Paleozoic continent-ocean transition in the ouachita mountains imaged from PASSCAL wide-angle seismic reflection-refraction data

Journal Article · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Geology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1989)017<0119:PCOTIT>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:7242886

Keller, G R ^[1]; Braile, L W ^[2]; McMechan, G A; Chang, Wen-Fong ^[3]; Thomas, W A ^[4]; Harder, S H ^[5]; Jardine, W G ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Texas, El Paso (USA)
2. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (USA)
3. Univ. of Texas at Dallas, Richardson (USA)
4. Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (USA)
5. Texas A and M Univ., College Station (USA)

A wide-angle reflection-reflection experiment, sponsored by the Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL), was conducted in the Ouachita Mountains area of southwestern Arkansas and northwestern Louisiana. This experimental employed 400 state-of-the-art seismic recorders and overlapped the southern one-third of the COCORP (Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling) deep seismic reflection profile in the area. A wide variety of data processing and interpretation techniques was employed to derive an Earth model from these data. The model depicts a preserved early Paleozoic continental margin buried beneath allochthonous Paleozoic strata and younger sedimentary rocks. The southern part of the model indicates the presence of oceanic or highly extended continental crust overlain by about 15 km of mostly Paleozoic sedimentary rock. These results are consistent with little if any shortening of crystalline continental crust during the Ouachita orogeny.

• OSTI ID: 7242886
• Journal Information: Geology; (USA), Journal Name: Geology; (USA) Vol. 17:2; ISSN GLGYB; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
ARKANSAS
CONTINENTAL CRUST
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA PROCESSING
EARTH CRUST
FEDERAL REGION VI
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
LOUISIANA
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
OCEANIC CRUST
OROGENESIS
PALEOZOIC ERA
PROCESSING
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SURVEYS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
USA