Response of the Florida basement to continental closure
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Geology
The major components of the Florida basement (early Cambrian Osceola Complex, Ordovician-Devonian Suwannee Basin sedimentary sequence, and Mesozoic volcanic rocks of south Florida) and interpreted structural features (South Georgia Rift and Jay Fault-Bahamas Fracture Zone) have been described as evidence for an original assemblage of Florida with the leading edge of the African-South American landmass which experienced continental closure as part of the Alleghenian Orogeny and early Mesozoic rifting to isolate the Florida Plateau and leave it appended to North America. The presently interpreted distribution of the basement components, however, is not compatible with probable displacement orientations accommodating Mesozoic rifting and cannot be attributed to that process. An adjusting mechanism of lateral faulting is described as a response within the leading edge of the Gondwana landmass during its late Paleozoic closure with North America. Initial left lateral displacement developed beneath northeast Florida--southeast Georgia, but as clockwise rotation occurred about the Alabama Promontory, a series of right lateral faults, including the precursors to the multi-fault Jay Fault system, progressively developed to the west and accommodated a Gondwana displacement to the Ouachita region. Subsequent Mesozoic rifting promoted left lateral displacement along reactivated fault traces, and the pattern of the South Georgia Rift was constrained by the configuration of basement blocks and boundary faults which was established in the late Paleozoic.
- OSTI ID:
- 6118550
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9304188-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:4; Conference: 42. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Southeastern Section meeting, Tallahassee, FL (United States), 1-2 Apr 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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