1887
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Basin Research
  4. Volume 15, Issue 3
  5. Article
Volume 15, Issue 3
  • E-ISSN: 1365-2117

Abstract

Abstract

Isopach and sedimentary facies maps of Upper Devonian (upper Frasnian and lower Famennian) strata deposited in a part of the central Appalachian foreland basin (eastern United States) during the Acadian orogeny show a significant change in depositional style over time. Maps of two successive upper Frasnian intervals show steady thickening to the east towards the hinterland. Coarser‐grained sediment was deposited in distinct tongues in front of the Augusta lobe, a previously recognized locus of sediment input in the central Appalachian basin. Maps of two subsequent lower Famennian stratigraphic intervals show distinct depocentres in the study area. Famennian strata thin eastward (by about 50%) over a distance of about 90 km from these depocentres to the limit of mapping at the Allegheny structural front. This is towards the Acadian sediment source and in contrast to general Upper Devonian thickening in that direction. The axes of these lower Famennian depocentres are stacked on top of each other. Also, coarser‐grained lower Famennian sediment is concentrated in strike trends just east of the axes of the depocentres, and no coarser tongues exist in front of the Augusta lobe, in contrast to the underlying (upper Frasnian) strata.

The duration of each of the four study intervals is estimated to be between 0.5 and 3.0 Myr. The early Famennian depocentres may be in a back‐bulge basin, with a forebulge uplifted to the east of the study area. Earlier deposition may have occurred in a basin with a subtle, subdued, and longer wavelength forebulge (perhaps located west of the study area). Previously published regional isopachs of Upper Devonian strata suggest that the main axis of subsidence of the Acadian foreland basin (foredeep depozone) at this time was over 350 km east of the study area. Examination of published quantitative flexural models of other foreland basins with flexural rigidities close to published rigidities calculated for the Appalachian basin suggests that the proposed back‐bulge basin is in the correct location, relative to the suggested position of the foredeep at that time. Several previously recognized structural features of the northern Appalachian basin support the interpretations presented herein. Much of the Acadian foreland basin may be eroded in the central Appalachian basin. The present study demonstrates the difficulties in recognizing foreland basin depozones in partially preserved orogens.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1046/j.1365-2117.2003.00213.x
2003-08-21
2024-04-25

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1046/j.1365-2117.2003.00213.x
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Avary, K.L. & Dennison, J.D. (1980) Back Creek siltstone member of Devonian Brallier Formation in Virginia and West Virginia. Southeastern Geol., 21, 123–150.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ayrton, W.G. (1963) Isopach and lithofacies map of the Upper Devonian of northeastern United States. In: Devonian Stratigraphy of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States (Ed. by V.C. Shepps), Pennsylvania Geol. Survey Gen. Geol. Rep., 39, 3–6.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Barrell, J. (1913) The Upper Devonian delta of the Appalachian geosyncline: part 1. The delta and its relation to the interior sea. Am. J. Sci., 36, 429–472.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Barker, C.A., Secor, D.T.J r , Pray, J.R. & Wright, J.E. (1998) Age and deformation of the Longtown metagranite, South Carolina Piedmont: a possible constraint on the origin of the Carolina terrane. J. Geol., 106, 713–725.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Beaumont, C. (1981) Foreland basins. Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 65, 291–321.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Boswell, R.M. (1988) Basin analysis of the Upper Devonian–Lower Mississippian Acadian clastic wedge in northern West Virginia and adjacent areas. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, West Virginia University, 351pp.
  7. Boswell, R.M. & Donaldson, A.C. (1988) Depositional architecture of the Catskill delta complex, central Appalachian basin. In: The Devonian of the World (Ed. by N.J.McMillan , A.F.Embry & D.J.Glass ), Can. Soc. Petrol. Geol., Mem. , 14 (2), 65–84.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Burgess, P.M. & Gurnis, M. (1995) Mechanisms for the formation of cratonic stratigraphic sequences. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 136, 647–663.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Butler, J.R. & Secor, D.T. (1991) The central Piedmont. In: The Geology of the Carolinas (Ed. by J.W.Horton & V.A.Zullo ), pp. 59–78. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cheema, M.R. (1977) Sedimentation and gas production of the Upper Devonian Benson sand of north‐central West Virginia. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, West Virginia University, 117pp.
