Geological Society of America Bulletin 1991 THOMAS 415 31

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The Appalachian-Ouachita rifted margin

of southeastern North America
WILLIAM A. THOMAS*
Department of Geology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
ABSTRACT
Promontories and embayments along the
late Precambrian-early Paleozoic Appalachian-Ouachita continental margin of southeastern North America are framed by a
northeast-striking rift system offset by
northwest-striking transform faults. Inboard
from the continental margin, basement fault
systems have two sets of orientation; one is
northeast parallel with rift segments, and the
other is northwest parallel with transform
faults.
Late Precambrian clastic and volcanic synrift rocks overlie Precambrian basement
rocks along the Appalachian Blue Ridge.
Lower Cambrian sandstone at the base of a
transgressive passive-margin succession oversteps the rift-fill successions and basement
rocks, defining the time of transition from an
active rift to a passive margin along the Blue
Ridge. Locally thick Early Late Cambrian
and older sedimentary rocks fill downthrown
blocks of the intracratonic Mississippi Valley-Rough Creek-Rome graben system and
Birmingham basement fault system. These
basement fault systems, which indicate northwest-southeast extension like the Blue Ridge
rift, are overstepped by Upper Cambrian
strata. The northwest-striking Southern Oklahoma fault system is interpreted to be a
transform fault that propagated into the continent from the Ouachita rift. Early and Middle Cambrian rift-related igneous rocks along
the fault system and adjacent Precambrian
basement are overstepped by Upper Cambrian sandstone.
The differences in age of rift-related rocks
suggest a spreading-center shift at the beginning of the Cambrian Period from the Blue
Ridge rift to the Ouachita rift southwest of
the Alabama-Oklahoma transform fault.
From Early to Early Late Cambrian, a small
Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
40506.
component of extension propagated northeastward to form the intracratonic fault

systems northeast of the transform fault, but
most of the extension of the Ouachita rift was
transformed along the Alabama-Oklahoma
transform fault to the Mid-Iapetus Ridge
outboard from the Blue Ridge passive
margin.
INTRODUCTION
Late Precambrian-early Paleozoic rifting and
opening of the Iapetus (proto-Atlantic) Ocean
produced a North American continental margin
along which the late Paleozoic AppalachianOuachita orogenic belt subsequently formed
(Figs. 1, 2). Several interpretations have converged on the conclusion that a zigzag trace of
the Appalachian-Ouachita rifted margin outlines large-scale promontories and embayments
in the edge of North American continental crust
(for example, Hoffman and others, 1974; Cebull
and others, 1976; Rankin, 1976; Thomas, 1976,
1977, 1985a; Lowe, 1985); however, these interpretations differ in detail and in mechanisms
of rifting. Among the more significant differences, each of the large-scale embayments in the
continental margin is interpreted (1) as framed
by an intersection of the rift with a transform
fault (Thomas, 1976, 1977) or (2) as formed at
the intersection of two "successful" arms of a
three-armed radial rift (rift-rift-rift triple junction)
(Burke and Dewey, 1973; Hoffman and others,
1974; Rankin, 1976). The trace and nature of
intracratonic fault systems that extend from the
Appalachian-Ouachita orogen into the craton
("aulacogens" as defined by N. S. Shatski; see
discussion in Hoffman and others, 1974) are
critical to discrimination between these alternatives, because syn-rift intracratonic fault systems
must be (1) intracratonic projections of either
transform faults or rift segments or (2) the failed
arms of three-armed radial rifts. Components of
the Appalachian-Ouachita rift are diachronous.
For example, rift-related rocks in the Appalachian Blue Ridge are overstepped by post-rift
strata of Early Cambrian age (Simpson and
Eriksson, 1989), whereas rift-related igneous
Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 103, p. 415-431, 6 figs., 1 table, March 1991.
415
rocks of Early and Middle Cambrian age along

the Southern Oklahoma fault system are overstepped by post-rift strata of Late Cambrian age
(Ham and others, 1964). The purposes of this
article are to synthesize available data into an
interpretation of the mechanisms controlling the
shape of the rifted margin and to consider the
implications of differences in age of rifting.
RIFT-RELATED ROCKS AND
STRUCTURES
Blue Ridge
General Setting. The Blue Ridge is an elongate external basement massif (Fig. 1) along
which late Precambrian syn-rift sedimentary and
volcanic rocks, as well as older basement rocks,
have been translated and deformed by younger
Appalachian compressional structures, especially large-scale Alleghanian (late Paleozoic)
thrust faults. Westward-directed thrust faults of
large displacement characterize the southern
part of the Blue Ridge. Toward the northeast
along strike, the surface structure is a northeastplunging anticlinorium above a blind detachment. Although rift-related rocks are in several
separate thrust sheets, along-strike distribution is
defined by mapping, and across-strike distribution can be inferred from restored cross sections
(for example, see Rast and Kohles, 1986).
The tectonic framework of accumulation of
late Precambrian sedimentary and volcanic
rocks along the Blue Ridge is generally interpreted in the context of fault-bounded basins
along an Atlantic-type rifted continental margin
(for example, Hatcher, 1972, 1978; Rankin,
1975, 1976; Thomas, 1976, 1977; Wehr and
Glover, 1985; Rast and Kohles, 1986; Schwab,
1986; Simpson and Eriksson, 1989). In the
northwestern part of the Blue Ridge, rift-related
rocks are in laterally discontinuous and variable
accumulations that overlie Precambrian (-1.0
Ga and older) crystalline basement rocks and
are overlain by post-rift strata in the Lower
Cambrian Chilhowee Group (Fig. 3). Along the
southeastern side of the Blue Ridge, rift-related
J ^r
\PENNy
southwestern limit of
Swift Run-Catoctin along
SJ
y ^
northwest limb of Blue Ridge J \
//7s
EXPLANATION
v
cratonward limit of Appalachian-Ouachita detachment
thrust fault
- M>
cratonward limit of Appalachian accreted terranes
^
^
,N/
of
& t
northeastern limit
of Catoctin outcrop
along Blue Ridge
anticline
intracratonic basement fault
margin of Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains
outline of
Altamaha magnetic anomaly
Marathon
outcrop
Figure 1. Outline map of Appalachian-Ouachita orogenic belt and intracratonic fault systems. Locations of rift-related rocks are shown in
present structural position. Map and locations of structures and rocks compiled from references cited in text. End points of cross sections of
Figures 3,4, and 5 indicated by letters.
EXPLANATION
rifted margin
of continental
crust
transform fault
Intracratonlc basement fault
crustal-scale southeast-dipping seismic reflectors
palinspastically restored width of passive-margin shelf fades
OKLA
foc, %Q
\ i
abrupt margin of
continental crust
(PASSCAL data)
c,
ARK.
c K
...
%
TEXAS
S T ^ S .
%/>
MARATHON
%>CPROMONTORY
EMBAYMENT^
SCALE
ll
100 km
Figure 2. Outline map of interpreted late Precambrian-eariy Paleozoic continental margin as bounded by rift segments and transform faults.
Map includes locations of observations that provide control for the reconstruction of the continental margin and intracratonic fault systems
(compiled from references cited in text). Intersections between rift segments and transform faults are drawn orthogonally as a simplifying
generalization. End points of cross sections of Figures 3,4, and 5 indicated by letters.
Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on September 17, 2015
A'
A
ROME
BLUE RIDGE
TROUGH
# Knox
Mount Simon
#
#
#
#
#
Base of transgressive Sauk sequence:

Late Cambrian
EXPLANATION
RIFT
Knox
Elbrook
Rome
Shady
Chilhowee
Base of transgressive
Sauk sequence:
Early Cambrian
DOMINANT ROCK TYPES

OF LITHQSTRATIGRAPHIC UNITS
siliciclastic rocks
# carbonate rocks
v volcanic rocks
# Grove
# Frederick
Araby
LOCATIONS OF KEY STRUCTURES

present leading edge
palinspastic leading edge
Rome trough sedimentary

Early Late Cambrian and older
(3.2 km)
10 km -,
SCALE
v Mechum River
(0.7 km)
Fauquier
Goochland terrane
Blue Ridge
50 km
B'
ROME
TROUGH
BLUE RIDGE
Knox
Conasauga
Rome
Shady
Chilhowee
RIFT
Shady (Lower Cambrian)

shelf edge
Rome trough sedimentary

(1.9 km)
Ocoee
(12 km)
v Grandfather
Mountain
(9 km)
Kings Mountain belt

Blue Ridge
I
C
Great Smoky Mountains
Blue Ridge
Corbin-Salem Church
basement massif
northern end of Catoctin outcrop

DATUM: TOP OF CHILHOWEE
Chilhowee
srr,b.
^
ar
> b,
Ocoee
(12 km)
Precambrian basement
v Mount Rogers
(3 km)
v Catoctin
Swift Run
(1 k m )
basalt in Unicoi (lower part of Chilhowee)
Figure 3. Palinspastic cross sections of the Blue R i d g e rift and R o m e trough. Cross sections A - A ' and B - B ' are perpendicular t o strike; c r o s s
section C - C ' is parallel with strike o f the present Blue Ridge structures. N a m e s o f lithostratigraphic units in rift-related successions ( m a x i m u m
thickness in parentheses) are plotted b e l o w each cross section, and n a m e s of units in post-rift succession are plotted a b o v e each cross section.
D a t a for c r o s s sections compiled f r o m references cited in text. E n d points of c r o s s sections s h o w n by letters in Figures 1 and 2.

