Stratigraphy, structure, and extent of the East Continent Rift Basin
- Cincinnati Arch Consortium and Ohio Geological Survey, Columbus, OH (United States)
The proven existence of pre-Mt. Simon sedimentary rocks named the Middle Run Formation in southwestern Ohio led to the establishment of the Cincinnati Arch Consortium, a joint industry-government partnership to investigate the areal extent, nature, and origin of this new unit. Utilizing available well, seismic, and potential-field data, the consortium has shown that the Middle Run was deposited in a Precambrian rift basin, named the East Continent Rift Basin (ECRB). These data indicate the ECRB assemblage consists of a large folded and faulted wedge of interlayered volcanic and sedimentary rocks, unconformably overlain by Cambrian strata. This wedge is estimated to be thickest (up to about 22,000 feet) on the western edge, where it is in fault contact with Grenville Province rocks. To the west, the ECRB may extend as far as central Illinois and postdates the Precambrian Granite-Rhyolite Province rocks. The contact between the ECRB and this older province appears to be in part an angular unconformity and in part block faulted. The northern limit of this basin was not encountered in the study area; this may indicate a connection with the Midcontinent Rift in Michigan. In central Kentucky, the boundary conditions are more complex. It appears that the ECRB is constricted between a large block of the Granite-Rhyolite Province to the west and the Grenville Front on the east. Large Cambrian extensional structures (Rough Creek Graben and Rome Trough) were overprinted on the Granite-Rhyolite and Grenville Provinces. The ECRB may have acted as a stable block between these Cambrian features. The relationships of the ECRB to overlying Paleozoic features may be profound. Indeed, the ECRB may prove to be the reason for the very existence of the Cincinnati and Kankakee Arches.
- OSTI ID:
- 5578939
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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