Roanoke Rapids terranes.