APPALACHIAN-OUACHITA RIFTED MARGIN
rocks and continental basement rocks are truncated by thrust faults at the northwestern boundary of accreted-terrane rocks (Fig. 1) (Williams
and Hatcher, 1982; Horton and others, 1989;
Rankin and others, 1989).
Rift-Related Rocks. The Ocoee Supergroup
(Figs. 1, 3) of clastic sedimentary rocks extends
- 2 7 0 km along the Blue Ridge and pinches out
northeastward along present structural strike
(Hadley, 1970; King, 1970; Rankin and others,
1989). Much of the Ocoee clastic sediment was
eroded from basement rocks on the northeast,
but the lower part had a provenance of basement rocks on the east and southeast (Hadley
and Goldsmith, 1963; King, 1964, 1970; Hadley, 1970). Deep-water turbidites compose most
of the Ocoee, but the lower part includes fluvial
to shallow-marine deposits (King, 1964; Hadley,
1970; DeWindt, 1975; Rast and Kohles, 1986;
Schwab, 1986). A general lack of volcanic and
volcaniclastic rocks distinguishes the Ocoee
from the other rift-related rocks of the Blue
Ridge and indicates deposition in a basin that
was separated from other sites of rift-related accumulation (Fig. 2) (Rankin, 1975; Rankin and
others, 1989). The basement-rock provenance
on the southeast further indicates a horst-andgraben structure within continental crust.
The Mount Rogers Formation (Figs. 1, 3)
contains a bimodal suite of peralkaline rhyolite
and basalt, geochemically indicative of continental rifting (Rankin, 1970, 1975, 1976). The
Mount Rogers also contains clastic sedimentary
rocks mostly of alluvial origin, and includes
some glaciogenic rhythmites and dropstones
(Rankin, 1970; Schwab, 1976). Subaerial rhyolite ash flows and alluvial sedimentary deposits
indicate a dominantly terrestrial origin for the
Mount Rogers (Rankin, 1970; Schwab, 1976;
Wehr and Glover, 1985), and petrography of
clasts indicates a basement-rock provenance.
The Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group oversteps the Mount Rogers onto Precambrian
basement rocks both southwestward and northeastward along strike, as well as across strike to
the northwest (Fig. 3) (Rankin, 1970).
The Grandfather Mountain Formation (Figs.
1, 3), composed of sedimentary and volcanic
rocks, is exposed only within the Grandfather
Mountain window, where it overlies Precambrian basement gneisses (Bryant and Reed,
1970; King, 1970; Rankin, 1970, 1975). The
sedimentary rocks are alluvial, and paleocurrent
data suggest centripetal drainage in a steep-sided
(fault-bounded?) basin (Schwab, 1977). The
Grandfather Mountain Formation is compositionally somewhat similar to the Mount Rogers,
but it differs in that basalt is more abundant than
rhyolite, and the sedimentary components are
on average finer (Rankin, 1970; Rankin and

others, 1989).
Along the northeastern Blue Ridge (on the
northwest limb and around the nose of the
northeast-plunging anticlinorium), the Catoctin
Formation (Figs. 1, 3) consists of a basal thin
veneer of alluvial clastic sedimentary rocks (also
called Swift Run Formation) and a subaerial
bimodal volcanic suite containing sedimentary
interbeds (Reed, 1955; Schwab, 1986; Rankin
and others, 1989). Rhyolite is abundant at the
northeasternmost exposures along the Blue
Ridge anticlinorium, but basalt dominates farther southwest (Rankin, 1975, 1976). The Catoctin gradually pinches out southwestward between Precambrian basement rocks and the
overlying Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group
along the northwest limb of the Blue Ridge (Fig.
3) (Brown, 1970). Alluvial to shallow-water
clastic deposits of the Fauquier Formation
(Swift Run equivalent) extend along the northeastern part of the southeast limb of the Blue
Ridge (Brown, 1970; Wehr and Glover, 1985).
Along the northeastern part of the crest of the
Blue Ridge anticlinorium, the Mechum River
Formation (Figs. 1, 3) comprises a narrow belt
of sedimentary rocks > 100 km long surrounded
by basement outcrops (Schwab, 1974). Sedimentary structures and paleocunent indicators
suggest alluvial deposition in a narrow rift valley
with basement-rock sediment sources on both
sides (Schwab, 1974).
Tectonic Framework of Deposition. Distributions of thickness and rock types of the late
Precambrian Ocoee, Mount Rogers, and Grandfather Mountain successions in the southwestern
Blue Ridge suggest local steep-sided depositional
basins framed by steep faults (Hadley, 1970;
Rankin, 1975, 1976; Schwab, 1974, 1976,
1977,1986; Wehr and Glover, 1985; Rast and
Kohles, 1986). Clastic sediment derived from
up-faulted basement blocks locally accumulated
to thickness in excess of 10 km (Fig. 3), indicating the probable minimum vertical separation of
some of the basement faults. Lower Cambrian
sandstones (Chilhowee Group) overlie late Precambrian rift-fill deposits and extend beyond the
boundary faults onto upthrown Precambrian
basement rocks, indicating that fault movement
and basin filling pre-dated deposition of all but
the oldest Chilhowee beds (lower part of Unicoi
Formation). The gradual pinch out of the Swift
Run-Catoctin along the northeastern Blue
Ridge may be a result of truncation of relatively
extensive rift-related plateau basalts (Reed,
1955; Schwab, 1986) outside the deep graben
system.
Age of Rift. The ages of rift-related rocks are
documented in a few places. Basement rocks of
419
the Blue Ridge are ~1.0 Ga (Grenville) age and

older (Bartholomew and Lewis, 1984), and are
intruded by the Crossnore (plutonic) Complex,
for which U-Pb and Rb-Sr studies indicate a 690
10 Ma age of crystallization (Odom and Fullagar, 1984). Other rocks correlated with the
Crossnore Complex are cut by presumed feeder
dikes of the Catoctin volcanic rocks and may be
as young as 630 to 650 Ma (Mose and Nagel,
1984; Mose and Kline, 1986). The Fauquier,
Mechum River (Lukert and Banks, 1984), and
Grandfather Mountain Formations (Bryant and
Reed, 1970) contain clasts of Crossnore-type
granite; therefore, the age of the Crossnore provides a maximum age of rifting (Wehr and
Glover, 1985). Volcanic rocks of the Catoctin
Formation have an Rb-Sr whole-rock age of
570 36 Ma (Badger and Sinha, 1988), indicating the time of youngest syn-rift volcanism. The
range of ages of the Crossnore and Catoctin suggests two stages of rifting (Badger and Sinha,
1988). Although stratigraphic position beneath
the Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group clearly
indicates a late Precambrian age for part of the
rift-fill accumulations, biostratigraphic data from
the syn-rift rocks are not definitive. Acritarchs
collected from the Ocoee Supergroup were considered to be of late Precambrian age (Knoll and
Keller, 1979); however, those forms may range
into the Paleozoic (A. H. Knoll, personal commun., cited by Unrug and Unrug, 1990). Recently discovered Paleozoic fossils in rocks
previously mapped as upper Ocoee (Walden
Creek Group) near the thrust front in the
southwestern Blue Ridge require interpretation of a possible fault or unconformable contact
between the fossil-bearing strata and the bulk of
the Ocoee (Unrug and Unrug, 1990).
Age of Rift-to-Passive-Margin Transition.
Regionally outside the extent of rift-related sedimentary and volcanic accumulations, sandstones at the base of the Chilhowee Group rest
nonconformably on basement rocks. The Chilhowee unconformably overlies parts of the riftrelated accumulations, but in some places,
the contact between the Mount Rogers and
Chilhowee and that between the Ocoee and
Chilhowee are evidently gradational and conformable (King, 1970; Rankin, 1970). Biostratigraphic data document an Early Cambrian age
for all but the lower part of the Chilhowee
Group (Resser, 1938; Laurence and Palmer,
1963; Simpson and Sundberg, 1987). The base
of the Chilhowee commonly has been considered to mark the post-rift unconformity and the
transition from rift to passive margin (Thomas,
1977; Wehr and Glover, 1985; Fichter and
Diecchio, 1986). In part of the southwestern
Blue Ridge, the lower part of the Chilhowee
4:20
W. A. THOMAS

D PRESENT STRUCTURE
MISSISSIPPI EMBAYMENT
(MESOZOIC-CENOZOIC)
1
34
D'
APPALACHIAN THRUST BELT
(LATE PALEOZOIC)
DATUM:
SEA LEVEL
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
GRABEN
BIRMINGHAM
BASEMENT FAULT
SYSTEM
D
PALINSPASTIC
RESTORATION
D'
BIRMINGHAM
BASEMENT FAULT
SYSTEM
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
GRABEN
# several named units
Lamotte
# Knox
# Conasauga
Base
Sauk
latest
Early
Sauk sequence:
Middle Cambrian
of transgressive
sequence:
Middle to
Late Cambrian
#
=
=
#
#
Knox
Conasauga
Rome
Shady
Chilhowee ,
Sauk sequence:
Early Cambrian
DATUM: TOP OF LOWER ORDOVICIAN
Mississippi Valley graben sedimentary fill:

