Quick Search:    advanced search

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

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) 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 Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wolf, L. W. Articles by Tuttle, M. P. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Numerical Analysis of Overpressure Development in the New Madrid Seismic Zone

¹ Department of Geology and Geography
210 Petrie Hall
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama 36849
 (L.W.W., M.-K.L., S.B.)

² M. P. Tuttle and Associates
128 Tibbetts Lane
Georgetown, Maine 04548
 (M.P.T.)

Correspondence: ^* Present address: University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38112.

We use mathematical and numerical modeling techniques to evaluate overpressure resulting from topographic-driven flow in the Mississippi Embayment and discuss potential implications for wave propagation and seismic hazards in the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ). The mathematical model implies that the magnitude of excess pore pressure in the discharge area is determined by a basin’s geometry and the hydraulic conductivity of basin strata. Our modeling results explain how excess pore pressures can be sustained in a wide discharge area of the NMSZ by regional gravity flow. When a vertical fault zone is included in the model, the predicted magnitude of excess pressure is generally consistent with observed elevation heads (10–30 m) of artesian wells that penetrate the Upper Cretaceous and Paleozoic aquifers in the basin. The modeling results demonstrate that overpressures developed in Cambrian-Silurian carbonate rocks in the central embayment could be communicated to shallower layers if basin-wide confining units are locally breached by faults. We suggest that the stratigraphic conditions responsible for overpressure development may significantly influence the hydrologic response of the basin during large earthquake events.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Hansom and M.-K. Lee Effects of hydrocarbon generation, basal heat flow and sediment compaction on overpressure development: a numerical study Petroleum Geoscience, October 1, 2005; 11(4): 353 - 360. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]