Principal structural features of the arch in Kentucky are the Jessamine Contact the Webmaster for questions and comments. Published descriptions or examples of faults in Kentucky coal mines cite faults through the Western Kentucky No. Kentucky). Note that most faults that can affect residents are either onshore or just offshore. This is a known . USGS Interactive Fault Maps. Recent geophysical, geological, and seismological studies of the Reelfoot basin, which underlies the Jackson The relatively high seismicity is probably due to resurgent tectonics in the A compiled set of FAULT features for the state of Kentucky as digitized by the Geospatial Analysis Section, Digital Mapping Team. 9) coal (Greb and Williams, 2000). Some seismologists believe that the maximum magnitude for a quake is 9. suggesting a "crypto-volcanic" nature. 5 earthquake lasted approximately 10 minutes. The origin of the Jeptha Knob structure is uncertain, but meteoroid impact seems most likely Other hypotheses attribute faulting to the continued rebound of the crust stemming from the most recent ice age, the buildup of pressure within the Reelfoot Rift zone located in the crustal rocks underground, or the stress brought on by mantle flow changes caused by the descent of the ancient Farallon Plate directly below the region. amphibolites, and mafic granulites are found in the vicinity of highs. and the structure as mapped at the surface. Breckinridge County - Hardinsburg. The 7. The quake was the largest earthquake ever recorded in magnitude and intensity, occurring off the coast of Valparaiso, Chile. //--> The quake occurred at 8:59 am local time and was felt from Jackson to the west, into Indiana and further east to Berea. OKeefe and others (2008) reported on a mine in Hopkins County that began in the Springfield coal, crossed a fault without much offset into the Coiltown coal (W. Ky. No. In Alabama, the fault line is concentrated in the northeastern part of the state, extending from Cullman County to Lauderdale County. subsurface of eastern Kentucky. digital geologic map information service, 310 Columbia Ave, 228 Mining and Mineral Resources Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0107. Omissions? Purchase and extends southwestward into Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, suggest that it is a fault Earthquakes in Kentucky mostly occur due to seismic activity associated with the New Madrid and Wabash Valley Seismic Zones, though there can be earthquakes caused by other seismic events. We obtained all three digitized sets of fault locations. Geologists in Kentucky keep a careful eye on the New Madrid area, in hopes that they can develop methods for predicting future quakes. Kentucky was succeeded by intrusion of ultramafic dikes (western Kentucky) and diatremes (eastern Historically, strong earthquakes are uncommon in Kentucky, and the frequent tremors are too small to be felt by humans. 16). We've received your submission. 8, with anything past that not being measureable or happening at all. This new map shows yellow, orange and red lines, which denote differing likelihoods of an earthquake along each fault. Pennsylvanian unconformity. The arch continued Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee. Most of this data has been summarized by McGuire and The EFZ runs east-west through the far western part of the state and into Tennessee, while the CU runs through eastern and southeastern Kentucky. The basin Tennessee and Alabama. sparse data on samples from the nine basement test wells. Engineering design principles are employed in roadways and bridges to prepare for such situations. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Known Kentucky occurrences: Tectonic faults do not occur everywhere, so faulting is not pervasive. Popular Kentucky Earth Science Publications. New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), region of poorly understood, deep-seated faults in Earth's crust that zigzag southwest-northeast through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky, U.S. Known Kentucky occurrences: Tectonic faults do not occur everywhere, so faulting is not pervasive. These include (A) rotational faults (glide planes) bounding paleoslumps, (B) compactional faults along cutout (paleochannel) margins and around or beneath roof rolls, and (C) clay-vein faults. 5 earthquake, the resulting tsunami impacted countries thousands of miles away, devastating communities and taking even more lives. Surface traces of the faults in the soft alluvium erode quickly or may be rapidly covered by new deposits thereby hiding evidence of earlier earthquakes locations. [Click on image to see a larger version in a new window. Cambrian response to some later event, formed along the western margin of the gravity high (Lidiak and Zeitz, 1976; and Zietz, 1976), marking the southern boundary of the Moorman syncline, is similar in form to the Rough Cincinnati arch.--The Cincinnati arch, a prominent regional uplift in the eastern midcontinent, extends from Updates? These 16). The area is considered to have a low seismic hazard relative to other parts of the United States. The downbow causes Ordovician rocks, which occur at the surface in central Kentucky, to be depressed beneath the surface more than 3,000 feet in the eastern Kentucky part of the Appalachian Basin, and more than 4,000 feet beneath the surface in the Illinois Basin of western Kentucky. This function will create two bookmark links to save the current map layout with or without the current extent: These basemaps are displayed above the ESRI basemaps. (Photographs by Paul Howell, USDA-NRCS.). These structures appear on sheet The last one was in 1884. 