Figure 4. Structural cross sections and palinspastic cross sections of the Mississippi Valley graben and Birmingham basement fault system.
Cross sections are based on well data (wells identified by number in Table 1), proprietary seismic reflection profiles, and references cited in text.
Structure of the basement beneath the Appalachian allochthon is interpreted from balanced structural cross sections based on outcrop geology,
preserved stratigraphie thicknesses in Appalachian synclines, seismic reflection profiles, and sparse wells. Wells are indicated by vertical lines
that show depth of drilling in the cross sections of present structure, and stratigraphie interval penetrated in the cross sections of palinspastic
restoration. End points of cross sections shown by letters in Figures 1 and 2.
Group (lower part of Unicoi Formation) consists of alluvial-fan deposits and related sedimentary facies and locally contains basalt flows
(Fig. 3) (Simpson and Eriksson, 1989). The
basalt flows are stratigraphically below the
horizon of the oldest Cambrian fossils, and may
be equivalent to the upper part of the Catoctin
(Simpson and Eriksson, 1989) and possibly
uppermost Ocoee. Therefore, the transition from
rift to passive margin is within the Unicoi Formation (lower Chilhowee) rather than below it;
however, the age of the transition is very near
the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary (Simpson
and Eriksson, 1989). The thickest lower Unicoi
reported by Simpson and Eriksson (1989) overlies the Mount Rogers Formation, suggesting
continued movement of the basin-boundary
faults, and overstep of the faults by upper Unicoi

deposits.
Passive Margin. The Chilhowee succession
from basal alluvial-fan deposits to marine deposits at the top (Brown, 1970; Schwab, 1972;
Mack, 1980; Simpson and Eriksson, 1989) reflects transgression related to post-rift thermal
subsidence (Bond and others, 1984), as well as
eustatic sea-level rise (Vail and others, 1977).
The Chilhowee and overlying Cambrian and
Lower Ordovician rocks constitute the easternmost part of a craton-wide transgressive sequence, the Sauk sequence of Sloss (1963). The
base of the Sauk sequence is of Early Cambrian
age along the Blue Ridge, but it is latest Cambrian in the interior of the North American
craton (Fig. 3) (Sloss, 1963, 1988). The Chil-
howee is overlain by the transgressive Shady

Dolostone, and the Shady is overlain by finegrained clastic rocks of the Rome (Lower Cambrian) and Conasauga (Middle Cambrian)
Formations, the distribution of which indicates a
source on the craton to the northwest (Rodgers,
1953, 1968; Palmer, 1971). The lower part of
the Rome Formation grades southeastward into
a carbonate facies above the Shady Dolostone in
southwestern Virginia, and in the most southeasterly preserved strata in the footwall of the
Blue Ridge frontal thrust fault, Shady facies define a shelf edge and a slope to the southeast
(Fig. 3) (Rodgers, 1968; Pheil and Read, 1980).
The clastic facies of the Conasauga grades eastward to a carbonate facies (for example, Elbrook Formation) in the Appalachians of
421

E'
E
PRESENT STRUCTURE
EXPLANATION
MISSISSIPPI EMBAYMENT
(MESOZOIC-CENOZOIC)
11 12
13
14
15
UNITS ON STRUCTURAL CROSS SECTIONS

Mesozoic-Cenozoic
M
Upper Mississippian-Pennsylvanian
mp
Middle Ordovician-Lower Mississippian
o
Knox Group and equivalent units
k
Cambrian below the Knox Group
c
b
_DATUM:
SEA LEVEL
DOMINANT ROCK TYPES

OF LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC UNITS
sandstone
= fine-grained clastic rocks
# carbonate rocks
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
GRABEN
E
PALINSPASTIC
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
GRABEN
# several named units

Lamotte
Base
Sauk
latest
Early
of transgressive
sequence:
Middle to
Late Cambrian
2 km
E'
RESTORATION
SCALE
# Knox
# Conasauga
# basal sandstone
Sauk sequence:
Middle(?) Cambrian
DATUM:
Figure 4. (Continued).
TOP OF LOWER ORDOVICIAN
graphic data must be considered in palinspastic

location as determined from balanced structural
cross sections.
The Cambrian succession in the Appalachian
thrust belt in Alabama is similar to that adjacent
to the Blue Ridge. A Lower and Middle Cambrian succession extends across the Birmingham
basement fault system, but on the downthrown
side (in palinspastic location), it is more than
twice as thick as on the upthrown side (Fig. 4)
(Thomas, 1986). In thrust sheets in the southeastern part of the thrust belt (palinspastically
southeast of the larger basement faults), the
Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group (sandstone,
conglomerate, and mudstone) is >750 m thick
(Fig. 4); however, the complete thickness is unknown because the lower part is detached at
#
=
#
#
Knox (dark-colored fine-grained limestone)

mudstone, fine-grained limestone
dolostone, limestone
arkosic to quartzose sandstone
Mississippi Valley graben sedimentary fill:

Tennessee and Virginia (Palmer, 1971). Above

the Rome-Conasauga and equivalent carbonate
facies, carbonate-shelf deposits of the Upper
Cambrian-Lower Ordovician Knox Group extend throughout the region west of the Blue
Ridge. A slope-to-shelf transition is included in
the Frederick Limestone on the southeastern
side of the northeastern Blue Ridge (Reinhardt,
1974). The shelf edge indicated by Shady
(southwestern Blue Ridge) and Frederick (northeastern Blue Ridge) facies suggests the position
of the boundary between thick continental crust
and attenuated continental crust or oceanic crust
to the east (Rodgers, 1968; Thomas, 1977).
Birmingham Basement Fault System
The Birmingham basement fault system includes several northeast-striking faults in the
subsurface beneath the Appalachian thrust belt
(Figs. 2, 4) (Thomas, 1985b, 1986; Ferrill,
1989). Large-scale frontal thrust ramps (for example, Birmingham anticlinorium) are positioned over down-to-southeast basement faults
(Figs. 1,4). Farther southeast beneath the thrust
50 km
belt, down-to-northwest basement faults define

the southeastern side of a graben along part of
the fault system. The regional dcollement of the
Appalachian thrust belt is near the base of the
Paleozoic stratigraphie succession, and strati-
TABLE 1. WELLS IDENTIFIED BY NUMBER IN FIGURE 4
Well
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
IO.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
U.S. Bureau Mines No. 1 Olivet

Strake No. 1 Russell
Benz No. 1 Merritt
Henderson No. 1 Rice
Big Chief No. 1 Taylor
du Pont No. 2 Fee
California No. 1 Beeler
Saga No. 1 Skidmore
Saga No. 1 Hudson
A R C O No. 1 Edgmon
Cockrell No. 1 Carter
Pan American No. 1 Bosnick
Amerada No. 1 Abbay
Smith & Hess No. I Waldrop
Pruet & Hughes No. \ Dunlap
Location
Sec. 29, T. 22 N , R. 11 E New Madrid Co., Mo.

Sec. 24, T. 19 N R. 11 E Pemiscot Co., Mo.
Sec. 3, T. 4 S R. 1 E Lake Co., Tenn.
Sec. 22, T. 4 S , T. 1 E Dyer Co., Tenn.
Sec. 19, T. 5 S., R. 6 E., Gibson Co., Tenn.
Sec. 14, T. 6 S.. R. 19 E., Humphreys Co., Tenn.
Sec. 4, T. 15 S , R. 29 E Giles Co., Tenn.
Sec. 36, T. 1 S R. I W Morgan Co., Ala.
Sec. 16, T. 10 S R. 2 E Blount C o , Ala.
Sec. 6, T. 7 N , R. 12 W , Faulkner Co., Ark.
Sec. 4, T. 4 N , R. 1 E., St. Francis C o , Ark.
Sec. 1, T. 2 N , R. 1 E , Lee C o , Ark.
Sec. 21, T. 4 S R. 11 W , Tunica C o , Miss.
Sec. 15, T. 5 S R. 7 W , Tate C o , Miss.
Sec. 18, T 1 S R. 1 W , Lafayette C o , Miss.
Source of data:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Missouri Geological Survey open file.

Grohskopf, 1955.
Sample description by author.
Tennessee Division of Geology open file.
Unpublished industry report.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Alabama Geological Survey open file.

Neathery and Copeland, 1983.
Denison, 1984.
B. R. Haley, unpublished data.
Mellen, 1977.
Source
of data
a, b
b.c
d
a, b
d, e
d
tU
f,g
f. 6
e, h
c
c
e
422
W. A. THOMAS
thrust faults (Mack, 1980). The depth to the