  11. Crampton, S.L. & Allen, P.A. (1995) Recognition of forebulge unconformities associated with early stage foreland basin development: example from the north Alpine foreland basin. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., 79, 1495–1514.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Currie, B.S. (1997) Sequence stratigraphy of nonmarine Jurassic‐Cretaceous rocks, central Cordilleran foreland basin. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 109, 1206–1222.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Currie, B.S. (2002) Structural configuration of the Early Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland‐basin system and Sevier thrust belt, Utah and Colorado. J. Geol., 110, 697–718.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. DeCelles, P.G. & Burden, E.T. (1992) Non‐marine sedimentation in the overfilled part of the Jurassic‐Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin: Morrison and Cloverly Formations, central Wyoming, USA. Basin Res., 4, 291–314.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. DeCelles, P.G. & Currie, B.S. (1996) Long‐term sediment accumulation in the Middle Jurassic–early Eocene Cordilleran retroarc foreland‐basin system. Geology, 24, 591–594.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. DeCelles, P.G., Gehrels, G.E., Quade, J. & Ojha, T.P. (1998) Eocene–early Miocene foreland basin development and the history of Himalayan thrusting, western and central Nepal. Tectonics, 17, 741–765.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. DeCelles, P.G. & Giles, K.A. (1996) Foreland basin systems. Basin Res., 8, 105–123.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Dennison, J.M. & De Witt, W. (1972) Redbed zone produced by drop of sea‐level at beginning of Devonian Cohocton Age delimits Fulton and Augusta Lobes of Catskill delta complex. In: Guidebook 37th Annual Conference of Pennsylvania Field Geologists (Ed. by J.M.Dennison ), pp. 109–114. Pennsylvania Topographic and Geologic Survey, Harrisburg, PA, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Ettensohn, F.R. (1985) Controls on development of Catskill Delta complex basin‐facies. In: The Catskill Delta (Ed. by D.L.Woodrow & W.D.Sevon ), Geol Soc. Am., Spec. Pap. , 201, 65–77.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Ettensohn, F.R. (1994) Tectonic control on the formation and cyclicity of major Appalachian unconformities and associated stratagraphic sequences. In: Tectonic and Eustatic Controls on Sedimentary Cycles (Ed. by J.M.Dennison & F.R.Ettensohn ), Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Concepts Sediment. Geol. , 4, 217–242.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Faill, R.T. (1997) A geologic history of the north‐central Appalachians, part 2: the Appalachian basin from the Silurian through the Carboniferous. Am. J. Sci., 297, 729–761.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Ferrill, B.A. & Thomas, W.A. (1988) Acadian dextral transpression and synorogenic sedimentary successions in the Appalachians. Geology, 16, 604–608.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Filer, J.K. (1985) Oil and gas report and map of Pleasants, Wood and Ritchie Counties, West Virginia. WV, Geol. Econ. Surv., Bull, B–11A, 87pp.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Filer, J.K. (1988) Chronostratigraphy and facies of the Upper Devonian clastic wedge, northern West Virginia. In: Geology of Appalachian Basin Devonian Clastics, 19th Annual Appalachian Petroleum Geology Symposium (Ed. by D.Patchen & K.L.Avary ), pp. 18–20. West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, Morgantown, WV, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Filer, J.K. (1994) Eustatic and sedimentation cycles in a foreland basin, Appalachian basin. In: Sedimentary Cycle Control – Tectonics versus Eustasy (Ed. by J.M.Dennison & F.R.Ettensohn ), Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Concepts Sedimentol. Paleontol. , 4, 133–145.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Filer, J.K. (2002) Late Frasnian sedimentation cycles in the Appalachian basin possible evidence for high frequency eustatic sea‐level changes. Sediment. Geol., 154, 31–52.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Flemings, P.B. & Jordan, T.E. (1989) A synthetic stratigraphic model of foreland basin development. J. Geophys. Res., 94, 3851–3866.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Flemings, P.B. & Jordan, T.E. (1990) Stratigraphic modeling of foreland basins: interpreting thrust deformation and lithosphere rheology. Geology, 18, 430–434.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Fordham, B.G. (1992) Chronometric calibration of mid‐Ordovician to Tournasian conodont zones: a compilation from recent graphic‐correlation and isotope studies. Geol. Mag., 129, 709–721.