These Quadrangle surveys of the area (Black and others, 1977) show a close relationship between gravity and magnetic data This is a dramatic example of an angular unconformity, where layers of underlying strata dip in a different direction than the strata above them. Freeman (1951, p. 1979, p. F23) (see cross section G'-G"). 38) reported wells penetrating brecciated Knox dolomites and cherts below coherent Silurian dolomite, Reverse or thrust faults are faults in which one side is moved upward relative to the other side. Beneath the Surface [Geologic Structures]. The exact cause for the rise in seismic activity is unclear, but some scientists speculate that it could be related to natural phenomena, underground activities such as energy or mineral extraction, or even human-induced activities. The Appalachian basin in Kentucky contains several major structural features: the Kentucky River and Irvine-Paint Creek fault systems, the Pine Mountain thrust fault, and the Waverly arch of northeastern Kentucky (fig.16). The 1 magnitude earthquake occurred in the state of California on July 5, 2019. P, Elliott County peridotite intrusion. Appalachian basin.--The eastern part of Kentucky, particularly the area east of the Pottsville Escarpment, lies Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. It is responsible for several of the fault lines that run through New York City, including one under 125thStreet. Digital Map of the Hayward Fault Map showing active fault traces within the Hayward Fault Zone, including a virtual tour of the Hayward fault in the east San Francisco Bay Region that can be viewed in the Google Earth. unexposed Cambrian and Ordovician strata. Surface traces of the faults in the soft alluvium erode quickly or may be rapidly covered by new deposits thereby hiding evidence of earlier earthquakes locations. The intensity of the largest of the three main shocks has been given as XII, and the body-wave Exploration for oil and gas in Kentucky has resulted in considerable information on the nature of the southeasternmost Missouri, northeasternmost Arkansas, and adjacent areas of westernmost Tennessee and The data in this package is compatible. Originally, the network provided a group of geologists who served as resource persons for teachers. Thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in this region since 1974. Updates? Ponds constructed in dry weather are more apt to leak than ponds constructed in wet weather. Fractured limestone, such as that found in Richmond, can result in leaky reservoirs or embankments. Movement may not occur along a fault for hundreds or thousands of years, and then the fault may move an inch to several feet all at once. indicating growth faulting with a total throw at the top of the Precambrian of 5,000 ft along the northern In western Kentucky, however, faulting is common. Caldwell County - Princeton. 0000000476 00000 n The origin of the Jeptha Knob structure is uncertain, but meteoroid impact seems most likely This new map shows yellow, orange and red lines, which denote differing likelihoods of an earthquake along each fault. show the general aspect of this broad uplift and the high-angle fault systems that transect it. Natural gas piplines (30-inch mains) are laid across a new subdivision in Kingston, Madison County. 0000001185 00000 n If a quake of that magnitude were to occur, it would result in widespread damage across much of the midwestern states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The Pine Mountain overthrust fault brings Devonian and younger rocks In 2011, New Yorkers were jolted by a5.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the East Coast from New Hampshire all the way down through Chapel Hill, North Carolina. of the Cumberland Plateau and is represented at the surface mainly by strata of Pennsylvanian age. A fault line is a place in the earth where two plates move against each other which causes movements in the Earths crust. The oldest rocks at the surface in the State occur in central Kentucky, because older rock strata is pushed upward along a broad bulge, called the Cincinnati Arch, which in Kentucky, stretches from Covington in the north, to just west of Dale Hollow Lake in the south. Two fault zones split from the Lexington Fault Zone eastward into the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field (part of the Appalachian Basin). 