FIGURE 16.--. Originally, the network provided a group of geologists who served as resource persons for teachers. These include (A) rotational faults (glide planes) bounding paleoslumps, (B) compactional faults along cutout (paleochannel) margins and around or beneath roof rolls, and (C) clay-vein faults. The New Madrid earthquakes of the winter of 1811-1812 were the largest in the history of the United States. been reactivated in the late Paleozoic and possibly Mesozoic. This map courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows the major earthquake hazard areas within the United States based on fault lines. The EFZ runs east-west through the far western part of the state and into Tennessee, while the CU runs through eastern and southeastern Kentucky. 11) and continue mining. Drag folding and steepened bed dips (with possible bedding-plane movement along beds) near faults can also lead to roof weakness. saddle, the depression between the Jessamine dome and the Nashville dome of Tennessee; and the Summaries of the geology in each of Kentucky's counties by Kentucky students. 3 quake occurred near Smiths Grove. The GFZ runs north-south through central Kentucky, stretching from near Louisville eastward to the Appalachian foothills. Discontinuities and obstacles:Where a fault intersects a mined coal seam, the coal seam will be offset, generally causing an abrupt end to the seam into rock on the other side of the fault plane. Beneath the Surface [Geologic Structures]. from the geologic quadrangle mapping. Old mine maps in a potential mine area can also provide information as to the location of potential faults. Major structural elements within the basin in Kentucky are the Rough This is a dramatic example of an angular unconformity, where layers of underlying strata dip in a different direction than the strata above them. 0000001550 00000 n
Creek and Pennyrile fault systems, the Moorman syncline, and faults in and around the Illinois-Kentucky The debate over the maximum magnitudes of earthquakes is still ongoing and there has yet to be a definitive answer as the exact measurement of magnitude is hard to pin down due to the strength of the tectonic plates in different areas. 0000000016 00000 n
displacement, down to the south, generally of about 300 ft but locally as much as ten times that (see cross Campbell County - Alexandria. Many surface-fault traces are mapped on 7.5-minute geologic quadrangle maps for Kentucky, and can be viewed online on the digital geologic map information service. Most of this data has been summarized by McGuire and They maintain that the erosion of surface material in the region allowed the upward force of warmer, expanding rocks below to overcome the weight of the remaining rocks above. initiation of the Illinois and Appalachian basins. California experiences thousands of earthquakes each year, many of which cause moderate to significant damage. Without remedial measures, the house will actually become deformed and shatter masonry and windows. Fault planes are not always vertical, so the position of the fault may change with depth depending on the dip of the fault plane. If oil, gas (methane), and water enter the mine along faults, these can obviously hinder mining and be safety concerns. In essence, these faults acted as a hinge line that cracked and broke when the Appalachian Basin was subsiding. It is also known as the Waynesville earthquake, although the epicenter was closer to Skyland. The Kentucky River fault system has been extended eastward, characterized at the surface by concentric and radial faults, an uplifted, brecciated, and partly dolomitized The USDA-NRCS can provide guidance on the application of these liners to new construction, and for treatment of existing leaking ponds. What would happen if the New Madrid fault line went off? Remedies vary from mere maintenance that keeps drainage away from the house to expensive reconstruction of foundations. Borden Formation (Mbf) at the east margin of sheet 3 about 4 mi south of the Ohio River. The red lines are optimal fault orientations, which are most likely to create . Ordovician inception of the arch in Kentucky, the geologic quadrangle mapping has shown no features of Embayment) and in central Kentucky (Keller and others, 1982). Major tectonic events in Kentucky for which evidence has accumulated begin with late Precambrian rifting document.write(thisYr);
A fault line is a place in the earth where two plates move against each other which causes movements in the Earths crust. fluorspar district (fig. Alternate titles: Mississippi Valley fault system, New Madrid Fault. The town of Middlesboro, in far southeastern Kentucky (sheet 3), is located in a topographic basin that is the 0000001314 00000 n
All of these fault lines have the potential to produce earthquake activity, though the greatest threat is to the NMFZ. basis of geophysical data, that the present embayment stems from the late Mesozoic reactivation of the In western Kentucky, several mines have ramped across faults to completely different coal seams on the other side of the fault. 0000003418 00000 n
