--> Abstract: Structural and Geomorphological Controls on the Bellefontaine Outlier, Logan County, Ohio, #90907 (2000)

Datapages, Inc.Print this page

ABSTRACT: Structural and Geomorphological Controls on the Bellefontaine Outlier, Logan County, Ohio

Stuart L. Dean, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH; Mark T. Baranoski, and Lawrence H. Wickstrom, Ohio Division of Geological Survey, Columbus, OH; Hallan C. Noltimier, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; and John L. Wicks, Red Producing Company, Wooster, OH

The Bellefontaine Outlier is an erosional remnant of Devonian strata positioned on the crest of the Central Ohio Platform in Logan County, west-central Ohio. The NNW elongation of the outlier follows the trend of an arm of the East Continent Rift Basin (ECRB) and not the NNE direction of the Findlay Arch. Numerous NW-trending normal faults parallel this ECRB arm and are complimented by a NE-trending set in Paleozoic strata above the Precambrian basement. Photo lineaments show a coincidence of fracture-trace trends and this orthogonal fault pattern.

The trend, configuration, and dissection pattern of outlier strata indicate fracture and fault control on present surface drainage and pre-Pleistocene drainage of the Teays River System. Potential-field, seismic, and well data reveal that the center of the outlier occupies an originally down-dropped block of Paleozoic strata, although Precambrian basement horst blocks underlie the northeastern and southwestern borders of the outlier. Northwest-trending normal faulting occurred from the late Precambrian through the mid-Paleozoic in the central portion of the outlier. Significant variations in Cambrian stratigraphy are evident in the vicinity of the outlier. These structural and stratigraphic complexities may lead to significant exploration potential. We suggest that the underlying fundamental structure of the Central Ohio Platform, upon which the outlier sits, is related both to the paleogeomorphology of eroded and truncated, resistant, Precambrian ECRB volcaniclastic strata and thrust-faulted, foreland-basin-fill sediments deposited late in the Grenville Orogeny.

Stuart L. Dean, Mark T. Baranoski, Lawrence H. Wickstrom, Hallan C. Noltimier, and John L. Wicks

 

Search and Discovery Article #90907©2000 AAPG Eastern Section Meeting, London, Ontario, Canada