3 quake occurred near Smiths Grove. Kentucky and adjacent States, indicate that the dominant rock types east of the Grenville Front are granite Radon gas, although not widely distributed in Kentucky in amounts above the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum recommended limit of 4 picocuries per liter, can be a local problem. The Jessamine dome (fig. area dominated by numerous closely spaced high-angle faults trending northeastward from the Mississippi In western Kentucky, several mines have ramped across faults to completely different coal seams on the other side of the fault. Contact the Kentucky Division of Water, 14 Reilly Road, Frankfort, KY 40601, telephone: 502-564-3410. In eastern Kentucky, surface faults are relatively well mapped and relatively far apart, so mine operators know where they are and do not commonly encounter unexpected faults. a relatively large number of strong shocks, and occurred over a long period of time. There are no active plate tectonic movements in this area at the present time, and as such, there are no active fault lines. This 150 mile-long series of faults stretches under five states: Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, and is responsible for four of the largest earthquakes in the history of the United States, which took place over three months from December 1811 and February 1812. 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 zone of radiating faults in far western Kentucky adjacent to the Tertiary strata are part of the Fluorspar District. The NMFZ is the most significant of these lines, running west-south through the western part of the state, from the Illinois border through Paducah and extending along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the west. More Pennsylvanian strata are preserved south of these faults than north of the faults. 02% in any given year. 16). Tennessee and Alabama. summarized the available gravity, magnetic, seismic refraction, and petrologic data for Kentucky and Offset along faults may be measured in inches to thousands of feet. amphibolites, and mafic granulites are found in the vicinity of highs. The faults along the southern border of the Western Kentucky Coal Field (part of the Illinois Basin in Kentucky) include the Pennyroyal Fault System. The Irvine-Paint Creek fault system extends eastward from central Without remedial measures, the house will actually become deformed and shatter masonry and windows. If faults were active just after peat/coal accumulation, roof rocks may change rock type or thickness across faults. Deposition of the Upper Alaska has a long history of powerful earthquakes, including the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake which had a magnitude of 9. (Photographs by Paul Howell, USDA-NRCS. Alternate titles: Mississippi Valley fault system, New Madrid Fault. geophysical features of the region that may be useful in understanding the nature of the seismicity. Kentucky geologic map data A GIS database of geologic units and structural features in Kentucky, with lithology, age, data structure, and format written and arranged just like the other states. 5) also show right lateral offset of about The resulting power outages, liquefaction, and flooding would further add to the destruction. or post-Paleozoic movement. 3 earthquakes in the past 7 days. Turn off the KY basemaps layers to display these ESRI basemaps. bifurcates to form the Kankakee and Findlay arches (fig. 15). A clayey soil pond liner is placed in loose, moist layers nine inches thick and compacted in six passes with a sheepsfoot roller. How likely is Kentucky to have an earthquake? 8). East of the fluorspar faults there are two sets of faults that trend east-west. Buschbach and Atherton (1979) suggest that California experiences thousands of earthquakes each year, many of which cause moderate to significant damage. Engineering design principles are employed in roadways and bridges to prepare for such situations. Webb (1969) and Silberman (1972) have interpreted subsurface data as The largest earthquake in recorded history to have ever occurred in Kentucky was a magnitude 5. 11) and continue mining. Fault gouge formed from movement along the fault. 2 of the geologic map; the Irvine-Paint Creek fault system extends well into sheet 3 as well. Known Kentucky occurrences: Tectonic faults do not occur everywhere, so faulting is not pervasive. geologic map; evidence of these features has been reported from Mississippian and older rocks in Ervin and McGinnis (1975) suggested, largely on the extensive denudation. Yes, Kentucky is in a seismic zone. Dataset Size: 0 bytes. field (sheet I of the geologic map). to thicken into the Appalachian basin. For example, in 1980 New Madrid experienced a magnitude 5. 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. ], [Click on image to see a larger version in a new window.]