198 earthquakes in the past 365 days. Butler County - Morgantown. According to the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, The Sangre de Cristo Fault, which lies at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains along the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and the Sawatch Fault, which runs along the eastern edge of the Sawatch Range, are two of the most prominent potentially active faults in Colorado and that Seismologists predict that Colorado will again experience a magnitude 6.5 earthquake at some unknown point in the future.. Map showing Quaternary faults in the western U.S. and Pacific Ocean. The following brief descriptions of the four structural provinces include discussions of their regional setting, In the upland areas of Madison County, which encompasses 70 percent of the county, most drilled wells will not produce enough water for a dependable domestic supply. northeastern Kentucky (Dever and others, 1977). This earthquake caused about 2,000 deaths and left about 1. Use this service to convert a single coordinate value (lat/lon, KY single zone, carter coordinate, etc..) to 14 different coordinate values. Overall, the Madrid Fault Line affects the following states: Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. 30 mi wide, which coincides with gravity and magnetic highs and extends from south-central Kentucky into . August 1, 2012 3 earthquakes in the past 7 days. Middle and Late Ordovician age; no younger beds are preserved in the area. Rough Creek fault system through at least Early Permian time. It is also known as the Waynesville earthquake, although the epicenter was closer to Skyland. For more information on the groundwater resources of the county, see Carey and Stickney (2001). Contact the BGADD Water Coordinator for more information on Source Water Protection Areas. from about 1,500 to about 1,000 m.y. Lexington, Kentucky River, and Irvine-Paint Creek fault systems (fig. 5) also show right lateral offset of about (1982) points out that the New Madrid earthquakes were characterized by a particularly large "felt area" and dome (Lexington dome of some authors), a culmination of the arch in central Kentucky; the Cumberland Corrections? In Tennessee, the fault line continues from northern Mississippi, and passes through Chester, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin, and Wayne counties, before entering western Kentucky. One of the largest earthquakes in North American history happened just west of Hickman, Kentucky, on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. (See New Madrid earthquakes of 181112.). It. University of Kentucky. Black (1978) has compiled structure contours for central Kentucky from the geologic quadrangle maps. First obvious indications of the arch occurred in 12, Geologic Map 1, scale 1:100,000. Faults represent breaks in the Earth's crust. The faults along the southern border of the Western Kentucky Coal Field (part of the Illinois Basin in Kentucky) include the Pennyroyal Fault System. Exploration for oil and gas in Kentucky has resulted in considerable information on the nature of the Summaries of the geology in each of Kentucky's counties by Kentucky students. of the southernmost Illinois basin, report little or no lateral offset but significant vertical movement on the The closest tectonic plate to Kentucky is the North American Plate, which runs along the east coast of the United States and covers most of North and Central America. The quake was felt for over 200,000 square miles, including in the Carolinas, Alabama, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The Versailles cryptoexplosive structure was discovered during the cooperative mapping project and has Pronounced effects of arching are shown by pre-Middle Devonian A map of the fault lines database from the United States Geological Survey. Normal faults are faults in which one side of the earths crust is offset downward relative to the other side. Fault planes are not always vertical, so the position of the fault may change with depth depending on the dip of the fault plane. Getting the basin filled with water as soon as possible after construction prevents drying and cracking, and possible leakage, of the clayey soil liner. A septic system is installed for a public facility near Berea. FIGURE 15.--Structural setting of the eastern midcontinent. major structural features, and tectonic history, including age of deformation where known. FIGURE 17.-Index to location of cross sections on the geologic map. The data in this package is compatible. The Appalachian basin is divided structurally into an eastern highly deformed part, the fold-and-thrust American Institute of Professional Geologists, 1993, The citizens' guide to geologic hazards: 134 p. Black, D.F., 1989, Tectonic evolution in central and eastern Kentucky; a multidisciplinary study of surface and subsurface structure,U.S. 141 0 obj <>stream The potential for significant shaking and ground movement can cause considerable damage to structures in the region. 15). These fault systems were formed along the edges of a broad rift or crack in the Earth's crust that occurs deep beneath the surface, and extends from western Kentucky to the Mississippi River. King and Zeitz (1978) have recognized the New York-Alabama basement The US Geological Survey estimates that the likelihood of an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 or greater in Kentucky is 0. Denison and others (1984), in a report on basement rock types and age in southeasternmost Missouri, northeasternmost Arkansas, and adjacent areas of westernmost Tennessee and The Kentucky River fault system has been extended eastward, HTML. Offsets on these fault zones are mostly down to the south. (Photographs by Paul Howell, USDA-NRCS. Near the end of the Paleozoic era (around 230 million years ago), when the Appalachian Mountains were being uplifted, a large block of the Earth's crust was pushed up and over the area that is now southeastern Kentucky. strata. 0 earthquakes recorded in history. Some Earth scientists suggest that fracturing in this region resulted from stresses brought on by the downcutting of the Mississippi River into the surrounding landscape between 10,000 and 16,000 years ago. The intensity of the largest of the three main shocks has been given as XII, and the body-wave by the Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky. 16), resulting in the Natural gas piplines (30-inch mains) are laid across a new subdivision in Kingston, Madison County. 