Date of Graduation

Summer 2013

Degree

Master of Natural and Applied Science in Geography, Geology, and Planning

Department

Geography, Geology, and Planning

Committee Chair

Kevin Mickus

Abstract

The Chesapeake Fault (CF) is oriented in a northwest to southeast direction, extending for 325 miles from western Kansas to northern Arkansas, but the majority of the CF is located in western Missouri. The CF is a part of a horst and graben fault system that extends across southern Missouri whose origin was considered unknown until recently. Recent geological mapping and structural analyzes have shown that it is likely an expression of transpressional adjustment within the Ozark Dome in the wake of the Ouachita orogen during the Pennsylvanian. Recent geological studies have confirmed that the CF is a basement fault. To determine the nature of the Chesapeake Fault Zone (CFZ), gravity, magnetic, and electromagnetic analyzes were performed. From these analyzes gravity and magnetic maps, and gravity and VLF profiles were created to provide a subsurface image of the CFZ. These maps and profiles suggest a fault inferred to be the CF exists on the western side of a magnetic and gravity low that is inferred to be a subsided graben. The gravity models confirm subsurface rock units and infer granite and mafic intrusions in the Precambrian basement that agree with previous nearby studies.

Keywords

Chesapeake Fault, Missouri, gravity anomalies, magnetic anomalies, electromagnetic data, sediment thickness, Precambrian basement

Subject Categories

Geology | Geophysics and Seismology

Copyright

© Joseph Ryan Spinks

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