base of sedimentary rocks as determined from
seismic reflection profiles! indicates no thick riftfill succession comparable to the Ocoee (Fig. 4).
The Chilhowee includes fluvial to shallowmarine clastic sediments derived from the craton
(Mack, 1980) and is overlain by the transgressive Lower Cambrian Shady Dolostone. The
Shady is overlain by shallow-marine, finegrained clastic rocks of the Rome and Conasauga Formations, the youngest part of which is
of Early Late Cambrian age (Resser, 1938;
Palmer, 1971). Part of the Conasauga clastic
facies locally grades into a carbonate facies. Distribution of thickness and facies within the
Conasauga is generally related to separate
basement fault blocks (Ferrill, 1989). As documented by deep wells northwest of the basement
fault system, the Lower Cambrian Rome Formation rests on Precambrian basement rocks,
and the Chilhowee and Shady are unconformably absent (Fig. 4) (Kidd and Neathery, 1975;
Thomas, 1988). Northwestward onto the craton, the sedimentary succession thins gradually,
and the base is progressively younger (Fig. 4).
Thickness and facies variations in the Chilhowee-Shady-Rome-Conasauga succession indicate synsedimentary movement along the
Birmingham basement fault system. The overlying Middle Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician carbonate unit (Knox Group) extends
across the fault system with no variations that
suggest synsedimentary fault movement. Local
truncation of the upper Knox and stratigraphic
variations in post-Knox rocks indicate episodic
reactivation of the basement fault system from
Middle Ordovician to Pennsylvanian (Thomas,
1986; Ferrill, 1989), and the Birmingham basement fault system is overridden by post-Middle
Pennsylvanian (Alleghanian) Appalachian thrust
faults.
No shelf-edge facies have been recognized in
the Chilhowee-Knox succession, indicating that
shelf deposition extended at least as far southeast
as the palinspastic location of the trailing edge of
the thrust belt. The Talladega slate belt (a lowgrade metamorphic thrust sheet along the trailing edge of the thrust belt; Fig. 1) contains a
marble (Sylacauga Marble Group) that is equivalent to the Shady through Knox succession
(Tull and others, 1988), indicating an even more
southeastwardly extensive shelf facies. Beneath
the marble, the Kahatchee Mountain Group of
clastic rocks is equivalent to the Chilhowee and
perhaps part of the Ocoee, but it is probably
about 1.5 km thick (Tull, 1982; Tull and others,
1988).
Synsedimentary movement along the Birmingham basement fault system during deposition of the Chilhowee-Shady-Rome-Conasauga
(Early Cambrian to Early Late Cambrian) coincides temporally with deposition of the passive-
margin succession along the northwestern side

of the Blue Ridge. The time of initial movement
along the Birmingham system is unknown;
however, absence of thick late Precambrian riftrelated rocks suggests Early Cambrian initiation.
Continued fault movement until Early Late
Cambrian clearly post-dates the time (Early
Cambrian) of the rift-to-passive-margin transition along the Blue Ridge, and overstep of the
faults by the Knox Group marks the end of a
phase of extension along the Birmingham basement fault system.
Mississippi Valley Graben
Well data, gravity and magnetic data, and
seismic surveys outline the southwest-striking
Mississippi Valley graben in Precambrian basement rocks and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks beneath Mesozoic-Cenozoic cover in the Mississippi Embayment of the Gulf Coastal Plain
(Figs. 1, 2) (Ervin and McGinnis, 1975; Harris,
1975; Kane and others, 1981; Schwalb, 1982a,
1982b; Keller and others, 1983; Mooney and
others, 1983; Hildenbrand, 1985; Howe, 1985;
Thomas, 1985a, 1988). Fault separation of the
top of basement rocks is as much as 1.8 km (Fig.
4), but separation of Ordovician and younger
Paleozoic strata is generally no more than 0.5
km, indicating late Paleozoic reactivation of
Cambrian faults. A southwest-plunging late Paleozoic arch parallels the fault system and is approximately coaxial with the broad southwestplunging Mesozoic-Cenozoic syncline of the
Mississippi Embayment (Fig. 4). Internal structures within the graben include a steep, late Paleozoic anticline (Howe, 1985) that is positioned
over a basement fault. Kinematics and timing
suggest that the late Paleozoic structures were
caused by compression from the Ouachita orogenic belt. The late Paleozoic structures are
truncated by the sub-Cretaceous unconformity
which, along with the covering strata, is warped
into the Mississippi Embayment syncline.
The Mississippi Valley graben contains a
Cambrian sedimentary fill that is > 1 km thick
on downthrown fault blocks and is lacking
outside the graben system (Fig. 4) (Kersting,
1982; Schwalb, 1982a, 1982b; Howe, 1985;
Weaverling, 1987; Thomas, 1988; Houseknecht,
1989). Along the northwestern side of the
graben, the graben-fill succession consists of a
basal sandstone that is generally arkosic, but
quartzose toward the top; a middle unit of lightcolored, partly oolitic limestone and dolostone;
and an upper, dark-colored, partly calcareous
mudstone (Fig. 4) (Denison, 1984; Weaverling,
1987; Thomas, 1988; Houseknecht, 1989). In
the northeastern part of the graben, in contrast,
siltstone and mudstone, fine-grained sandstone,
and dark-colored fine-grained partly silty to argillaceous limestone apparently are nonsystem-
atically distributed; and contacts are gradational

both vertically and laterally. The arkosic sandstone is interpreted as alluvial-fan deposits, and
the upward transition to quartzose sandstone
and carbonate rocks indicates transgression
through shoreline and shallow-marine environments (Howe, 1985; Weaverling, 1987). The
dark-colored, fine-grained rocks toward the top
and on the northeast reflect a deeper shelf setting
in the graben. In a shallow fault block in the
southeasternmost part of the graben in Mississippi, the succession is mostly limestone and
dolostone but contains some dark-colored mudstone, dark-colored argillaceous limestone, anhydrite, and a relatively thin basal sandstone
(Mellen, 1977).
Trilobites from three wells indicate an Early
Late Cambrian (Dresbachian) age for the upper
part of the clastic sequence in the Mississippi
Valley graben (Grohskopf, 1955; Palmer, 1962;
Weaverling, 1987; Missouri Geol. Survey open
file), but the age of the oldest part of the graben
fill is unknown. The oldest rocks of the transgressive Sauk sequence northwest (cratonward)
of the graben are a thin basal sandstone of latest
Middle or Early Late Cambrian age (A. R.
Palmer, 1989, personal commun.). These alluvial to shallow-marine strata (Houseknecht and
Ethridge, 1978) are equivalent in age to the
upper part of the dark-colored mudstone within
the graben, indicating an abrupt increase in
water depth across the graben boundary.
Middle Late Cambrian and younger carbonate rocks overlie the graben-fill succession and
extend widely on the craton as part of the
craton-wide transgressive Sauk sequence (Sloss,
1988). Thickness of the Upper CambrianLower Ordovician carbonate unit (Knox
Group) generally has only regional-scale variations across the Mississippi Valley graben (Fig.
4), indicating no substantial post-rift subsidence
in the region around the graben. Continued subsidence after Early Late Cambrian time within
the graben, however, is indicated by (1) locally
thicker Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician
carbonate succession in the graben, suggesting
continued fault movement rather than regional
downwarp; and (2) fine-grained, dark-colored
limestones in the southwestern part of the
graben, suggesting deeper water (Fig. 4)
(Thomas, 1988). By Late Cambrian time, the
region around the Mississippi Valley graben evidently was in a stable cratonic setting at some
distance from any active rift.
Rough Creek Graben
The Rough Creek graben is bounded by eaststriking faults that are traced eastward from the
northern end of the Mississippi Valley graben on
the basis of geophysical data and some subsurface data (Figs. 1, 2). Maximum structural relief
423
Northwest of the Rome trough, Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician carbonate rocks of the
Knox Group generally overlie a thin sandstone
unit (Upper Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone) that rests unconformably on basement
rocks (Fig. 3) (Woodward, 1961; Webb, 1980).
In contrast, within the trough, the Knox Group
is underlain by a clastic sequence > 1 km thick
dominated by sandstones and mudstones. The
lower part of the sedimentary fill of the trough
consists of a basal arkosic sandstone and an
overlying carbonate unit interpreted by Webb
(1980) to represent pre-fault deposition of the
Lower Cambrian Chilhowee and Shady, thereby limiting the maximum age of fault movement; however, the ages of these rocks are not
documented biostratigraphically. Above the
basal units, a succession of siltstone, sandstone,
mudstone, and carbonate rocks is laterally variable (Webb, 1980). Middle to Late Cambrian
trilobites are reported from the fill of the eastern
part of the trough (Donaldson and others,
1975). Carbonate rocks of the Knox Group
cross the Rome trough, and relatively uniform
thickness distribution suggests neither substantial
synsedimentary fault movement nor broad postfault downwarp in the region of the trough
(Fig. 3). The Cambrian succession southeast of
the Rome trough is thinner than the graben-fill
succession, but it is thicker and includes older
strata than the succession northwest of the
trough (Fig. 3) (Harris, 1975; Webb, 1980), a
distribution that is consistent with northwestward transgression onto the craton during the
Cambrian and Early Ordovician.
the Ouachita embayment (Viele, 1973; Thomas,

1976; Viele and Thomas, 1989). Distribution of
the contrasting early Paleozoic carbonate-shelf
and deep-water facies indicates a shelf edge
around the Ouachita region, and the depositional framework implies that a rifted margin of
continental crust controlled the location of the
shelf edge (Thomas, 1976,1977). No wells have
penetrated to depths necessary to sample any
possible rift-related rocks beneath the Paleozoic
shelf edge. Seismic data indicate an abrupt
southward decrease in crustal thickness from
normal continental crust to oceanic crust or
highly attenuated transitional crust beneath the
Ouachita thrust belt (Figs. 1, 2) (Keller and others, 1989a).

