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Structural Controls of Holocene Reactivation of the Meers Fault, Southwestern Oklahoma, from Magnetic Studies

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Structural Controls of Holocene Reactivation of the Meers Fault, Southwestern Oklahoma, from Magnetic Studies Structural controls of Holocene reactivation of the Meers fault, southwestern Oklahoma, from magnetic studies Meridee Jones-Cecil U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado 80225 ABSTRACT secondary faulting. However, secondary in the seismically active areas of New Ma- faults at the southeastern end of the 26-km- drid, Missouri; Charleston, South Carolina; Holocene reactivation of the aseismic long continuous fault scarp, previously in- and Charlevoix, Quebec, projected for the Meers fault in southwestern Oklahoma il- terpreted from low-sun-angle photography, entire Quaternary Period would be on the lustrates the limitation of using the histor- are not apparent in the magnetic data. order of kilometers (Coppersmith, 1988), ical seismic record for identifying hazard- Of importance to seismic hazard evalua- yet there is no evidence for displacements of ous faults in the central United States. The tion, the magnetic models show that the this order. The duration of the historical 26- to 37-km-long fault scarp is one of the northwestern splays probably begin at the seismicity record for the eastern and central few known scarps recording Holocene move- northwestern end of the reactivated seg- United States (100–300 yr) is insufficient to ment in the central and eastern United ment and may indicate a persistent rupture forecast long-term seismicity or fully evalu- States. Two documented late Holocene slip propagation barrier to the west. In addition, ate seismic hazard. events, each with about 2.5 m of net slip and the models show the dip of the Meers fault The Meers fault in southwestern Okla- 3 1 estimated Ms ranging from 6 ⁄4 to 7 ⁄4, iden- to be nearly vertical to about 0.5 km depth. homa (Fig. 1) is an example of a fault that tify the Meers fault as a potentially hazard- This dip is consistent with the nearly probably produced large earthquakes in ous fault. straight fault trace, results of trenching Holocene time but is currently aseismic During Carboniferous and Early Per- studies, interpretation of shallow seismic- (M3HZ 5 2.1 threshold for reliable location mian tectonism, the Meers fault displaced reflection data, and regional gravity and [Luza and Lawson, 1983]). Southwestern rocks of sharply contrasting magnetic prop- aeromagnetic models. In the present-day Oklahoma has had few recorded moderate erties. Analysis of aeromagnetic data and strike-slip regional stress field, the observed earthquakes and no large historical earth- twelve ground-magnetic profiles provides a up-to-the-north Holocene displacement quakes (Lawson et al., 1979; Gordon, 1988; detailed look at the fault within the mag- suggests that either the fault continues to Luza, 1989; Lawson and Luza, 1989–1991; netic basement. Because subsequent reacti- dip steeply at depth or the regional stress Lawson et al., 1992; Lawson and Luza, 1993, vation has been minor and of an opposite field is approaching a normal-faulting 1994). Several recorded earthquakes are as- sense, the pronounced magnetic anomaly stress regime. If the former is true, the scar- sociated with the Amarillo-Wichita uplift associated with the Meers fault reflects Pa- city of near-vertical faults with similar ori- and southern Oklahoma aulacogen (Gor- leozoic structures in the magnetic base- entation within the area of the southern don, 1988). However, no recorded earth- ment. The location of the Holocene fault Oklahoma aulacogen implies that few are quakes are associated with the part of the scarp corresponds to the strong horizontal likely candidates for reactivation. Meers fault reactivated in the Holocene magnetic gradient caused by Paleozoic off- (Luza, 1989; Lawson and Luza, 1989–1991; set of magnetic basement, indicating that INTRODUCTION Lawson et al., 1992; Lawson and Luza, 1993, the Paleozoic fault controlled Holocene dis- 1994). A 26-km-long linear fault scarp as placement. Two features apparent in both Low levels of historical seismicity, long re- much as 5 m high along the Meers fault, first sets of magnetic data are splays of the currence intervals, and scarcity of surface brought to public attention by Gilbert Meers fault northwest of the Holocene scarp ruptures make earthquake hazard assess- (1983a, 1983b) and Donovan et al. (1983), and dikelike bodies immediately south of ment in the intraplate region of the central indicates recent reactivation of the Meers the fault. and eastern United States difficult. With fault. Trenching studies identified two Hol- Magnetic susceptibility measurements limited geologic evidence for prehistoric ocene-age displacements of net up-to-the- and rock magnetic data from unoriented earthquakes, historical seismicity is a prin- north and left-lateral sense, corresponding 3 1 core penetrating a dikelike body were incor- cipal factor in assessing seismic hazard. Yet to earthquakes of estimated Ms 5 6 ⁄4 to 7 ⁄4 porated into models of the ground-magnetic calculations of cumulative displacement on (Crone