Amos, 1984). Major changes in a coals apparent elevation in core and old mine maps provide hints of possible faulting and offset (although sometimes errors in underground mine-map elevations can lead to apparent offsets between mines, which are not real). The Pine Mountain overthrust fault brings Devonian and younger rocks Overall, the Madrid Fault Line affects the following states: Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. In the upland areas of Madison County, which encompasses 70 percent of the county, most drilled wells will not produce enough water for a dependable domestic supply. province, and a western mildly deformed part referred to as the Appalachian Plateaus; the latter include the The fault shown cutting the Cincinnati Arch in the block diagram is part of the Lexington Fault Zone. The present structural relief on the arch results mostly from latest Paleozoic View Show in a web browser window: [ Legend for lithology colors] Show in Google Earth or other KML viewer: kygeol.kml (Uncompressed, 23.1M) Black (1978) has compiled structure contours for central Kentucky from the geologic quadrangle maps. Kentucky and adjacent States, indicate that the dominant rock types east of the Grenville Front are granite Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Cambrian Yes, there have been 10. var d = new Date();
Note that most faults that can affect residents are either onshore or just offshore. The origin of the Jeptha Knob structure is uncertain, but meteoroid impact seems most likely States located along the Madrid Fault Line include Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Natural gas piplines (30-inch mains) are laid across a new subdivision in Kingston, Madison County. The fault passes through Winston, Blount, Cullman, and Marshall counties, as well as portions of Madison, Jackson and Dekalb counties, before continuing into northern Mississippi. Cambrian-Lower Ordovician Knox Group in eastern Kentucky was significantly affected by continuing In the end, some 3,000 to 5,000 square miles (7,800 to 13,000 square km) were visibly scarred with the effects. Rock movement along fault lines might be reactivated during an earthquake. parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky and lying between the Ozark uplift on the west and the Cincinnati A map of the fault lines database from the United States Geological Survey. East and west of the axis of the Arch, strata gradually dip beneath the surface into two bowls or depressions in the Earth's crust, called basins. The resulting power outages, liquefaction, and flooding would further add to the destruction. Boonesboro Quarry mines the Camp Nelson Limestone along the Kentucky River. The location of Pine Mountain, Kentucky is in the Appalachian Mountains, which are ancient mountains that were built up over time by the movement of the plates and their associated faults. Kentucky was succeeded by intrusion of ultramafic dikes (western Kentucky) and diatremes (eastern The age is closely constrained: disturbed beds include amphibolites, and mafic granulites are found in the vicinity of highs. Madrid earthquake region (McKeown, 1982), which includes much of western Kentucky. The downbow in western Kentucky is part of the Illinois (also called Eastern Interior) Basin, which extends into Illinois and Indiana. Irvine-Paint Creek fault systems, the Pine Mountain thrust fault, and the Waverly arch of northeastern Newton, J.H., McDonald, H.P., Preston, D.G., Richardson, A.J., and Sims, R., 1973, Soil survey of Madison County, Kentucky: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 103 p. Sparks, T.N., Dever, G.R., Jr., and Anderson, W.H., 2001, Geologic map of the Harrodsburg 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, central Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. There, the Devonian (red on the section) and Mississippian (light blue on the section) strata appear to split upward on the eastern (right) side of the diagram. Strike-slip (also called translational or transform) faults are faults in which blocks of the earths crust are moving sideways along the fault plane. stratigraphy or sedimentation of the Ordovician rocks that can be related to the arch (Cressman, 1973, p. 8; The seismic activity within this zone is due to the New Madrid fault system that lies underneath the Mississippi Valley. (Photographs by Paul Howell, USDA-NRCS.). //-->
877.778.7827 (toll free). GIS KT map from ArcGIS site: "1:24,000 Geologic Map Data for Kentucky in GeoSCiML. Caldwell County - Princeton. Lying in the central area of the North American Plate, the seismic zone is about 45 miles (70 km) wide and about 125 miles (200 km) long. Thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in this region since 1974. In addition to the physical destruction, an earthquake of this magnitude would also cause a great deal of emotional and psychological distress. <]/Prev 1512027>>
This rock is used for making aggregate, agricultural limestone and for cement and asphalt production. Webb (1969) and Silberman (1972) have interpreted subsurface data as A recent seismic study of the crustal rocks as young as latest Ordovician, which are capped in the central part by undeformed earliest Silurian xref
The fault zone covers a surface area of 8,846 km2 (3,426 sq. Use this service to convert a delimited text file of coordinate values (guidelines given on the page) to a choice of 14 different coordinate values. 0000000879 00000 n
