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The Chesapeake Bay Bolide: Modern Consequences of an Ancient Cataclysm

Completed
By Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center November 30, 2008

Probably the most dramatic geological event that ever took place on the Atlantic margin of North America occurred about 35 million years ago in the late part of the Eocene Epoch. This was a time when sea level was unusually high everywhere on Earth. The ancient shoreline of the Virginia region was somewhere in the vicinity of where Richmond is today.

Probably the most dramatic geological event that ever took place on the Atlantic margin of North America occurred about 35 million years ago in the late part of the Eocene Epoch. This was a time when sea level was unusually high everywhere on Earth. The ancient shoreline of the Virginia region was somewhere in the vicinity of where Richmond is today.