Onshore and offshore geological and geophysical data were used to investigate the lithostratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, and depositional history of the late Tertiary age post-Choptank Chesapeake Group rocks in Sussex County, Delaware and adjacent counties in Maryland. The results of this investigation suggest that the St. Marys (?) Formation and the sandy interval of which the Manokin aquifer is a part, are distinct lithostratigraphic units. The Manokin formation is proposed as an informal lithostratigraphic unit that refers to the sandy interval of which the Manokin aquifer is a part. On a regional scale, the section containing the Ocean City and Pocomoke aquifers and adjacent and intervening confining beds is best treated as a single undifferentiated lithostratigraphic unit. The Bethany formation is proposed as an informal lithostratigraphic unit that refers to this section.

In recent years there has been a renewed interest by both amateur and professional paleontologists in the rich upper Cretaceous exposures along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, Delaware (Fig. 1). Large quantities of fossil material, mostly clams, oysters, and snails have been collected as a result of this activity. Recent dredging (1978, 1981) by the United States Army Corps of Engineers has helped expose a rich vertebrate fossil assemblage. It includes representatives from the classes Reptilia, Osteichthyes, and Chondrichthyes. An extensive literature search has revealed that a wealth of information exists which would aid in the identification of the vertebrate fossils of Delaware.