Winter Lecture: The 35-Million Year Geological History of the Bay

Scope of Presentation

35 million years ago an asteroid blasted an enormous crater into the continental shelf 200 km southeast of Washington D.C. creating a long-lasting topographic depression which likely influenced the eventual location of the Chesapeake Bay. Although the current shape and extent of the Bay began to develop only 18,000 years ago triggered by the melting of the continental glaciers, the effects of the 35 million-year-old impact crater are still affecting the residents around the Bay today. River diversion, disrupted coastal aquifers, ground instability and land subsidence are all active processes attributable to the influence of the impact crater, which is now buried 300-500 meters beneath the southern part of the Chesapeake Bay.

Presenter

Jeff Watkins is the managing partner of JX3 Energy, a Maryland-based energy company developing wind, solar and coal projects in western Maryland. During his 40-year career in the energy industry, he managed numerous geological exploration projects throughout North America, Southeast Asia and Australia, including a nine-month stint hacking through jungles on the island of Borneo. In 1986 he joined Hill & Associates, a management-consulting firm with headquarters in the Maritime Republic of Eastport (MRE). Jeff holds a Bachelors Degree in Geology from Wittenberg University and a Masters Degree in Marine Geology from Duke University.

Presented by BB&T Wealth

Price: $10; free for First Mate members and above