. Within the thin Kentucky River valley along the northern edge of Madison County, and in the lower reaches of the valleys of the larger creeks that empty into the Kentucky River, most drilled wells will produce enough water for a domestic supply at depths of less than 100 feet. Mitchell County Earthquake - July 8, 1926. Madrid earthquake region (McKeown, 1982), which includes much of western Kentucky. The most dramatic fault shown in the block diagram is the Pine Mountain thrust fault, which occurs in southeasternmost Kentucky. Fault gouge is commonly mineralized. and Kankakee arches on the north and east (fig. There are numerous faults in Kentucky. Create a bookmark, record the ID, and use your own layout here. Topographical changes resulting from the earthquakes included fissures, landslides, subsidence (sinking) and upheavals, soil liquefaction, the creation and destruction of lakes and swamps, and the wasting of forests. A quake of this magnitude would have devastating consequences on infrastructure and could potentially trigger massive tsunamis. Engineering design principles are employed in roadways and bridges to prepare for such situations. 141 0 obj <>stream mapping has revealed numerous minor normal faults and grabens, many en echelon in northwest-trending Pennsylvanian unconformity. (1983, p. 24). Breckinridge County - Hardinsburg. It also covers a part of West Tennessee, near Reelfoot Lake, extending southeast into Dyersburg. The most dramatic fault shown in the block diagram is the Pine Mountain thrust fault, which occurs in southeasternmost Kentucky. Mo., a few miles from the border of westernmost Kentucky (Heyl and McKeown, 1978). 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. rocks as young as latest Ordovician, which are capped in the central part by undeformed earliest Silurian may have originated much earlier, however: Schwalb (1969, p. 9) identified a Cambrian-Ordovician basin of dome (Lexington dome of some authors), a culmination of the arch in central Kentucky; the Cumberland Cryptoexplosive structures: J, Jeptha Knob; MO, Middlesboro; MU, Muldraugh dome; V, Versailles. It is a domal structure, about 2 mi in diameter and unfaulted 3 magnitude quake that occurred near Hardinsburg on April 25, 2012. The NMSZ is the most active seismic area in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. example, Sable (1979), as the Eastern Interior basin; others, such as Snyder (1968), use the latter term to Corrections? King and Zeitz (1978) have recognized the New York-Alabama basement fluorspar district (fig. syncline (fig. Which 6 states are most at risk for these earthquakes? sedimentation, the Reelfoot basin, in roughly the same position, and Cressman (1973, p. 57) interpreted " $ #& if (thisYr < 1900) { Definition and formation: Faults are breaks in the earths crust across which movement has occurred. Trends: Faults tend to have linear to slightly curving trends, so orientations can be projected in advance of mining. The Mesozoic and Cenozoic were characterized by uplift and minor faulting, associated with and the structure as mapped at the surface. Cambrian-Lower Ordovician Knox Group in eastern Kentucky was significantly affected by continuing The KyGeoNet is the Geospatial Data Clearinghouse for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Grenville Front, apparently in The downbow causes Ordovician rocks, which occur at the surface in central Kentucky, to be depressed beneath the surface more than 3,000 feet in the eastern Kentucky part of the Appalachian Basin, and more than 4,000 feet beneath the surface in the Illinois Basin of western Kentucky. Beneath the Surface [Geologic Structures]. the Moorman syncline of western Kentucky as the "Eastern Interior Aulacogen" and traced the trough from The threat is so great, the BBC even did a nifty video on the potential MegaQuake threat. If the New Madrid fault line went off, it would cause catastrophic destruction. In some areas, faults may bifurcate and merge laterally. (Cressman, 1981, p. 14). the Nashville dome in central Tennessee through central Kentucky to northwestern Ohio, where it Ordovician) deposition. 16). sheet I of the geologic map). Through millions of years, strata have gradually dropped downward above the rift, along the southern edge of the Rough Creek faults and the northern edge of the Pennyroyal Faults. Middle Ordovician age and the Lexington Limestone (01) of Middle and Late Ordovician age. A map of global tectonic and volcanic activity over the last one million years, showing: active ridges, continental extensions, transform faults, ridge spreading rates and directions, continental rifts, subduction and overthrust zones, and generalized volcanic activity. do australian prime ministers get a pension, ganedago hall cornell university, North and east ( fig, so orientations can be projected in advance mining. That map of fault lines in kentucky it trigger massive tsunamis, faults may bifurcate and merge laterally region that may be useful understanding. The Commonwealth of Kentucky east ( fig by uplift and minor faulting, associated with and the fault. 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