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Giles, K.A. & Dickinson, W.R. (1995) The interplay of eustasy and lithospheric flexure in forming stratigraphic sequences in foreland settings: an example from the Antler foreland, Nevada and Utah. In: Stratigraphic Evolution of Foreland Basins (Ed. by S.L.Dorobek & G.M.Ross ), Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Spec. Publ., 52, 187–211.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Glover, L.III, Speer, J.A., Russell, G.S. & Farrer, S.S. (1983) Ages of regional metamorphism and ductile deformation in the central and southern Appalachians. Lithios, 16, 223–245.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Goodman, W.M. & Brett, C.E. (1994) Roles of eustasy and tectonics in development of Silurian stratigraphic architecture of the Appalachian foreland basin. In: Sedimentary Cycle Control – Tectonics versus Eustasy (Ed. by J.M.Dennison & F.R.Ettensohn ), Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Concepts Sedimentol. Paleontol. , 4, 147–169.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Gradstein, F.M. & Org, J. (1996) A Phanerozoic time scale. Episodes, 19, 3–4.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Gurnis, M. (1992) Rapid continental subsidence following the initiation and evolution of subduction. Science, 255, 1556–1558.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Hamilton‐Smith, T. (1993) Stratigraphic effects of the Acadian orogeny in the autochthonous Appalachian basin. In: The Acadian Orogeny: Recent Studies in New England, Maritime Canada, and the Autocthonous Foreland (Ed. by D.C.Roy & J.W.Skehan ), Geol. Soc. Am., Spec. Pap. , 275, 153–164.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Harland, W.B., Armstrong, R.L., Cox, A.V., Craig, L.E., Smith, A.G. & Smith, D.G. (1990) A Geologic Time Scale 1989. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Hatcher, R.D.J r (1987) Tectonics of the southern and central Appalachian internides. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 15, 337–362.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Hatcher, R.D.J r , Bream, B.R., Hill, J.C., Giorgis, S.D. & Williams, S.T. (1999) Transect through the Acadian orogen in the Carolinas and northeast Georgia. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Prog., 31, 3, 19.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Hibbard, J. (2000) Docking Carolina: Mid‐Paleozoic accretion in the southern Appalachians. Geology, 28, 127–130.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Holt, W.E. & Stern, T.A. (1994) Subduction, platform subsidence, and foreland thrust loading: the late Tertiary development of the Taranaki basin, New Zealand. Tectonics, 13, 1068–1092.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Horton, B.K. & DeCelles, P.G. (1997) The modern foreland basin system adjacent to the central Andes. Geology, 25, 895–898.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Horton, J.W., Drake, A. & Rankin, D. (1989) Tectonostratigraphic terranes and their Paleozoic boundaries in the central and southern Appalachians. In: Terranes in the Circum‐Atlantic Paleozoic orogens (Ed. by D.Dallmeyer ), Geol. Soc. Am., Spec. Pap. , 230, 213–245.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Jacobeen, F.R. & Kanes, W.H. (1975) Structure of the Broadtop synclinorium, Wills Mountain anticlinorium, and Allegheny frontal zone. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 53, 1136–1150.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Jacobi, R.D. (1981) Peripheral bulge – a causal mechanism for the Lower/Middle Ordovician unconformity along the western margin of the northern Appalachians. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 56, 245–251.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Jordan, T.E. (1981) Thrust loads and foreland basin evolution, Cretaceous, western United States. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., 65, 2506–2520.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Levendosky, W.T. & McGill, W.A. (1988) Oil and gas report and map of Jackson, Mason and Putnam Counties, West Virginia. WV, Geol. Econ. Surv., Bull, B–23A, 78pp.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Lundegard, P.L., Samuals, N.D. & Pryor, W.A. (1985) Upper Devonian turbidite sequence, central and southern Appalachian basin: contrasts with submarine fan deposits. In: The Catskill Delta (Ed. by D.L.Woodrow & W.D.Sevon ), Geol. Soc. Am., Spec. Publ. , 201, 107–121.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Lyke, W.L. (1986) The stratigraphy, peleogeology, depositional environment, faunal communities, and general petrology of the Minnehaha Springs Member of the Scherr Formation, an Upper Devonian turbidite sequence, central Appalachians. Southeast. Geol., 26, 173–192.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Marshak, S. (1986) Structure and tectonics of the Hudson Valley fold‐thrust belt, eastern New York state. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 97, 354–368.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. McIver, N.L. (1961) Upper Devonian marine sedimentation of the central Appalachians. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, 530pp.
