The Albian sandstone, found throughout the Baltimore Canyon Trough, was studied using data from well logs, cores, and cuttings from COST and exploration wells from common-depth-point seismic lines. The sandstone is 300 m at the thickest point and covers at least 10,000 sq km; its top is at depths of 1,600 m to 2,900 m. Although the sandstone is mostly Albian in age, in some wells its top is about middle Cenomanian and in others the sandstone is partly in the Aptian. The sandstone overlies a shale and grades upward from silt to a medium to coarse sandstone with interbedded shales. At the top of the Albian sandstone is a well-sorted coarse- to medium-grained sandstone averaging 24 m thick that can be correlated in all the wells studied. Grain-size analyses of the uppermost and were done on the cuttings using an automated rapid sediment analyzer; results indicate deposition in an environment intermediate between beach and fluvial environments. The top of the Albian sandstone is marked by an unconformity with overlying marine shales. During a time of global sea-level rise, sediments continued to accumulate near the shelf edge creating the thick sand sequence in the center of the Baltimore Canyon Trough. A major sea-level drop, and subsequent rise, during the Cenomanian coincided with the end of sand deposition.

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