of the graben is uncertain, but possibly is several
kilometers (Harris, 1975; Soderberg and Keller,
1981; Schwalb, 1982a, 1982b; Collinson and
others, 1988). The eastern part of the Rough
Creek graben is not well known, but the trend of
the fault system suggests a connection with the
Rome trough across the Cincinnati arch in central Kentucky (Harris, 1975).
The Rough Creek graben contains a Cambrian sedimentary fill >2.5 km thick (Schwalb,
1982a; Collinson and others, 1988). Along the
northern part of the Rough Creek graben, especially on the west at the connection to the Mississippi Valley graben, the sedimentary fill is
mainly arkosic sandstone which is interpreted as
alluvial-fan deposits (Schwalb, 1982a; Weaverling, 1987). In the central and southern part of
the Rough Creek graben, the succession is dominated by mudstone, indicating persistence of
deeper marine environments (Schwalb, 1982a;
Weaverling, 1987). A late Middle Cambrian age
for part of the fill is documented by trilobites
identified from one well (Schwalb, 1982b;
Weaverling, 1987). The thick graben-fill succession is overstepped by Upper Cambrian carbonate rocks, and north (cratonward) of the
graben, the lower part of the Sauk sequence
consists of a thin basal sandstone and overlying
transgressive carbonate rocks. Facies and age relationships indicate a history of Cambrian fault
movement like that of the Mississippi Valley
graben. Late Paleozoic reactivation along some
of the faults included inversion of vertical separation and strike-slip separation (Krausse and
Treworgy, 1979); reactivation of the basement
faults presumably was a result of northwestdirected compression from the Appalachian
Tennessee salient and/or north-directed compression from the Ouachita salient.
Rome Trough
The Rome trough is traced from eastern Kentucky northeastward into Pennsylvania on the
basis of subsurface and geophysical data (Figs. 1,
2) (Woodward, 1961; Harris, 1975; Kulander
and Dean, 1978; Ammerman and Keller, 1979;
Webb, 1980; Donaldson and Shumaker, 1981).
Structural relief of the top of Precambrian
basement rocks is > 1 km between the deepest
graben blocks and the boundaries of the trough
(Fig. 3). A thick clastic graben-fill sequence,
lacking outside the trough, clearly indicates significant synsedimentary fault movement during
the Middle Cambrian and possibly earlier, and
filling of the graben blocks by Late Cambrian
time. Post-Late Cambrian to late Paleozoic
reactivation of some of the faults is reflected by
displacement of the younger Paleozoic rocks
(Dever and others, 1977; Dever, 1986); however, the reactivation produced displacements
smaller than those of the earlier basement
faulting.
Ouachita Thrust Belt and Foreland

No rift-related sedimentary or volcanic rocks
comparable to those along the Blue Ridge have
been recognized along the Ouachita thrust
belt, where the autochthonous passive-margin
carbonate-shelf facies extends southward beneath allochthonous deep-water rocks (Viele,
1979; Nelson and others, 1982; Lillie and others,
1983; Lillie, 1985). In contrast to the Early
Cambrian age of the base of the transgressive
shelf facies of the Sauk sequence adjacent to the
Blue Ridge, no shelf-facies strata older than Late
Cambrian (or latest Middle Cambrian; A. R.
Palmer, 1989, personal commun.) have been
identified in the Ouachita foreland. The Upper
Cambrian-Lower Ordovician carbonate facies
at the top of the Sauk sequence extends westward throughout the Appalachian thrust belt
and foreland basins of the eastern craton, and it
extends southward beneath the front of the
Ouachita allochthon. In the Ouachita thrust
belt, the oldest known rocks are of Late Cambrian age, and the Cambrian-Ordovician succession is an off-shelf deep-water facies deposited
beyond the margin of continental crust within
Southern Oklahoma Fault System

The Southern Oklahoma fault system strikes
northwest from the Arbuckle Mountains of
southern Oklahoma through the Wichita Mountains to the subsurface Amarillo uplift in
northwestern Texas (Fig. 1). Precambrian basement rocks and a Paleozoic sedimentary succession are displaced by a fault system which has
vertical separation of >12 km and probably
larger strike-slip separation (see review by Perry,
1989; McConnell, 1989). Thick accumulations
of coarse clastic sediments indicate late Paleozoic fault movement (extensive literature reviewed by Johnson and others, 1988; Perry,
1989), which was associated with compression
during the Ouachita orogeny (Hoffman and
others, 1974; Kluth and Coney, 1983; Kluth,
1986). An earlier phase of fault movement is
indicated by an alignment of Cambrian igneous
rocks that characterize the Southern Oklahoma
fault system as rift related.
Syn-rift igneous rocks associated with the
Southern Oklahoma fault system include an
older part consisting of a layered gabbro complex, gabbro plutons, and basalt-spilite; and a
younger part consisting of granite and rhyolite
(Gilbert, 1983). The lithologic association indicates a continental rift environment (Gilbert,
1983). Crystallization age of the older, layered
gabbro is interpreted to be 577 Ma (Rb-Sr and
Sm-Nd) (Lambert and Unruh, 1986), and the
younger gabbros yield an age of 552 7 Ma
(U-Pb zircon) (Bowring and Hoppe, 1982). The
granite and rhyolite are interpreted to be 525
25 Ma (Rb-Sr) (Ham and others, 1964), and are
intruded by diabase dikes.
The Cambrian igneous rocks evidently are
restricted to a zone 65 km wide as indicated by
distinct linear gravity and magnetic anomalies
(Fig. 2) (Coffman and others, 1986). Displacement of Cambrian volcanic rocks with respect to
older basement rocks in the Arbuckle Mountains (Ham and others, 1964), as well as faults
within some of the Cambrian volcanic rocks,
4:20
W. A. THOMAS

suggests rift-bounding faults of >1 km vertical
separation (McConnell and Gilbert, 1986). Episodic fault movement is indicated by angular
discordances between the layered complex and
the younger gabbros (McConnell and Gilbert,
1986).
The Cambrian intrusive and extrusive igneous
rocks post-date Precambrian crystalline basement rocks (Tishomingo Granite) of 1.2 to 1.4
Ga age, as well as strata of the Tillman Metasedimentary Group (Ham and others, 1964; Bickford and Lewis, 1979; Denison, in Johnson and
others, 1988). The Tillman Metasedimentary
Group (known only from wells; Ham and others, 1964) previously was considered to be part
of the fill of a graben that was associated with
the emplacement of the Cambrian igneous
rocks; however, subsequent work suggests that
the Tillman is as old as 1.0 to 1.2 Ga (Muehlberger and others, 1967; Denison and others,
1984; Coffman and others, 1986), indicating
that the metasedimentary rocks are part of the
basement (rather than part of the fill) of the
Southern Oklahoma fault system. Seismic reflection profiles show a thick succession (7 to 10
km) of layered reflectors that represent the Tillman south of the Wichita uplift, but the layered
reflectors are absent to the north (Brewer and
others, 1981,1983). The abrupt northward termination of the Tillman reflectors suggests a
Precambrian fault, the presence of which may
have influenced the location of the Early to
Middle Cambrian Southern Oklahoma fault system (Brewer and others, 1983). The relatively
thin and discontinuous Meers Quartzite (previously considered equivalent to the Tillman
Group) is now thought to be the only sedimen-
tary deposit within the Cambrian rift-related igneous complex (Gilbert, 1983).
Regionally, Precambrian crystalline basement
rocks and the Cambrian rift-related igneous
rocks are overlain nonconformably by a transgressive sequence consisting of the Upper Cambrian Reagan Sandstone and overlying carbonate rocks (Ham and others, 1964; Gilbert, 1983;
Coffman and others, 1986). Within the resolution of available data, the post-rift unconformity
at the base of the Reagan Sandstone is the same
age as the base of the carbonate rocks that overstep the faulted boundaries of the Mississippi
Valley-Rough Creek-Rome graben system and
the Birmingham basement fault system. Above
the Reagan Sandstone, Upper Cambrian and
Lower Ordovician carbonate rocks thicken regionally into an elongate basin, the axis of which
coincides with the trend of Cambrian igneous
rocks (Denison, in Johnson and others, 1988;
Perry, 1989). The section in the basin is more
than twice as thick as the regional average outside, and the thicker sections are mainly limestone in contrast to dolostone (Fig. 5) (Gatewood, 1970; Denison, in Johnson and others,
1988). Middle Paleozoic rocks also reflect subsidence of the basin, but the rate of differential
subsidence decreased after Middle Ordovician
time (Johnson and others, 1988). The post-rift
subsidence evidently is a result of loading by the
dense mafic igneous rocks at a shallow crustal
level.
Devils River Uplift and Tobosa Basin
The Devils River uplift is a basement-cored
uplift along a northwest-trending segment of the
Ouachita orogenic belt beneath the Gulf Coastal
Plain (Nicholas and Rozendal, 1975; Nicholas

