Abstract: Faulting in Head of Mississippi Embayment

R. G. Stearns

The most likely fault pattern (north of 36°) is northeast-trending faults about 8 mi apart with some northwest- and north-trending faults. Completely concealed faults may be much more abundant (about 3 mi apart). Most post-Cretaceous faults are present toward the north and west. Interpretation of the fault pattern is based on outcrop geology, lineations, and interpretive structure contours of the Porters Creek Clay and the Paleozoic surface.

The hypothesis that the Mississippi Embayment "syncline" is a tensional structure is supported by the fact that the cumulative heave on faults appears to be much greater than the stretching necessary to account for the syncline. If this is true the Ozark dome and Cincinnati arch may be moving apart at a measurable rate.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90978©1975 GCAGS-GC Section SEPM Annual Meeting, Jackson, Mississippi