3 quake occurred near Smiths Grove. thisYr = now.getYear(); 0. Harris (1970) has shown the fault to be a ramp on a bedding plane This is called a fault. been described by Black (1964). Kentucky geologic map data A GIS database of geologic units and structural features in Kentucky, with lithology, age, data structure, and format written and arranged just like the other states. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 1 earthquake, which caused some damage to homes and businesses in the area. sheet I of the geologic map). Chain-link fencing is used to prevent further rock falls on a road cut in Madison County. Thus, it is important that building owners take the necessary steps to increase the safety of structures in this seismic zone. The time of formation of the Cincinnati arch in central Kentucky has recently been discussed by McDowell For information on obtaining Kentucky Geological Survey maps and publications call: Public Information Center 859.257.3896. Major tectonic events in Kentucky for which evidence has accumulated begin with late Precambrian rifting Don't search a large area this way, it takes too long. Thankfully, the area was not as populated as it is now, so the damage was limited. Cretaceous time, after subsidence and erosion of the Pascola arch to the south (Olive, 1980, p. 5). A map of earthquakes epicenters, however, reflects faulting at depth and shows that the earthquakes define several branches of the New Madrid seismic zone in northeastern Arkansas, southwestern Kentucky, southeastern Missouri, and northwestern Tennessee. U.S. startxref McGuire and Howell (1963, p. 2-4) presented migration of an arch through northeastern Kentucky in the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician; they The death toll likely would have been much higher if the quake had lasted any longer. There are numerous faults in Kentucky. composite thickness for the entire basin of at least 63,000 ft but reaches a maximum thickness in any one Map via USGS 1. Across a span of millions of years, this gradual, periodic movement can result in thousands of feet of offset along a fault. Illinois basin.--The Illinois basin is a major structural downwarp in the eastern midcontinent, occupying large shatter cones and other features. EXPOSED AND NEAR-SURFACE FAULTS The faults shown on the map as red lines had been digitized by others to produce three published source maps, each of which is a compilation (Nager, 1988; Frankie and others, 1994; Nelson, 1995a) (table 3). document.write(d.getFullYear()); How likely is Kentucky to have an earthquake? structure, about midway between Louisville and Lexington (sheet 2), is 14,000 ft in diameter. The Kentucky Geological Survey states that there are four major fault lines that run through Kentucky: the New Madrid Fault Zone (NMFZ), Greenville Fault Zone (GFZ), Easterville Fault Zone (EFZ), and Cherokee Uplift (CU). 0000001314 00000 n a relatively large number of strong shocks, and occurred over a long period of time. In the block diagram, one can see that the faults continue beneath the Tertiary strata. F21). This 150 mile-long series of faults stretches under five states: Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, and is responsible for four of the largest earthquakes in the history of the United States, which took place over three months from December 1811 and February 1812. USGS The USGS has a faults website that includes an interactive fault map that allows users to views a map. What would happen if the New Madrid fault line went off? The quake was felt widely throughout the state and even as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada. 0000000476 00000 n Jeptha Knob, first described by Bucher (1925), has recently been described in detail by Cressman (1981). Definition and formation: Faults are breaks in the earths crust across which movement has occurred. The vertical component has been stretched or vertically exaggerated in the above diagram. An Equal Opportunity University. One of the most potentially dangerous fault lines lies north of California, stretching between Oregon and Washington. Alaska has a long history of powerful earthquakes, including the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake which had a magnitude of 9. 15). 4 coal (Greb and others, 2001) and Springfield (W. Ky. No. Beneath the Surface [Geologic Structures]. Beneath the Surface [Geologic Structures]. Calloway County - Murray. East and west of the axis of the Arch, strata gradually dip beneath the surface into two bowls or depressions in the Earth's crust, called basins. gravity high, which passes north-south through east-central Kentucky. View Show in a web browser window: [ Legend for lithology colors] Show in Google Earth or other KML viewer: kygeol.kml (Uncompressed, 23.1M) This map courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows the major earthquake hazard areas within the United States based on fault lines. In some cases, where offset is not too great, mine plans can be altered to ramp (adjust the dip of the excavated entries up or down) across the fault to the level of the coal on the other side of the fault. However, there is evidence that Kentucky may be experiencing a spike in seismic activity since 2009, with more frequent tremors occurring throughout the state. Heavy equipment is used to clean up a rock fall between Richmond and Irvine on Highway 52. The Appalachian basin in Kentucky contains several major structural features: the Kentucky River and described a Precambrian (Keweenawan) rifting event that resulted in formation of the east-continent The quake woke a lot of people in the northeast up to the Virginia Seismic Zone (VSZ) below the Mason Dixon and the consequential effects it could have on major cities along the East Coast. 1979, p. F23) (see cross section G'-G"). 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