and Waddell, 1989). Northwest of the Devils
River uplift, the thrust belt curves 90 to the
southwest around the Marathon salient (Fig. 1).
Cratonward from the thrust front in the Marathon salient, the present Permian basin is a late
Paleozoic structure superimposed on the early
Paleozoic Tobosa basin (Adams, 1965; Frenzel
and others, 1988).
Regionally, Precambrian crystalline basement
rocks are nonconformably overlain by Upper
Cambrian sandstone at the base of the transgressive Sauk sequence that is dominated by carbonate rocks (Frenzel and others, 1988); sandstone in a similar stratigraphic position overlies
metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks on the
Devils River uplift (Nicholas and Rozendal,
1975). The metasedimentary-metavolcanic succession is - 8 5 0 m thick and includes metarhyolites which have ages of 699 26 Ma (Rb-Sr)
(Denison and others, 1977). These possibly riftrelated rocks are underlain by more massive
metaigneous-metasedimentary basement rocks,
which have ages of 1246 + 270 to 1121
244 Ma (Rb-Sr) (Nicholas and Rozendal, 1975;
Nicholas and Waddell, 1989).
A strongly positive gravity anomaly indicates
a mass of dense mafic rocks beneath the present
Central Basin platform within the Permian
basin, prompting comparison with the Southern
Oklahoma fault system (Figs. 1, 2) (Keller and
others, 1985). Drill samples of layered gabbro
on the Central Basin platform have ages of 1077
2 to 1163 4 (U-Pb), indicating that these
rocks are not associated with late Precambrianearly Paleozoic rifting (Keller and others,
1989b). The early Paleozoic Tobosa basin is a
F'
SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA
FAULT SYSTEM
*
Ellenburger
Riley
Sauk sequence:
Late Cambrian
= Arbuckle
Reagan
# Arbuckle
# Timbered Hills
Sauk sequence:
Late Cambrian
Sauk sequence:
Late Cambrian
DATUM: TOP OF LOWER ORDOVICIAN
EXPLANATION
DOMINANT ROCK TYPES
OF LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC UNITS
= limestone
* dolostone
# carbonate rocks and sandstone
sandstone
(includes Tillman
Metasedimentary Group)
2 km SCALE
~~I
Cambrian igneous rocks
50 km
Figure 5. Diagrammatic palinspastic cross section of the Southern Oklahoma fault system. Cross section modified from Gatewood (1970) and
Johnson and others (1988). End points of cross section shown by letters in Figures 1 and 2.
425
rate depositional basins, respectively. Horsts and

grabens within the rift are documented further
by sedimentary onlap patterns in the Lower
Cambrian strata (Simpson and Eriksson, 1989).
Although the strikes of individual rift-related
structures cannot be reconstructed from available data, an area of basement fault blocks is
well documented. Palinspastic restorations based
on balanced structural cross sections place riftrelated rocks now in the Blue Ridge at a position
southeast of the present location of the Kings
Mountain belt in the Piedmont (Hatcher, 1989;
Hatcher and others, 1989); southeast-dipping
deep reflectors on COCORP seismic reflection
profiles indicate a similar location of the rifted
margin (Fig. 2) (Cook and others, 1979, 1983).
Autochthonous basement grabens, inboard from
the rifted margin and beneath the basal Appalachian detachment, have been imaged seismically
(Harris and others, 1981; Lillie, 1984; Favret
and Williams, 1988), indicating a wide expanse
of brittlely extended continental crust adjacent
to the rifted margin in the Tennessee embayment (Figs. 2, 3). The thick rift-fill facies
(Ocoee) extends southwestward as far as the
Corbin-Salem Church external basement massif
in Georgia (Fig. 1) (McConnell and Costello,
1980,1984), but farther southwest, no thick riftfill successions are indicated (Fig. 4).
The continental margin southeast of the Pine

Mountain internal massif coincides with the
trace of the linear Altamaha magnetic anomaly,
which is interpreted to be the signature of a late
Paleozoic suture (Fig. 1) (Higgins and Zietz,
1983; Horton and others, 1984; Nelson and others, 1985; Hooper and Hatcher, 1988; McBride
and Nelson, 1988). The magnetic anomaly extends to southwestern Alabama, where a cluster
of deep wells penetrated volcanic, plutonic, and
ultramafic rocks, suggesting an obducted arc and
subduction complex, probably near the margin
of continental crust (Figs. 1, 2) (Neathery and
Thomas, 1975; Thomas and others, 1989). Palinspastic restoration of balanced structural cross
sections (Thomas, 1989) places shelf-facies
strata now in the trailing part of the subsurface
Appalachian thrust belt at least as far south as
the trace of the Altamaha magnetic anomaly in
southwestern Alabama, further suggesting the
original extent of the continental shelf and the
approximate location of the continental margin
(Fig. 2). Inboard from the rifted margin, the
extensional Birmingham basement fault system
strikes northeastward approximately parallel
with the interpreted trace of the southeastern
margin of the Alabama promontory (Fig. 2).

broad regional downwarp of uncertain relationship to rift-related rocks or structures (Frenzel
and others, 1988; Keller and others, 1989b).
PALINSPASTIC LOCATION OF THE
RIFTED MARGIN
Syn-rift rocks and structures along the rifted
margin and within the adjacent craton have
been modified by subsequent AppalachianOuachita orogenesis, requiring palinspastic reconstruction as an initial step in determining the
trace of the rift. Post-orogenic erosion has destroyed part of the record of rifting. Parts of the
late Paleozoic orogenic belt and older rifted continental margin were modified by Mesozoic extension and opening of the present Atlantic
Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, and parts are covered by Mesozoic-Cenozoic rifted- and passivemargin deposits of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal
Plains (Fig. 1).
Large-scale bends in the rifted continental
margin have been recognized in a variety of interpretations. In this discussion of the location of
the margin, the terminology of promontories
and embayments is used for location purposes as
illustrated in Figure 2, but without implying a
mechanism of origin.
The distribution of rift-related rocks and of
the passive-margin shelf edge suggests that the
northeastern part of the Blue Ridge allochthon
contains a relatively straight segment of the
rifted margin that approximately parallels present strike (Rodgers, 1968; Thomas, 1977; Wehr
and Glover, 1985). The Mechum River graben
also parallels Blue Ridge strike. The autochthonous position of the rifted continental margin, as
interpreted from southeast-dipping deep seismic
reflectors, is at a location east of the present
Goochland internal basement massif (Figs. 1, 2)
(Pratt and others, 1988).
Southwest of the pinch-out of the Catoctin
Formation, a relatively thin Chilhowee Group
rests nonconformably on basement rocks
(Fig. 3). To the southwest along present structural strike, the Chilhowee thickens and overlaps
the relatively thick Mount Rogers Formation;
farther southwest, the Chilhowee laps onto the
Ocoee Supergroup. The abrupt along-strike
changes in rift-related rocks indicate that the depositional boundaries of both the Mount Rogers
and the Ocoee intersect the Blue Ridge at large
oblique to - 9 0 angles (Fig. 2); therefore, regardless of the accuracy of palinspastic reconstruction, the general shape of the rifted margin
must include a right-lateral offset of the edge of
the rift from the Virginia promontory to the
Tennessee embayment (Figs. 1, 2).
Variations in thickness and facies of the
Ocoee, Mount Rogers, and Grandfather Mountain indicate a complex of basement horsts and
grabens that served as sediment sources and sepa-
Except for displacement by the Birmingham

basement fault system, the top of basement is
generally smooth and dips at a low angle from
beneath the foreland thrust belt southeastward
to a position near the Pine Mountain internal
basement massif on the Alabama promontory
(Figs. 1, 2, 4) (as shown on COCORP seismic
reflection profiles, Georgia lines 15,23, and 24).
From the southeastern side of the Pine Mountain massif, seismic reflectors dip southeastward
to the base of the crust, marking the North
American continental margin at a boundary
with later Paleozoic accreted terranes (Nelson
and others, 1985; Hooper and Hatcher, 1988).
In reconstructions of balanced structural cross
sections, the Paleozoic shelf-facies strata now in
the Appalachian thrust belt in Alabama spread
at least as far southeast as the present location of
the Pine Mountain internal massif (Figs. 1,2,4)
(Thomas, 1985b; Ferrill, 1989). Both the extent
of the palinspastically reconstructed continental
shelf and the seismic reflection data indicate that
the present location of the Pine Mountain massif
coincides approximately with the margin of
North American Precambrian crust. Whether the
basement and cover rocks of the Pine Mountain
internal massif represent an accreted microcontinent (Thomas, 1977; Neathery and Thomas,
1983; Hooper and Hatcher, 1988) or a fault
block from the North American margin
(Schamel and others, 1980; Nelson and others,
1987), the massif must be near the autochthonous edge of North American continental crust.
Wide-angle reflection/refraction seismic data

(PASSCAL), interpreted via velocity models,
clearly document the southern margin of Precambrian continental crust at a location beneath
southward-dipping thrust sheets in the southern
part of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas
(Figs. 1, 2) (Keller and others, 1989a). That
location is consistent with COCORP reflection
data and with gravity models (Nelson and others, 1982; Lillie and others, 1983). Continental
crust thins southward within 25 km to thin
transitional or oceanic crust (Keller and others,
1989a). A boundary between regions of contrasting magnetic signatures (Zietz, 1982; Hinze
and Braile, 1988) trends northwest-southeast
from the seismically defined edge of continental
crust beneath the Ouachitas, outlining the Alabama promontory and Ouachita embayment
(Fig. 2). The Mississippi Valley graben strikes
northeastward into the continent and is approximately perpendicular to the northwest-striking
segment of the continental margin (Fig. 2).
A segment of the continental margin on the
southeastern side of the Texas promontory (Fig.
2) is identified, primarily on the basis of gravity
models, along a northeast-trending linear gravity
high that is interpreted to mark the edge of continental crust (Kruger and Keller, 1986). Subsurface geology, seismic reflection profiles, and
gravity modeling indicate that the Waco uplift
(Fig. 1) is a basement massif thrust onto the
margin of continental crust (Nicholas and
Rozendal, 1975) and serves as a guide to the
location of the margin. The Southern Oklahoma
fault system is approximately perpendicular to

