Crustal profile of mountain belt: COCORP deep seismic reflection profiling in New England Appalachians and implications for architecture of convergent mountain chains
COCORP deep seismic reflection profiles from the New England Appalachians display some fundamental changes in crustal geometry from exterior to more interior parts of the mountain belt. Relatively shallow reflections from beneath the Taconic allochthon and Green Mountain anticlinorium are suggested to mark a zone of detachment that carries Precambrian Grenville basement of the Green Mountains in its upper plate. The data strongly suggest that tectonic thickening of the shelf sedimentary and synorogenic flysch sequence beneath the Taconic allochthon has occurred, and that major thrust-fault systems (Champlain thrust of western Vermont), which imbricate shelf lithologies, project downplunge into the seismic profile. Eastward-dipping reflections beneath the east flank of the Green Mountains appear to project in the subsurface across the Connecticut River valley into New Hampshire. Because some of these reflections can be projected into an exposed zone of probable thrust-imbricated Precambrian Grenville basement and younger metasediments, there is a strong implication that similar rock types exist in the deeper crust beneath New Hampshire.
- Research Organization:
- Dept. of Geological Sci., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY
- OSTI ID:
- 6296950
- Journal Information:
- Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Vol. 68:7; ISSN AAPGB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ANTICLINES
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
FEDERAL REGION I
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MINERAL RESOURCES
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
OROGENESIS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
REFLECTION
RESOURCES
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SEISMIC WAVES
SURVEYS
TECTONICS
USA