and Luza, 1990; Kelson and Swan, profiles. In most cases, secondary faults individual faults and examination of paleo- 1990; Ramelli and Slemmons, 1990). mapped or visible on low-sun-angle photo- seismic records and historical seismicity in- To help understand why this part of the graphs correspond to faults modeled from dicate that occurrence of intraplate earth- Meers fault was reactivated in Holocene magnetic data. This correlation shows that quakes varies in both space and time. For time and if it or other faults in the area could preexisting structures probably controlled example, the cumulative fault displacement be reactivated in the future, this study uses Data Repository item 9504 contains additional material related to this article. GSA Bulletin; January 1995; v. 107; no. 1; p. 98–112; 9 figures; 2 tables. 98 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/107/1/98/3382110/i0016-7606-107-1-98.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 HOLOCENE REACTIVATION, MEERS FAULT, OKLAHOMA high horizontal gradients shown in Figure 2 indicate juxtaposition of rocks of contrasting magnetic properties due to faulting or igne- ous intrusion, or due to tilting of deposi- tional boundaries between sedimentary rocks of significant magnetic contrast. The alignments of high gradients labeled 1 and 2 northeast of the Blue Creek Canyon fault are probably caused by tilted depositional boundaries (Jones-Cecil et al., in press). All other alignments of high gradients may be associated with faults or intrusive bound- aries. A north-south lineament, defined by aligned magnetic highs across which mag- netic anomalies change in intensity and fre- quency (Jones-Cecil, 1995), is labeled 3 in Figure 2. Other magnetic studies include modeling and interpretation of the aeromagnetic data and presentation and interpretation of complementary ground-magnetic and rock- magnetic data. Purucker (1986) identified the change in wavelength of magnetic anom- alies across the Meers fault from the U.S. Geological Survey (1975) data set and in- terpreted dikelike magnetic bodies adjacent to the fault. His two simplified models of the Figure 1. Map of major faults in and surrounding the Frontal Wichita fault system dikelike body along the reactivated part of (modified from Chenoweth [1983]). Lines represent faults. Bold line identifies the segment the Meers fault show either a vertical or a of the Meers fault trace marked by a late Quaternary scarp. Teeth are on upthrown side southwest dip to the dikelike body and by of reverse faults. MVf, Mountain View fault; BCCf, Blue Creek Canyon fault; Bfc, Broxton inference to the fault. Jones-Cecil and fault complex. Dashed outline shows area of U.S. Geological Survey aeromagnetic survey Crone (1989) modeled longer profiles across (1975). Shaded area shows part of aeromagnetic survey shown in Figure 2. the Meers fault taken from the aeromag- netic data and included information from geologic maps, drill holes, and magnetic sus- magnetic data to examine the structural con- of the dip of the Meers fault (Brewer, 1982; ceptibility measurements; their models show trol preexisting faulting had on reactivation. Brewer et al., 1983; Lemiszki and Brown, a near-vertical dip to the reactivated part of Aeromagnetic and ground-magnetic data 1988). the Meers fault as the simplest solution. Be- show the most definitive expression of the cause of the height, orientation, and spacing Meers fault of the geophysical data sets ex- Previous Magnetic Studies of the flight lines and the absence of original amined. The juxtaposition across the Meers data records, details regarding lateral vari- fault of highly magnetic igneous rocks of the The change in wavelength and the steep ation along the Meers fault and identifica- Amarillo-Wichita uplift with thick se- gradient of the magnetic field across the tion of subparallel faults cannot be deter- quences of virtually nonmagnetic carbonate Meers fault are apparent in the aeromag- mined from these aeromagnetic data. To rocks to the northeast produces a marked netic map in Figure 2. These data were first provide further detail, Jones-Cecil et al. (in change in wavelength of anomalies across published as a contour map (U.S. Geol. Sur- press) and this paper present twelve new the fault and a steep local gradient (U.S. vey, 1975) of a 1954 total-magnetic-field sur- ground-magnetic profiles, oriented perpen- Geol. Survey, 1975; Purucker, 1986; Jones- vey, flown 152 m above the ground along dicular to the fault, and incorporate addi- Cecil and Crone, 1989; Jones-Cecil, 1995; east-west–oriented flight lines generally tional magnetic susceptibility measurements Jones-Cecil et al., in press). The gravity sig- spaced 0.40 km apart in the area of the and remanent magnetic measurements in nature of the Meers fault is more subdued Wichita uplift (Fig. 1). The contour map was local and regional models across the Meers because the density contrast between car- digitized, and the digitized data were re- fault. The Jones-Cecil et al. (in press) inter- bonate and igneous rocks is proportionately duced to the north pole (Jones-Cecil, 1995; pretation stresses the structural relationship less than the magnetic contrast (Coffman et Fig.
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