4:20
W. A. THOMAS
the southeastern margin of the Texas promontory (Fig. 2), and magnetic signatures (Zietz,
1982) of the Cambrian igneous rocks along the
fault system terminate abruptly southeastward,
marking the edge of continental crust (Keller
and others, 1989c; Viele and Thomas, 1989). At
the interpreted intersection between the Southern Oklahoma fault system and the continental
margin, the northeast-trending gravity high
bends abruptly to the east-northeast, crossing the
corner of the Ouachita embayment on the outboard side of a deep gravity low, and extending
to the margin of continental crust as indicated by
the PASSCAL seismic data (Figs. 1, 2).
A northwest-trending segment of the continental margin along the southwestern side of the
Texas promontory is defined primarily by gravity models (Keller and others, 1985). The position of the Devils River uplift suggests an
external basement massif as a thrust sheet of
basement and cover displaced from the margin
of continental crust (Nicholas and Rozendal,
1975; Nicholas and Waddell, 1989).
DISCUSSION OF THE TRACE
OF THE RIFT AND MECHANISM
OF RIFTING
The large-scale bends in the AppalachianOuachita rifted margin are interpreted here to be
the result of transform offsets of a northeaststriking rift system (Fig. 2) (Thomas, 1976,
1977). The trace of the rifted margin as mapped
in Figure 2 is patterned after maps of recent
continental rifts and passive margins (for example, Rosendahl, 1987; Mascle and Blarez, 1987;
Colletta and others, 1988). At the inception of
rifting, offsets of the rift, along-strike changes in
fault-block geometry, and differences in dip direction of extensional faults are linked through
accommodation zones, transfer zones, or transform faults (for example, Le Pichon and Hayes,
1971; Scrutton, 1982a; Gibbs, 1984; Bosworth,
1985; Lister and others, 1986a; Rosendahl,
1987; Cochran and Martinez, 1988). Angles of
intersection between extensional (rift) and shear
(transform) structures of recent rifts range from
perpendicular to oblique (Freund, 1982; Lister
and others, 1986b; Cochran and Martinez,
1988). The trace of the Appalachian-Ouachita
rift is not defined with sufficient precision to
support an interpretation of exact orientations of
the various segments; therefore, Figure 2 shows
a simple generalization of orthogonal intersections between rift segments and transform faults.
The largest transform offsets of the Appalachian-Ouachita rift are spaced 500 to 800 km
apart, comparable in scale to the larger offsets of
the "rift zones" of the East African rift and other
rift zones generally (Rosendahl, 1987). For ex-
ample, the Blue Ridge rift is divided into three

rift zones (Fig. 2). Smaller scale horst and
graben blocks within the rift system are indicated by thickness and compositional variations
in the Ocoee, Mount Rogers, and Grandfather
Mountain rocks in the Tennessee embayment
(Figs. 2,3). These horsts and grabens are probably about the same scale as the fundamental
horsts and grabens, "rift units," within the East
African rift (Rosendahl, 1987).
The Virginia-Tennessee transform fault (Fig.
2) is indicated by the offset of the continental
margin from the Virginia promontory to the
Tennessee embayment; by the abrupt alongstrike change from the relatively thin rift-related
rocks along the Northern Blue Ridge rift zone on
the Virginia promontory to the thick rift-fill accumulations along the Southern Blue Ridge rift
zone in the Tennessee embayment; and by the
northeastward termination of the wide area of
horsts and grabens that framed separate depositional basins of the Ocoee, Mount Rogers, and
Grandfather Mountain. Alternatively, Rankin
(1976) interpreted the Tennessee embayment as
the site of a three-armed rift triple junction, and
Wehr and Glover (1985) suggested that the
Ocoee was deposited in a separate failed rift
inboard from the rifted continental margin. No
thick rift-fill deposits are indicated along the
Pine Mountain rift zone, suggesting that the
horsts and deep grabens of the Southern Blue
Ridge rift zone end southwestward at a transform fault.
At the interpreted position of the AlabamaOklahoma transform fault along the Ouachita
embayment, the PASSCAL wide-angle reflection/refraction data document southward thinning of continental crust within a distance of
- 2 5 km (Fig. 2) (Keller and others, 1989a). The
narrow zone of transition from continental crust
to oceanic crust is typical of a transform fault
(Keen, 1982; Scrutton, 1982b; Keen and Haworth, 1985), and it contrasts with the broad
zone of attenuated continental crust that characterizes rifted margins, such as that in the Tennessee embayment.
The northeast-striking Ouachita rift zone projects toward an intersection with the northweststriking Alabama-Oklahoma transform fault in
southeastern Oklahoma (Fig. 2), but structure of
the intersection is problematic. The local eastnortheast trend of the gravity high along the
Ouachita margin may indicate an oblique segment of the rifted margin. The deep gravity low
in the corner of the Ouachita embayment suggests a deep sedimentary basin formed during
rifting along the Alabama-Oklahoma transform
fault and parallel with the Southern Oklahoma
fault system (Kruger and Keller, 1986). The
Ouachita rift zone is not notably offset, although
it may bend, at the intersection with the Southern Oklahoma fault system (Fig. 2).
The Southern Oklahoma fault system is parallel but not aligned with the Alabama-Oklahoma
transform fault. The orientation of the fault system suggests a transform (or continental transfer) fault that propagated into continental crust.
Possibly, the fault system followed a pre-existing
crustal boundary between the Tillman Metasedimentary Group and the older Precambrian
crystalline rocks on the north.
The Mississippi Valley-Rough Creek-Rome
graben system, the Birmingham basement fault
system, and the Blue Ridge rift all trend generally northeastward and reflect northwest-southeast extension; however, the east-striking Rough
Creek graben intersects and offsets the strike of
the Mississippi Valley graben and Rome trough
(Fig. 2). The geometry of these structures in the
context of regional extension suggests that the
Rough Creek graben may be an oblique transfer
zone, possibly consisting of several rhomb
grabens.
The intracratonic Mississippi Valley graben
parallels rift segments of the continental margin,
whereas the Southern Oklahoma fault system is
parallel with transform faults (Fig. 2). Important
contrasts between the two are consistent with
the interpretation that they originated by different mechanisms. The Mississippi Valley graben
is a belt of extensional faults - 1 5 0 km wide, and
it is paralleled by the Birmingham basement
fault system, another belt of extensional faults
that is 100 km wide (Figs. 2, 4). Throughout
these fault systems, the graben blocks are filled
with clastic sedimentary rocks to the evident
exclusion of volcanic rocks. Although gravity
modeling indicates anomalous upper mantle/
lower crust beneath the Mississippi Valley
graben (Ervin and McGinnis, 1975; Mooney
and others, 1983), mafic magmas evidently did
not rise into the upper crust or sedimentary
cover during Cambrian time. The Mississippi
Valley-Rough Creek-Rome and Birmingham
fault systems define shallow (as viewed in the
scale of thickness of the crust) grabens within
continental crust, signifying much less extension
than along the Blue Ridge rift, which is a crustalscale fault system at the margin of continental
crust. In contrast, the Southern Oklahoma fault
system is more narrow (65 km, as indicated by
gravity and magnetic anomalies), is characterized by layered gabbros and rhyolites, and lacks
graben-filling sedimentary rocks (Gilbert, 1983;
Perry, 1989). The composition and geometry of
the igneous rocks indicate crust-penetrating,
probably steep faults. Relatively rapid post-rift
subsidence along the Southern Oklahoma fault
system produced an elongate downwarp centered on the zone of dense igneous rocks (Fig.
5). In contrast, after Early Late Cambrian fault

movement along the Mississippi Valley-Rough
Creek-Rome graben system, more limited subsidence was restricted to parts of the area within
the graben-boundary faults (Figs. 3, 4).
The origin of the Southern Oklahoma fault
system as a transform (or continental transfer)
fault may include vertical separation and/or
transtension. Fault-bounded basins are located
where transform faults (traced from the MidAtlantic Ridge) offset the present Atlantic continental margins of Africa and South America;
faults result from differential vertical movement
of continental crust at different distances from
the mid-ocean ridge (Francheteau and Le Pichon, 1972). Another possible cause of vertical separation is implied by simple-shear extension models in which continental transfer faults
partition low-angle extension faults either at
fault offsets or between faults of opposite dip
directions (Gibbs, 1984; Wernicke, 1985; Lister
and others, 1986a). The large transform offset of
the rift from the Alabama promontory to the
Ouachita embayment implies that, even if the
dip direction is the same, the tectonic level of
low-angle extension faults would differ greatly
on opposite sides of the transform. The continental crustal block southwest of the transform
is near the Ouachita rifted margin and must be
differentially thinned; it may have been displaced vertically with respect to the crust northeast of the transform, which was much farther
from the Appalachian rifted margin. The length
of the Southern Oklahoma fault system, as well
as the volume of mafic magma emplaced along
it, argues for transtensional movement. Massbalance calculations suggest Cambrian extension
of 17 to 21 km across the Southern Oklahoma
fault system (McConnell and Gilbert, 1986).
In the context of a continental margin framed
by transform offsets of a rift, the Southern Oklahoma fault system is a continental transform
fault, and the Mississippi Valley graben is a rift
zone. An alternative interpretation attributes the
shape of the margin to separate, plumegenerated, three-armed rift triple junctions at
which failed arms are represented by the Southern Oklahoma fault system (Burke and Dewey,
1973; Hoffman and others, 1974) and the Mississippi Valley graben (Ervin and McGinnis,
1975). Contrasts in the nature of the fault systems, in the syn-rift rocks, and in the tectonic
history of crustal-scale structures favor different
processes (as transform and rift, respectively)
rather than a common process (as failed arms of
two separate three-armed rifts) of origin for
these two fault systems. The post-rift strata overstepping the two fault systems are of the same
age (Middle Late Cambrian), suggesting that the
two are components of a single, larger kinematic
427
regime rather than parts of two separate, plumegenerated, three-armed rift triple junctions that
expired simultaneously. The orientation of the
structures (approximately orthogonal to each
other) places rigid geometric constraints on the
possible shape of the rifted margin. Movement
of a rectangular block in a direction parallel
with the interpreted transform direction is kinematically and geometrically balanced (Fig. 2),
but a rigorous geometric model including two
three-armed rift triple junctions cannot be
balanced geometrically or kinematically. In addition to these specific problems of local application, recent discussions discredit three-armed rift
triple junctions driven by thermal doming as a
general mechanism for the initiation of continental rifting (Mohr, 1982; Rosendahl, 1987). The
transform offset of the rift to form the Ouachita
embayment and the inboard propagation of
transform faults along the Southern Oklahoma
fault system are similar to the framework of the
embayment in the present Atlantic margin of
Africa and the Benue trough, respectively (Francheteau and Le Pichon, 1972; Benkhelil and
Robineau, 1983; Popoff and others, 1983;
Benkhelil and others, 1988).
beyond the position of the most southwesterly

