High-energy, sediment-starved continental shelves of the mid-Atlantic region have abundant hardbottoms that extend from the shoreface to the shelf edge. Because of the thin and irregularly distributed Holocene sand sheet, shelf morphology is determined mainly by outcropping Tertiary and Pleistocene stratigraphic units. Each unit and combination of units produces different hardbottom morphologies that depend upon the geometry and spatial relationships of the units, lithology and patterns of stratification, and subsequent weathering and erosion. Understanding continental shelf hardbottoms is critical for interpreting the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and for reconstructing paleoceanographic conditions.