Surface faults of the south Louisiana growth-fault province

McCulloh, Richard P.; Heinrich, Paul V.

doi:10.1130/2012.2493(03)

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…() suggested that the quiescence was caused by a reversal of the slope of the basal detachment due to isostatic subsidence caused by sediment loading. Many faults, especially those in the TBRFZ, were reactivated during the Pleistocene (Hanor, ; McCulloh & Heinrich, ), which may be related to acceleration of Pleistocene sedimentation rates (Nunn, ). Present‐day activity in the TBRFZ has been documented by damage to infrastructure, suggesting aseismic fault slip (McCulloh, ).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Coleman & Roberts, ). Second, there is a well‐mapped major fault system in this area that has known late Quaternary activity (Fisk, ; McCulloh & Heinrich, ; Gasparini et al ., ). Third, OSL dating has a proven potential here to date sediments that record fault motion (Rittenour et al ., ; Shen et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Faults with surface scarps in the Tepetate–Baton Rouge fault zone ( TBRFZ ) (modified from McCulloh & Heinrich, ), surface projection of subsurface fault systems in southern Louisiana (from Murray, ) and Mississippi River depocentre shifts during the late Quaternary. The Mississippi River depocentrr is from Kulp et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanisms of late Quaternary fault throw‐rate variability along the north central Gulf of Mexico coast: implications for coastal subsidence

et al. 2016

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Quaternary sea‐level cycles have caused dramatic depocentre shifts near the mouths of major rivers. The effects of these shifts on fault activity in passive margin settings is poorly known, as no studies have constrained passive margin fault throw‐rate variability over 103 to 105 year time scales. Here we present 11 mean throw rates for the Tepetate–Baton Rouge fault zone along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast in southern Louisiana. These data were obtained by optically stimulated luminescence dating over time scales spanning the last interglacial to the late Holocene. The mean throw rate is ca. 0.22 mm year−1 during the late Holocene, ca. 0.03 mm year−1 during the last glacial and at least 0.07 mm year−1 during the last interglacial. Throw rates averaged over the late Pleistocene to present are spatially uniform within our study area. The temporal variability in throw rates suggests that shifts of the Mississippi River depocentre relative to this fault zone, driven by Quaternary sea‐level cycles, may have imposed a significant control on fault activity. The late Holocene throw rate is at least in the order of magnitude smaller than the rates of land‐surface subsidence in the Mississippi Delta, indicating that this fault zone is not a dominant contributor to subsidence in this region.

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanisms of late Quaternary fault throw‐rate variability along the north central Gulf of Mexico coast: implications for coastal subsidence

et al. 2016

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“…Extent of study region and generalized geologic map of lower Mississippi River valley, delta region, and Gulf of Mexico coast illustrating shelf‐margins positions and mapped growth faults (McCulloh & Heinrich, ; Murray, ). Pleistocene alluvial‐deltaic deposits are shown in orange, whereas Holocene strata are shown in yellow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolving the contributing factors to Mississippi Delta subsidence: Past and Present

et al. 2018

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To date, quantification of individual components that contribute to shallow and deep‐seated subsidence in passive margin deltas worldwide has proven problematic. A new, regional gridded chronostratigraphic dataset for the Lower Mississippi Delta region, derived from 80,928 well reports across the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), has bridged the disparity between geodetic mean rates measuring total land surface subsidence across annual‐to‐decadal timescales and the deep‐seated stratigraphic subsidence rates that record isostatic response over timescales of >104 years. Through a quantitative assessment of gridded chronostratigraphic surfaces, sections, and subsidence rates extending from the Middle Pleistocene (0.58 Ma) to the Late Pliocene (3.85 Ma), we identify both temporal and spatial variability in deep‐seated subsidence across the northern GOM. Targeted deep‐seated subsidence data extracted across prior GOM Holocene sea‐level sample locations have revealed more than an order of magnitude greater rates of isostatic compensation in the Mississippi depocentre versus similar GOM sea‐level control sites in Florida and Alabama, casting doubt on efforts towards a representative Holocene sea‐level curve. Spatial variability in subsidence was also assessed locally in both the strike and dip directions to assess the contributions of growth faults. Fault throw displacement magnitude was discovered to decrease with depth, accounting for less than half of the total deep‐seated subsidence record of the Middle Pleistocene. Temporal subsidence complexities were also revealed including a direct, inverse logarithmic relationship between subsidence rate and time indicating variable subsidence component controls across different timescales. Despite the spatial and temporal complexities, this dataset serves as the first regional baseline for deep‐seated subsidence rates across the northern GOM.

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“…Because the topography of the region is subtle and the Pleistocene fault scarps are on the order of a few meters in height, traces of the fault segments can be difficult to identify in the field, especially because much of the area is heavily vegetated. However, a publically available DEM derived from an airborne LiDAR survey has removed any doubt that this landscape has been affected by fault activity through Late Pleistocene‐Holocene time (Gagliano et al ., ; Dokka, ; Shen et al ., ; McCulloh and Heinrich, ) (Figure ). Many of the smaller fault segments were identified only after the release of the LiDAR‐derived DEM (data distributed by ‘Atlas: The Louisiana Statewide GIS’, http://atlas.lsu.edu) in 1999.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological signatures of normal faulting in low‐gradient alluvial rivers in south‐eastern Louisiana, USA

Gasparini

Fischer

Adams

et al. 2015

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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We explore the fluvial response to faulting in three low‐gradient, sand‐bed rivers in south‐eastern Louisiana, USA, that flow across active normal faults from footwall (upstream) to hangingwall (downstream). We calculate sinuosity, migration rate and migration direction in order to identify anomalies spatially associated with fault scarps. In two of the rivers we model one‐dimensional steady water flow to identify anomalies in surface water slope, width‐to‐depth ratio, and shear stress. In each of these rivers there is one location where flow modeling suggests potential channel incision through the footwall, as indicated by relatively high surface water slopes and shear stress values. In one of these footwall locations, the river straightens and width‐to‐depth ratios decrease, likely contributing to higher surface water slopes and shear stress. This is in contrast to previous studies that have proposed increased sinuosity across fault footwalls and decreased sinuosity across hangingwalls. However, in two hangingwall locations we also observe relatively less sinuous channels. Other planform changes on the hangingwall include topographic steering of channels along and towards the fault and one example of an avulsion. The most notable anomaly in migration rate occurs on the hangingwall of a fault where a river has cut off a meander loop. Although fluvial response to faulting varies here, comparatively large and small channels exhibit similar responses. Further, Pleistocene fault slip rates are orders of magnitude lower than the channel migration rates, suggesting that faulting should not be a major influence on the fluvial evolution. Nonetheless, notable channel anomalies exist near faults, suggesting that recent fault slip rates are higher than Pleistocene rates, and/or that low‐gradient alluvial channels are more sensitive to faulting than previous studies have suggested. Rivers appear to be influenced by faulting in this setting, however background rates of meander loop cutoff may be just as influential as faulting. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Surface faults of the south Louisiana growth-fault province

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Mechanisms of late Quaternary fault throw‐rate variability along the north central Gulf of Mexico coast: implications for coastal subsidence

Mechanisms of late Quaternary fault throw‐rate variability along the north central Gulf of Mexico coast: implications for coastal subsidence

Resolving the contributing factors to Mississippi Delta subsidence: Past and Present

Morphological signatures of normal faulting in low‐gradient alluvial rivers in south‐eastern Louisiana, USA

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