recognized rift-related rocks in the Blue Ridge
rift. Possibly the rift intersected the Texas transform, which may have been active in the late
Precambrian as suggested by the age of metavolcanic rocks along the Devils River uplift.
By the beginning of Cambrian time, the Blue
Ridge rift had progressed to a stage in which a
passive margin was flanked by an open ocean
basin (Iapetus), and spreading continued at a
mid-ocean ridge (Mid-Iapetus Ridge) (Fig. 6B).
At the same time, extension was active along the
Mississippi Valley-Rough Creek-Rome and
Birmingham intracratonic fault systems, and
mafic magmas were emplaced along the Southern Oklahoma fault system.
The difference in age of rifting indicates a shift
in the spreading center at about the beginning
of the Cambrian Period from the southwestern
part of the Blue Ridge rift to the Ouachita rift
(Fig. 6B). The age of the spreading-center shift
is latest Precambrian to Early Cambrian on the
basis of age of the igneous rocks (577 Ma) along
the Southern Oklahoma fault system.
The spreading-center shift and initiation of
Ouachita rifting were accompanied by initiation
of the Southern Oklahoma fault system, as well
as the Alabama-Oklahoma transform fault (continental transform fault), which ultimately
formed the margin of continental crust. The
northeast-striking active segment of the Ouachita rift ended against the Alabama-Oklahoma
transform fault in the Ouachita embayment
(Fig. 6B). Most of the extension along the Ouachita rift was transformed along the AlabamaOklahoma transform fault to the Mid-Iapetus
Ridge outboard from the Blue Ridge passive
margin. A small component of crustal extension
propagated northeastward across the AlabamaOklahoma transform fault into the Mississippi
Valley-Rough Creek-Rome and Birmingham
basement fault systems, but the basement fault
systems northeast of the transform failed to open
a new ocean (Fig. 6C). As the Ouachita midocean ridge spread and the Ouachita ocean
opened, the northeast end of the ridge migrated
along the Alabama-Oklahoma transform fault
(Fig. 6C). An active continent-ocean transform
prevailed in front of the migrating ridgetransform intersection, and a passive transform
margin formed behind it (processes described by
Scrutton, 1982b; modeled by Todd and Keen,
1989).
CONCLUSIONS: HISTORY OF THE

RIFTED MARGIN
Northwest-striking transform faults and northeast-striking rift segments along the Appalachian-Ouachita continental margin are consistent mechanically with northwest-southeast
extension along the entire rift system (Fig. 2).
Post-rift sedimentary overstep marks the end of
active rifting along the Blue Ridge rift in the
earliest Cambrian (Fig. 3). Transgressive Upper
Cambrian carbonate rocks overstep rift-fill successions in the intracratonic Mississippi ValleyRough Creek-Rome and Birmingham fault
systems (Fig. 4). Igneous rocks along the
Southern Oklahoma fault system as young as
525 25 Ma are nonconformably overlain by
sandstones of Late Cambrian age (Fig. 5). Postrift transgression over the Ouachita rifted margin in the late Middle Cambrian or Late
Cambrian is suggested by the age of the base of
the transgressive sequence around the Ouachita
foreland (Figs. 4, 5). The differences in ages of
rift-related rocks and of post-rift sedimentary
overstep indicate that the Ouachita margin, as
well as the Mississippi Valley-Rough CreekRome and Birmingham intracratonic fault systems, is younger than the Appalachian margin.
Rifting began in late Precambrian time along
the Blue Ridge rift (Fig. 6A). Lack of late Precambrian rift-related rocks along the Ouachita
margin suggests that the initial rift continued
southwestward for some unknown distance
By early in Late Cambrian time, the northeast end of the Ouachita ridge had moved
beyond the corner of continental crust on the
Alabama promontory, and a passive margin
had evolved along the entire rift and transform
margin (Fig. 6D). A spreading half-rate of 1.3 to
1.6 cm/yr is calculated for the Ouachita rift/
A - LATE PRECAMBRIAN
Figure 6. Sequential diagrammatic maps illustrating interpretation olF history of the late
Precambrian-early Paleozoic AppalachianOuachita rifted margin of southern North
America. Outline of state of Arkansas on
each map for consistent location.
A. Late Precambrian, - 5 8 0 Ma. B. Early
Cambrian, - 5 6 5 Ma. C. Middle Cambrian,
- 5 4 0 Ma. D. Late Cambrian, - 5 1 5 Ma.
/fa*
B - EARLY CAMBRIAN
EXPLANATION
11
active rift
J i
transform fault
::::::::
rift-fill coarse clastic sedimentary rocks
* <
rift volcanic and plutonic rocks

rift-fill sedimentary and volcanic rocks
HKrEH inferred thin and/or fine-grained sedimentary rift-fill rocks

graben-fill sedimentary rocks, intracratonic fault system
i
passive-margin shelf facies

passive-margin off-shelf facies (rifted-margin prism)
" ! oceanic crust
D - LATE CAMBRIAN Z E E 3 E
i
Figure 6. (Continued).

4:20
ridge from the time of spreading-center shift to

that of establishment of a passive transform
margin.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Reviews of the manuscript by Mervin J. Bartholomew; Lynn Glover III; Robert D. Hatcher,
Jr.; J. Wright Horton, Jr.; G. Randy Keller;
Richard L. Nicholas; Frederic L. Schwab;
Douglas W. Rankin; and John Rodgers are
gratefully acknowledged. Part of this research
was supported by a grant; from the National
Science Foundation (EAR-8218604).
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Geological Society of America Bulletin

The Appalachian-Ouachita rifted margin of southeastern North America
WILLIAM A. THOMAS
Geological Society of America Bulletin 1991;103, no. 3;415-431
doi: 10.1130/0016-7606(1991)103<0415:TAORMO>2.3.CO;2
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org on September 17, 2015

The Appalachian-Ouachita rifted margin

Department of Geology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487

component of extension propagated northeastward to form the intracratonic fault

rocks of Early and Middle Cambrian age along

cratonward limit of Appalachian-Ouachita detachment

cratonward limit of Appalachian accreted terranes

crustal-scale southeast-dipping seismic reflectors

palinspastically restored width of passive-margin shelf fades

Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on September 17, 2015

Base of transgressive Sauk sequence:

DOMINANT ROCK TYPES

LOCATIONS OF KEY STRUCTURES

palinspastic leading edge

Rome trough sedimentary

Shady (Lower Cambrian)

Rome trough sedimentary

Kings Mountain belt

northern end of Catoctin outcrop

basalt in Unicoi (lower part of Chilhowee)

Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on September 17, 2015

on average finer (Rankin, 1970; Rankin and

the Blue Ridge are ~1.0 Ga (Grenville) age and

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DATUM: TOP OF LOWER ORDOVICIAN

Mississippi Valley graben sedimentary fill:

faults, and overstep of the faults by upper Unicoi

howee is overlain by the transgressive Shady

APPALACHIAN-OUACHITA RIFTED MARGIN

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UNITS ON STRUCTURAL CROSS SECTIONS

DOMINANT ROCK TYPES

# several named units

TOP OF LOWER ORDOVICIAN

graphic data must be considered in palinspastic

Knox (dark-colored fine-grained limestone)

Mississippi Valley graben sedimentary fill:

Tennessee and Virginia (Palmer, 1971). Above

belt, down-to-northwest basement faults define

TABLE 1. WELLS IDENTIFIED BY NUMBER IN FIGURE 4

U.S. Bureau Mines No. 1 Olivet

Sec. 29, T. 22 N , R. 11 E New Madrid Co., Mo.

Missouri Geological Survey open file.

Alabama Geological Survey open file.

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thrust faults (Mack, 1980). The depth to the

margin succession along the northwestern side

atically distributed; and contacts are gradational

APPALACHIAN-OUACHITA RIFTED MARGIN

the Ouachita embayment (Viele, 1973; Thomas,

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Ouachita Thrust Belt and Foreland

Southern Oklahoma Fault System

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Plain (Nicholas and Rozendal, 1975; Nicholas

DATUM: TOP OF LOWER ORDOVICIAN

Cambrian igneous rocks

APPALACHIAN-OUACHITA RIFTED MARGIN

rate depositional basins, respectively. Horsts and

The continental margin southeast of the Pine

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Except for displacement by the Birmingham