Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stephenson, W. J. Articles by Hoffman, D. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Deformation and quaternary faulting in southeast Missouri across the Commerce geophysical lineament

U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, MS 966, Denver, Colorado 80225
U.S. Geological Survey University of Washington, Building WB-10, Seattle, Washington 98195
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 928, Reston, Virginia 22092
Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Box 250, Rolla, Missouri 65401

Abstract

High-resolution seismic-reflection data acquired at three sites along the surface projection of the Commerce geophysical lineament in southeast Missouri reveal a complex history of post-Cretaceous faulting that has continued into the Quaternary. Near Qulin, Missouri, approximately 20 m of apparent vertical fault displacement has occurred in the Quaternary. Reflection data collected at Idalia Hill, about 45 km to the northeast, reveal a series of reverse and possibly right-lateral strike-slip faults with Quaternary displacement. In the Benton Hills, 45 km northeast of Idalia Hill, seismic data image a complicated series of anticlinal and synclinal fault-bounded blocks immediately north of the Commerce fault. We infer that most of the deformation imaged in the upper 400 m of these three data sets occurred since post-Cretaceous time, and a significant portion of it occurred during Quaternary time. Collectively, these seismic data along with geomorphic and surface-geologic evidence suggest (1) the existence of at least one potential seismogenic structure in southeastern Missouri outside the main zones of New Madrid seismicity, and (2) these structures have been active during the Quaternary. The geographic location of the imaged deformation suggests it is related to structures along with the Commerce geophysical lineament.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. N. Baldwin, R. C. Witter, J. D. Vaughn, J. B. Harris, J. L. Sexton, M. Lake, S. L. Forman, and A. D. Barron Geological Characterization of the Idalia Hill Fault Zone and Its Structural Association with the Commerce Geophysical Lineament, Idalia, Missouri Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, December 1, 2006; 96(6): 2281 - 2303. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Seismic Reflection Images of Shallow Faulting, Northernmost Mississippi Embayment, North of the New Madrid Seismic Zone Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, February 1, 2001; 91(1): 128 - 139.