The basement revealed: Tectonic insight from a digital elevation model of the Great Unconformity, USA cratonic platform

Marshak, Stephen; Domrois, Stefanie; Abert, Curtis C.; Larson, Timothy H.; Pavlis, Gary L.; Hamburger, Michael W.; Yang, Xiaotao; Gilbert, H. J.; Chen, Chen

doi:10.1130/g38875.1

Cited by 41 publications

(48 citation statements)

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“…Specifically, there is only ~300 m of elevation difference between the highest point of the Ozark Dome in Missouri and the land surface over most of the Illinois Basin in Illinois. Comparison of the Moho depth map (Figures a and b) to topography of the Great Unconformity (the Precambrian/Paleozoic contact) [ Marshak et al ., ] throughout the study area (Figure and Movies S1 and S2) emphasizes that the depth variation in the Moho greatly exceeds that of the Great Unconformity. Thus, variation in Moho depth cannot simply be a consequence of downwarping of the crust during subsidence of the Illinois Basin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hauser [] suggests that this rifting event was analogous to rifting seen today in the Middle East created by block rotation of the Arabian plate. Except for the Ozarks, the Precambrian rocks of this entire area are all in the subsurface and known only by limited borehole data and inferences from geophysical data [ Marshak et al ., ]. Hence, the details of how Proterozoic orogenic events might have modified the crust is not well constrained.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Span of the tectonic provinces are based on Marshak et al . []. Locations of the domes and arches surrounding the Illinois Basin are plotted after Nelson and Marshak [].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evolution of cratonic basins, such as the Illinois, Michigan, and Williston Basins, has been linked with larger-scale rifting and other orogenic events [Heidlauf et al, 1986;Hsui, 1987a, 1987b]. This paper provides new results focusing on the deep crustal structure of the Illinois Basin and surrounding area that Marshak et al [2017]. Locations of the domes and arches surrounding the Illinois Basin are plotted after Nelson and Marshak [1996].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detailed crustal thickness variations beneath the Illinois Basin area: Implications for crustal evolution of the midcontinent

et al. 2017

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We present high‐resolution imaging results of crustal and upper mantle velocity discontinuities across the Illinois Basin area using both common conversion point stacking and plane wave migration methods applied to P wave receiver functions from the EarthScope Ozark, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky experiment. The images reveal unusually thick crust (up to 62 km) throughout the central and southeastern Illinois Basin area. A significant Moho gradient underlies the NW trending Ste. Genevieve Fault Zone, which delineates the boundary between the Illinois Basin and Ozark Dome. Relatively thinner crust (<45 km) underlies most of the Precambrian highlands surrounding the Illinois Basin and beneath the rift‐related structures of the Reelfoot Rift and the Rough Creek Graben. We consider four hypotheses to explain the presence of thick crust under the central and southeastern Illinois Basin. Crustal thickening may have been produced (1) prior to its accretion to North America around 1.55 Ga and is an inherited characteristic of this crustal province; (2) by underthrusting or shortening during Proterozoic convergent margin tectonics around 1.55–1.35 Ga; (3) by Late Precambrian magmatic underplating at the base of older crust, associated with the creation of the Eastern Granite‐Rhyolite Province around 1.3 Ga; and (4) through crustal “relamination” during an episode of Proterozoic flat‐slab subduction beneath the Illinois Basin, possibly associated with the Grenville Orogeny.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Span of the tectonic provinces are based on Marshak et al . []. Locations of the domes and arches surrounding the Illinois Basin are plotted after Nelson and Marshak [].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detailed crustal thickness variations beneath the Illinois Basin area: Implications for crustal evolution of the midcontinent

et al. 2017

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“…The predicted timing of converted phases from the bottoms of the sedimentary basins and their multiples (arrivals that experience a reflection off of the free surface) are plotted on Figure 5. The timing of these arrivals was calculated using a digital elevation model of the depth to the Precambrian basement (Marshak et al, 2017) and applying the sediment velocities of Yeck et al (2014) for the Bighorn basin (Vp of 3.6 km/s and a Vp/Vs of 2.1). These predicted times were then migrated to depth using the ISAP91velocity model (Kennett and Engdahl, 1991) as in our CCP stacks.…”

