Orientation of tectonic stresses in central Kentucky during U. Devonian/L. Mississippian times: Evidence from quartz veins (after gypsum) in NE-trending, systematic joints in shales

Conference · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5881721

Grover, J; Dupuis-Nouille, E M ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH (United States). Dept. of Geology

Quartz replacing fibrous gypsum and anhydrite pseudomorphically (QAS; quartz after sulfate''), and preserving characteristic crack-seal'' and chickenwire'' textures, occurs in extensional veins at four locations in central KY. The veins occupy a systematic set of NE-SW-trending, vertical joints within the essentially flat-lying shales of the Renfro Member of the Mississippian Borden Formation and the Late Devonian New Albany Shale. The four QAS occurrences discovered to date are located northeast of the Borden Front. At one site in the New Albany Shale, QAS veins show clear evidence of penecontemporaneous deformation. It is proposed that at all QAS locations, gypsum precipitated in incipient joints before complete lithification of the sediment, and grew perpendicular to the fractures to form extensional veins in the soft but firm muds. The orientations of the joints now marked by QAS veins are broadly consistent with regional patterns of NE-SW-trending systematic joints and lineaments in southern IN and in central and eastern KY. These systematic fracture patterns do not correspond directly to known basement faults or rift systems, although they are consistent with modern stress directions in eastern and western KY, measured in situ in wells and by earthquake fault-plane solutions. It is proposed that this systematic trend marks the regional tectonic stress pattern characteristic of southern IN and central and eastern KY at, and since the Late Devonian. The evidence of penecontemporaneous sedimentary deformation in joints of U. Devonian age, marked and preserved by quartz replacement of early gypsum, is sufficient to show that while the systematic NE-trending joint set in KY may also be modern it is not uniquely so.

• OSTI ID: 5881721
• 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

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
KENTUCKY
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
STRESS ANALYSIS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
DEFORMATION
DEVONIAN PERIOD
INDIANA
LINEAMENTS
ORIENTATION
QUARTZ
SHALES
TECTONICS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MINERALS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDE MINERALS
PALEOZOIC ERA
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
USA
580000* - Geosciences