The Atlantic Margin of the United States comprises four large basins that are, from north to south, Georges Bank basin, Baltimore Canyon Trough, Carolina Trough, and Blake Plateau basin (which includes the Georgia Embayment and Bahama Platform). Most exploratory drilling has focused on structures in the postrift basin depocenters, with eight Georges Bank wildcats having been drilled into structures formed by block faulting and salt movement. Target zones were Upper and Middle Jurassic sandstones and carbonates. All were dry holes with some minor gas shows. Twenty-nine exploratory wells have been drilled into four types of structures in Baltimore Canyon Trough: an intrusive dome, deep-seated diapirs, fault blocks, and most recently a Lower Cretaceous-Upper Jurassic shelf-e ge "reef." Some hydrocarbons were associated with a deep-seated diapir structure, but the other wells were dry. Wells in the Southeast Georgia Embayment penetrated Lower Cretaceous-Upper Jurassic continental clastics and shallow Paleozoic basement rocks. All wells were dry. No exploratory wells have been drilled in the Carolina Trough or Blake Plateau.

Recent leasing in Georges Bank has been delayed because of litigation. In the Baltimore Canyon Trough, most recent leasing appears targeted at a prominent Lower Cretaceous-Upper Jurassic paleo-shelf edge, where it is hoped that synrift deposits rich in organic matter source porous shelf-edge carbonates and overlying clastics. Shell Oil, the largest leaseholder, is drilling a series of wells to test this structure. Between the Baltimore Canyon and Carolina Troughs, several leases have been taken over a large anticline possibly cored by salt. Another block of leases has been taken in the Carolina Trough immediately south of Cape Fear over a large grabenlike structure. Other, smaller groups of blocks appear to have lesser structures as targets. The Blake Plateau as yet has no active leas s.

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