3-d structure of the Late Paleozoic suture beneath the Georgia coastal plain: evidence from new COCORP profiling

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6863451

Arnow, J A; Nelson, K D; McBride, J H; Wille, D M; Oliver, J E; Brown, L D; Kaufman, S

New COCORP data collected on the Georgia coastal plain reveal a broad internally complex zone of basement reflections associated with the Brunswick magnetic low. This feature probably marks the late Paleozoic suture between North American and Africa. Multiple crossings of this feature provide information on its three-dimensional structure as well as its regional trend. The presumed suture consists of prominent bands of both arcuate and planar south-dipping reflections that extend from near the surface to the base of the crust (5-35 km), along with discrete apparently crosscutting northeast-dipping reflections. The dipping reflections in the deep crust extend downward to subhorizontal Moho reflections but do not penetrate through these reflections or offset them, suggesting that Moho is younger than the dipping fabric within the crust. In western Georgia the south-dipping reflections project upward toward metamorphosed and thrust-imbricated eugeoclinal strata exposed in the southernmost Piedmont, suggesting that they represent the downdip extension of that assemblage. The northeast-dipping reflections might represent south-vergent Paleozoic thrusts, Mesozoic normal faults, or both. In western Georgia the suture zone is relatively narrow (about 70 km wide). However, in eastern Georgia complex mid- and lower crustal reflections occur both beneath and to the north of the Brunswick anomaly, implying a broadened zone of crustal deformation.

• Research Organization: Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6863451
• Report Number(s): CONF-8510489-
• Journal Information: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
BASEMENT ROCK
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MAPPING
PLATE TECTONICS
GEORGIA
COASTAL REGIONS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC MODELS
INCLINED STRATA
PERMIAN PERIOD
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
FEDERAL REGION IV
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRATA
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
SURVEYS
TECTONICS
USA
580201* - Geophysics- Seismology & Tectonics- (1980-1989)
580100 - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)