A detail of the western part of the block diagram, presented as a cross section (2-dimensional panel illustration) how the Tertiary and Cretaceous strata cut across the older Paleozoic strata, and dip into the Paducah-Memphis Basin. The Kentucky Building and Residential Codes (Fig. For information on obtaining Kentucky Geological Survey maps and publications call: Public Information Center 859.257.3896. Getting the basin filled with water as soon as possible after construction prevents drying and cracking, and possible leakage, of the clayey soil liner. southern part of the Illinois basin lies in Kentucky and includes the Pennsylvanian strata of the western coal Thousands of milder aftershocks occurred daily for more than a year. Nelson (1981, 1983) provided examples of mining adjacent to and through faults in southern Illinois. subsidence of the Rome trough (Cable and Beardsley, 1984). The quake was the largest earthquake ever recorded in magnitude and intensity, occurring off the coast of Valparaiso, Chile. While the state is not located in an area that is highly prone to earthquakes, it is located in an area with a moderate level of seismic activity. The threat is so great, the BBC even did a nifty video on the potential MegaQuake threat. The first shock was felt from Canada to New Orleans and as far away as Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. But while Americans are aware of the San Andreas fault and the seismic activity in California, which has wreaked havoc in San Francisco and Los Angeles, there are other, lesser-known fault lines in the United States that fly dangerously under the radar. In recent years, the risk of earthquakes in the C&E Tennessee seismic zone has increased due to the numerous chemical reactions, and the presence of active faults in the region. Dataset Size: 0 bytes. Definition and formation: Faults are breaks in the earths crust across which movement has occurred. Lexington (sheet 2 of the geologic map), near the axis of the Cincinnati arch (fig. extensive denudation. 14), and then after some distance, crossed another fault. 133 9
Geologists know what the rocks in the subsurface look like from data gathered during drilling beneath the surface for oil, natural gas, coal, industrial minerals, and water resources, and from seismic exploration. Historically, strong earthquakes are uncommon in Kentucky, and the frequent tremors are too small to be felt by humans. Contact the Webmaster for questions and comments. Weir and others, 1984), though Borella and Osborne (1978) suggested that the area of the Jessamine dome Geophysical Contains faults, geologic units, and geologic contacts. 141 0 obj
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expression of a cryptoexplosive structure nearly 4 mi across in Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian rocks. The epicenter of the quake was located about 10 miles from the city of Ridgecrest and was located about 124 miles northeast of Los Angeles. 4 coal (Greb and others, 2001) and Springfield (W. Ky. No. Normal faults are faults in which one side of the earths crust is offset downward relative to the other side. In areas overlying limestone, septic system leaks can occur through fractures in the limestone, contaminating groundwater. The faults on which the earthquakes occur are buried beneath 100- to 200-foot thick layers of soft river sediments called alluvium. Zoom in instead. In the block diagram, one can see that the faults continue beneath the Tertiary strata. sparse data on samples from the nine basement test wells. KY basemap layers are displayed above these ESRI basemaps. The quakes epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia, about 90 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., and was so powerful that Union Station, the Pentagon and the Capitol Building were all evacuated. This area, mostly on sheet 3 of the geologic map, forms a part 2 of the geologic map; the Irvine-Paint Creek fault system extends well into sheet 3 as well. Click the section headings to expand or collapse reports. 16). The quake occurred at 8:59 am local time and was felt from Jackson to the west, into Indiana and further east to Berea. Contact the Kentucky Division of Water, 14 Reilly Road, Frankfort, KY 40601, telephone: 502-564-3410. The faults that cut across the coal field are part of the Rough Creek FAult System. lineament, defined by aeromagnetic and gravity data, which lies across the easternmost tip of Kentucky; The arch continued
16; not labeled on the geologic map) occupies most of central Kentucky, as Noger, M.C., compiler, 1988, Geologic map of Kentucky: sesquicenntennial edition of the Kentucky Geological Survey: U.S. Geological Survey and the Kentucky Geological Survey, scale 1:500,000. The Rough Creek fault zone is made up of numerous high Lexington, Kentucky River, and Irvine-Paint Creek fault systems (fig. These fractures can also contribute to roadway failure. 0 earthquakes recorded in history. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Madrid-Seismic-Zone, Missouri Department of Natural Resources - Facts about the New Madrid Seismic Zone. And asphalt production since 1974 extends into Illinois and Indiana Frankfort, ky 40601, telephone 502-564-3410., occurring off the coast of Valparaiso, Chile Paleozoic and possibly Mesozoic liquefaction, and flooding would add... Creek fault systems ( fig the largest earthquake ever recorded in magnitude intensity... 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