NUREG/CR-2909 I ..Paleozoic Geology of the New Madrid Area Prepared by H. R. Schwalb Illinois State Geological Survey Prepared for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, or any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability of re- sponsibility for any third party's use, or the results of such use, of any information, apparatus, product or protess disclosed in this report, or represents that its use by such third party would not infringe privately owned rights. Availability of Reference Materials Cited in NRC Publications Most documents cited in NRC publications will be available from one of the following sources: 1. The NRC Public Document Room, 1717 H Street, N.W. Washington,'DC 20555 2. The NRC/GPO Sales Program, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 3. 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Copies of. industry codes and standards used in a substantive manner in the NRC regulatory process are maintained at the NRC Library, 7920 Norfolk Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, and are available there for reference use by the public. Codes and standards are usually copyrighted and may be purchased from the originating organizatiorn or, if they are American National Standards, from the American National Standards Institute. 1430 Broadwa.y,.New York, NY 10018. GPO Printed copy price: __ 5_.00. NUREG/CR-2909 RA Paleozoic Geology of the. New Madrid Area Manuscript Completed: March 1982 Date Published: September 1982 Prepared by H. R. Schwalb Illinois State Geological Survey Champaign, IL 61820 Prepared for Division of Health, Siting and Waste Management Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20055 NRC FIN B6251 ABSTRACT Thick sections of sedimentary rocks occupy two grabens, the Reelfoot Rift and the Rough Creek Graben. Early sediments of Middle Cambrian and sub-Mt. Simon (Lamotte) deposition are found in the grabens, but do not crop out in the area. Growth faulting continued to deepen the Rough Creek Graben and possibly the Reelfoot Rift during much of the Paleozoic interval. Renewed tectonic activity, probably occurring during the Mesozoic Era, uplifted the Pascola Arch near the center of the Reelfoot Rift and also renewed uplift of many structural features and fault zones, some of which were displaced in a direction opposite to earlier movements. Erosion then removed thousands of feet of sediment from the area, and beveled the PascolaArch. Igneous plutons were injected into the Precambrian basement rocks and some penetrated into the sedimentary section and formed dikes and sills. Subsidence followed with the formation of the Missis- sippi Embayment where Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments collected and buried the Pascola Arch. The area remains seismically active to the present day. ii CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT...............................ii LIST OF FIGURES .................. .......................... .. iv APPENDIX .................. ............. ................... v TABLE ................................................... ......... v INTRODUCTION ................... ............................ I1 STRATIGRAPHY OF THE NEW MADRID AREA ........ ................ 3 Precambrian ......................... ........................... 3 Lower Cambrian . ..... .................. ... .......... 3 Middle Cambrian ...... .................... ................... 8 Upper Cambrian .................... ... .......................... 8 Cambrian-Ordovician Knox Megagroup ........ ............... .. 14 Knox deposition in the Appalachian area ... ........... .. 20 Knox deposition in the Reelfoot Rift .... ............. ... 21 Knox deposition in the Rough Creek Graben ... .......... .. 22 Summary of the depositional history of the Knox ......... .. 23 Middle Ordovician ............ ........ .................. 24 Upper Ordovician .................. ....................... .. 25 Silurian-Devonian .................... ..................... 25 Mississippian .... ......................... ........... 28 Pennsylvanian-Permian .................. ............... .. 28 Post-Paleozoic ..................... ................... 30 STRUCTURAL AND TECTONIC HISTORY OF NEW MADRID AREA ........... ... 31 Ozark Uplift ........ ................................ 31 Reelfoot Rift ................... ............. ........... 31 Illinois Basin ............ ..................... ....... 36 Rough Creek Graben ... .................. .............. 37 Pascola Arch .... ................ ...................... .. 40 Ste. Genevieve Fault Zone ........... .................... .. 43 SUMMARY OF EVENTS ............ ........................ 49 REFERENCES ..................... ............................. .. 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................... ........................... .. 54 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Datum points keyed to depth of penetration ......... ..... 2 2. Geologic columns of study area ...... ...................... 4 3. Cartoon showing topography on top of Precambrian rocks in the study area .......... ............................. ....... 6 4. Lines of cross' sections shown in figures 5-8, 18, 20, and 21 . 7 5. Cross section A-A', Hancock County to Monroe County, Illinois . 9 6. Cross section E-E', Wayne County to Johnson County, Illinois. 10 7. Cross section B-B', Lawrence County, Indiana, to Cullman County, Alabama ........... ......................... 11 8. Cross section C-C', Craighead County, Arkansas, to Cullman County, Alabama ............... ........................ .. 12 9. Schematic cross section showing interpreted growth'faulting in the Rough Creek Graben ............ ............. ......... 13 10. Thickness and lithology of the Eau Claire-Bonneterre Formations. H-H' is line of cross section for figure 11....... .......... 15 11. Schematic cross section showing lithology of the Eau Claire- Bonneterre Formations ........... ..................... .. 16 12. Thickness of the Everton-Knox ......... ................ .. 18 13. Structure on top of the Everton-Knox .............. .... .. 19 14. Thickness of Maquoketa Shale and the location of Sebree Valley. 26 15. Map showing paleogeography and lithofacies in the eastern United States during Lexington (middle to late Ordovician) time. After Cressman, 1973 ......... .................. 27 16. (A) Paleogeologic map of the sub-Pennsylvanian Chesterian surface in the Illinois Basin. (B) Relationship of sub-Pennsylvanian valleys to tectonic features' of the Illinois Basin. (A) and (B) from Howard, 1979 ..................... ........................ .. 29 17. Tectonic provinces of Ancestral North America (from Seyfert and Sirkin, 1973; modified slightly by G. Kisvarsanyi, 1976). 32 18. Cross section D-D', St. Francis County, Arkansas, to Humphreys County, Tennessee ................. ................... .. 33 19. Thickness of Mt. Simon Sandstone .... .......... .. ........... 35 20. Cross section F-F', Fayette County,. Illinois, to St. Francis County, Arkansas . .. ... 38 21. Cross section G-G', Union County, Illinois to Metcalf County, Kentucky ..... ........... .... .................. ...... 39 22. Subcrop pattern of Paleozoic rocks beneath Cretaceous cover . 41 iv LIST OF FIGURES (Cont'd.) Figure Page 23. Locations of sampled intrusive rocks, interpreted plutons, and explosion structures. Radiometric dating shown where 42 available ....................... ............. ........... 24. Geology along the Ste. Genevieve Fault Zone .... ........... 44 APPENDIX Appendix A. List of Wells in Cross Sections