Section: Crustal Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Predictive models for the deep geometry of a thick-skinned thrust matched to crustal structure: Wind River Range, western USA

Groshong

Porter

2019

Lithosphere

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The ability of models designed to use near-surface structural information to predict the deep geometry of a faulted block is tested for a thick-skinned thrust by matching the surface geometry to the crustal structure beneath the Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA. The Wind River Range is an ∼100-km-wide, thick-skinned rotated basement block bounded on one side by a high-angle reverse fault. The availability of a deep seismic-reflection profile and a detailed crustal impedance profile based on teleseismic receiver-function analysis makes this location ideal for testing techniques used to predict the deep fault geometry from shallow data. The techniques applied are the kinematic models for a circular-arc fault, oblique simple-shear fault, shear fault-bend fold, and model-independent excess area balancing. All the kinematic models imply that the deformation cannot be exclusively rigid-body rotation but rather require distributed deformation throughout some or all of the basement. Both the circular-arc model and the oblique-shear models give nearly the same best fit to the master fault geometry. The predicted lower detachment matches a potential crustal detachment zone at 31 km subsea. The thrust ramp is located close to where this zone dies out to the southwest. The circular-arc model implies that the penetrative deformation could be focused at the trailing edge of the basement block rather than being distributed uniformly throughout and thus helps to explain the line of second-order anticlines along the trailing edge of the Wind River block. Key points: (1) The circular-arc fault model and the oblique-shear model predict a lower detachment for the Wind River rotated block to be ∼31 km subsea, consistent with the crustal structure as defined by teleseismic receiver-function analysis. The thrust ramp starts where this zone dies out. (2) The kinematic models require distributed internal deformation within the basement block, probably concentrated at the trailing edge. (3) The uplift at the trailing edge of the rotated block is explained by the circular-arc kinematic model as a requirement to maintain area balance of a mostly rigid block above a horizontal detachment; the oblique-shear model can explain the uplift as caused by displacement on a dipping detachment.

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Heterogeneity versus Anisotropy and the State of Stress in Stable Cratons: Observations from a Deep Borehole of Opportunity in Northeastern Alberta, Canada

Wang

Schmitt

Chan

2022

Preprint

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Geophysical logs collected from a deep borehole drilled to the Canadian Shield in Northeastern Alberta shed valuable lights on the state of stress in stable cratons. Observed breakout azimuths rotate between three depth intervals, from N100°E at 1650-2000 m to N173°E at 2000-2210 m, and finally to N145°E at the bottom. No obvious fractures that might disturb stresses were found; and these rotating breakouts can be interpreted either as being due to a heterogenous stress field or formation elastic and strength anisotropy. The latter interpretation is favored because the breakout azimuths are strongly controlled by rock metamorphic textures as validated by their close correlations with both dip directions of foliation planes and polarization directions from dipole sonic logs. Monte Carlo realizations further demonstrate that anisotropic metamorphic rocks subjected to a uniform horizontal stress direction could result in the observed azimuth-rotating breakouts. The stress magnitudes inferred from this analysis, which incorporates both the rock anisotropy and weak foliation failure planes, suggest a normal faulting regime and a maximum horizontal compression direction consistent with that in the overlying Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (NE-SW) and the motion of the North American plate. The inferred stress magnitudes are low and Mohr-Coulomb analyses demonstrate that the formation is not near the critical loading for slip on weak planes. However, more detailed investigations should be conducted since Monte Carlo calculations indicate that analyses from breakout widths, particularly when a conventional Kirsch-based formula is employed, are highly nonunique, allowing for large variations in potential stress states.

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The basement revealed: Tectonic insight from a digital elevation model of the Great Unconformity, USA cratonic platform

Cited by 41 publications

References 30 publications

Detailed crustal thickness variations beneath the Illinois Basin area: Implications for crustal evolution of the midcontinent

Detailed crustal thickness variations beneath the Illinois Basin area: Implications for crustal evolution of the midcontinent

Predictive models for the deep geometry of a thick-skinned thrust matched to crustal structure: Wind River Range, western USA

Heterogeneity versus Anisotropy and the State of Stress in Stable Cratons: Observations from a Deep Borehole of Opportunity in Northeastern Alberta, Canada

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