Tectonic development of the New Madrid rift complex, Mississippi embayment, North America

Braile, L. W.; Hinze, William J.; Keller, G. Randy; Lidiak, Edward G.; Sexton, John L.

doi:10.1016/0040-1951(86)90265-9

Cited by 121 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…30.1), somewhat similar to that of ocean basins (Sleep 1971 well-developed initial rift phases, marked by arrays of extensional faults and associated graben and half-graben, though this may be due in part to the poor seismic imaging of the base of cratonic basins preserved on land. Cratonic basins are located on continental lithosphere, away from the plate margin, but in some cases connected by a rift or failed rift zone to the ocean, as in the Neoproterozoic Centralian Superbasin of Australia (Walter et al, 1995;Lindsay 2002), the Lower Paleozoic Illinois and Oklahoma basins of USA (Braile et al, 1986;Kolata and Nelson 1990), and the Mesozoic phase of the Chad Basin of northcentral Africa (Burke 1976). This geometry suggests that many cratonic basins lie at the tips of failed rifts extending into the continental plate at a high angle from the extensional plate margin, which may be the site of former triple junctions (Burke and Dewey, 1973).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cratonic Basins

and

Armitage

2011

Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins

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Cratonic basins are sites of prolonged, broadly distributed but slow subsidence of the continental lithosphere, and are commonly filled with shallow water and terrestrial sedimentary rocks. They remain poorly understood geodynamically. A number of models have been proposed that fall into families involving cooling of stretched continental lithosphere, cooling related to mantle flow (dynamic topography), densification of the underlying lithosphere due to phase changes, the surface response to magmatism and/or plume activity, and long-wavelength buckling under in-plane stresses.The timing of initiation and spatial distribution of cratonic basin formation are linked to geodynamic phases within the overall framework of plate amalgamation and supercontinental break-up and dispersal. Many cratonic basins initiated in the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian-Ordovician. Some suites of cratonic basins originated as broad ramp-like realms of subsidence tilting down to the adjacent passive margin, and were later "individualized" by secondary processes such as, for instance, reactivation of tectonic structures during intracontinental orogeny, and the emergence of intervening arches and domes.Several different mechanisms may therefore control the geological evolution and subsidence history of cratonic basins during their long life-times. We propose that a model of low strain rate extension accompanied and followed by cooling of the underlying lithosphere satisfactorily explains the long-term subsidence history of a range of cratonic basins. However, the precise role played by dynamic topography transmitted from large-scale mantle flow in initiating or modifying the elevation history of continental interiors remains an intriguing focus for further research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cratonic Basins

and

Armitage

2011

Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins

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“…In another model (Gomberg and Ellis, 1994) the seismic zone is loaded with slip on deep vertical faults, which is particularly effective in loading the strike-slip fault segments of the NMSZ. The models of McKeown and Diehl (1994) and Braile et al (1986) are based, respectively, on the presence of high pore fluid pressure and weakness of pre-existing faults in the Reelfoot Rift, and they are consistent with the fact that reactivation of ancient rifts under a new stress field is established in many other regions. The models of Campbell (1978), Long (1978), and Hildenbrand (1985) are based on the contrast in elastic moduli between the NMSZ and the Missouri batholith, which intersects the NMSZ along its most seismically active parts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Sinking Mafic Body in a Reactivated Lower Crust: A Mechanism for Stress Concentration at the New Madrid Seismic Zone

Pollitz

Kellogg

Bürgmann

2001

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

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We propose a geodynamic model for stress concentration in the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ). The model postulates that a high-density (mafic) body situated in the deep crust directly beneath the most seismically active part of the NMSZ began sinking several thousands of years ago when the lower crust was suddenly weakened. Based on the fact that deformation rates in the NMSZ have accelerated over the past 9 k.y., we envision the source of this perturbation to be related to the last North American deglaciation. Excess mass of the mafic body exerts a downward pull on the elastic upper crust, leading to a cycle of primary thrust faulting with secondary strike-slip faulting, after which continued sinking of the mafic body reloads the upper crust and renews the process. This model is consistent with the youth of activity, the generation of a sequence of earthquakes, and the velocity evolution during interseismic periods, which depend upon the density contrast of the mafic body with respect to the surrounding crust, its volume, and the viscosity of the lower crust.

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“…These systems, which occur along passive continental margins, coincide with many of the Earth's largest rivers (cf. Burke and Dewey, 1973;Potter, 1978;Bridgland, 2002), including the Amazon (Potter, 1997), Rhine (Reugg, 1994) and Mississippi, the latter seemingly involving reactivation of rifting from an earlier oceanic (Iapetus) cycle (Braille et al, 1986). The modern Bristol Channel lowland can be seen to have its origin in a much older rift system (Kamerling, 1979;Nemčok et al, 1995;Belayneh and Cosgrove, 2010) that was utilized by the Triassic river system that deposited parts of the NRS (see above).…”

Section: Discussion and Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Rivers through geological time: the fluvial contribution to understanding of our planet

Bridgland

Bennett²,

McVicar-Wright

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

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. (2014) 'Rivers through geological time : the uvial contribution to understanding of our planet.', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association., 125 (5-6). pp. 503-510.Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2014.11.001Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be re ected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A de nitive version was subsequently published in Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 125, December 2014, 10.1016/j.pgeola.2014.11.001. Additional information:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

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Tectonic development of the New Madrid rift complex, Mississippi embayment, North America

Cited by 121 publications

References 31 publications

Cratonic Basins

Cratonic Basins

Sinking Mafic Body in a Reactivated Lower Crust: A Mechanism for Stress Concentration at the New Madrid Seismic Zone

Rivers through geological time: the fluvial contribution to understanding of our planet

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