Geophysical and remote-sensing methods were applied to better understand sinkhole precursor movement and assess the potential for sinkhole development in evaporitic areas. The approach is illustrated with two examples over bedded salt deposits and a salt dome in Texas, USA. Large sinkholes (90 to 200 m in diameter) formed over Permian bedded salt near Wink in western Texas in June 1980 and May 2002, and on the flank of a coastal-plain salt dome in Daisetta in May 2008. Residents, government officials, and industry representatives wish to better understand the potential for sinkhole formation and growth in both areas. At Wink, limited spatial and temporal data on vertical ground movement from standard surveying has been greatly extended by satellite-based radar interferometry, which was used to delineate areas having recent movement and determine rates of movement. Results from interferometry guided site-specific investigations that included acquisition of high-resolution gravity data, which identified shallow-source mass deficits that indicate potential for continued subsidence or sinkhole formation. At Daisetta, interferometry was used to determine that no detectable subsidence preceded sinkhole collapse (indicating sudden collapse once the upward-migrating void reached a depth that allowed the cohesiveness of overlying semiconsolidated sediments to be overcome), and gravimetry was used to identify other areas where shallow mass deficits exist across the salt dome. Data from both areas can be used to construct risk maps, design comprehensive subsurface investigations, and develop monitoring programs based on repeat radar interferometry and geodetic GPS measurements.
The Hueco bolson of Trans-Pecos Texas formed in response to Cenozoic extensional tectonism and lies within the southern Rio Grande rift near the poorly defined boundary between the rift and the southern Basin and Range province. The bolson is composed of a northwest subbasin that contains north-striking normal faults and a southeast subbasin that contains northwest-striking normal faults. Cenozoic basin fill is thin (less than 150 to 200 m) on the east and northeast bolson margins and is thick (as much as 2,850 m) in the central bolson and on the west and southwest bolson margins where major normal faults bound a graben that is 15 to 25 km wide. Major faults bounding the graben on the west and southwest have been more active and exhibit greater offset than do boundary faults on the east. This disparity in displacement between the graben margins has resulted in an asymmetric graben. Isopach maps of lower and upper basin fill sequences, differentiated from seismic data, indicate that much of the southeast Hueco bolson subsided more than the northwest Hueco bolson during deposition of the lower basin fill. Thicker upper basin fill within the northwest basin indicates that the basin subsided more in the northwest than in the southeast during deposition of the upper basin fill.The two major faults that bound the Hueco graben on the west and southwest, the East Franklin Mountains fault and Amargosa fault, respectively, have had the most recent (late Pleistocene-Holocene) surface ruptures. Scarp-slope angles of these faults are commonly steeper than 20°, and middle Pleistocene surficial deposits that contain indurated calcic soils having stage IV to V morphology are offset between 24 and 32 m. Maximum throw on these faults during single surface-rupture events has been between 1.6 and 3 m. Major faults bounding the southeast Hueco graben on the northeast (Campo Grande, Caballo, and an unnamed fault) had their most recent surface ruptures during the late Pleistocene. Scarp-slope angles of these faults are rarely as much as 15° and more commonly between 4 and 7°. Middle Pleistocene surficial deposits that contain indurated calcic soils having a stage IV to V morphology are offset between 1.6 and 24 m. Maximum throw on these faults during single surface-rupture events has been between 0.6 and 2 m.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.