The objective of this IODP-ICDP expedition is to obtain continuous cores and downhole logging measurements of siliciclastic sequences from the new Jersey Coastal Plain. The inner to middle shelf offshore New Jersey is an ideal location to investigate the history of sea-level change and its relationship to sequence stratigraphy. Coring and logging along a depth transect at 3 sites embedded within a regional seismic grid and correlated to previously drilled holes both offshore and onshore will allow us to:

1. date major "Icehouse" (Oligocene-Recent) sequences, a time of known glacioeustatic change, and compare ages of the unconformable surfaces bracketing these sequences with ages of sea-level lowerings predicted by the δ¹⁸O glacioeustatic proxy;
2. estimate the amplitudes, rates, and mechanisms of sea-level change; and
3. evaluate sequence stratigraphic facies models that predict depositional environments, sediment compositions, and stratal geometries in response to sea-level changes.

Keywords: North America, USA, New Jersey, U.S. East Coast, Climate Change, Continental Margin, Deep Biosphere, Eustasy, Global Environment, Shallow Shelf