  51. Mitrovica, J.X., Beaumont, C. & Jarvis, G.T. (1989) Tilting of continental interiors by the dynamical effects of subduction. Tectonics, 8, 1079–1094.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Over, D.J. (1997) Conodont biostratigraphy of the Java Formation, Upper Devonian, and the Frasnian–Famennian boundary in western New York. In: Paleozoic Sequence Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphy, and Biogeography: Studies in Honor of J. Granville (‘Jess’) Johnson (Ed. by G.Klapper , M.A.Murphy & J.A.Talent ), Geol. Soc. Am., Spec. Publ., 321, 161–177.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Over, D.J. (2002) The Frasnian/Fammenian boundary in central and eastern United States. Paleogeol. Paleoclim. Paleoecol., 181, 153–170.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Patton, T.L. & O'Connor, S.J. (1988) Cretaceous flexural history of northern Oman mountain foredeep, United Arab Emirates. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., 72, 797–809.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Plint, A.G., Hart, B.S. & Donaldson, W.S. (1993) Lithospheric flexure as a control on stratal geometry and facies distribution in Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Alberta foreland basin. Basin Res., 5, 69–77.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Quinlan, G.M. & Beaumont, C. (1984) Appalachian thrusting, lithospheric flexure, and the Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Eastern Interior of North America. Can. J. Earth Sci., 21, 973–996.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Rankin, D.W. (1994) Continental margin of the eastern United States: past and present. In: Phanerozoic Evolution of Continent–Ocean Transitions (Ed. by R.C.Speed ), Geol. Soc. Am., Dec. North Am. Geol., Cont.–Ocean Trans. , CTV001, 129–218.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Rodgers, J. (1967) Chronology of tectonic movements in the Appalachian region of eastern North America. Am. J. Sci., 265, 408–427.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Root, S. & Ornash, C.M. (1999) Structure and tectonic evolution of the transitional region between the central Appalachian foreland and interior cratonic basins. Tectnophysics, 305, 205–223.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Sandberg, C.A. & Ziegler, W. (1996) Devonian conodont biochronology in geologic time calibration. Sencken. Lethaea, 76, 259–265.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Sevon, W.D. (1985) Nonmarine facies of the Middle and Late Devonian Catskill coastal alluvial plain. In: The Catskill Delta (Ed. by D.L.Woodrow & W.D.Sevon ), Geol. Soc. Am., Spec. Pap., 201, 79–90.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Shumaker, R.C. (1986a) Structural development of Paleozoic continental basins of eastern North America. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Basement Tectonics (Ed. by M.J.Aldritch & A.W.Laughlin ), pp. 82–95. International Basement Tectonics Association, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Sinclair, H.D. (1997) Tectnostratigraphic model for underfilled peripheral foreland basin: an Alpine perspective. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 109, 324–346.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Sinha, A.K., Hund, E.A. & Hogan, J.P. (1989) Paleozoic accretionary history of the North American plate margin (central and southern Appalachians): Constraints from the age, origin, and distribution of granitic rocks. In: Deep Structure and Past Kinematics of Accreted Terranes (Ed. by J.W.Hillhouse ), Am. Geophys. Union Monogr. , 50, 219–238.
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Smith, G.J. & Jacobi, R.D. (2001) Tectonic and eustatic signals of the Upper Devonian Canadaway Group, New York state. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 85, 325–357.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Sweeney, J. (1986) Oil and gas report and maps of Wirt, Roane and Calhoun Counties, West Virginia. WV, Geol. Econ. Surv., Bull, B‐40, 102pp.
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Tankard, A.J. (1986a) On the depositional response to thrusting and lithospheric flexure: examples from the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain basins. In: Foreland Basins (Ed. by P.A.Allen & P.Homewood ), Int. Assoc. Sedimentol., Spec. Publ. , 8, 369–392.
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Tankard, A.J. (1986b) Depositional response to foreland deformation in the Carboniferous of eastern Kentucky. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 70, 853–868.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Tucker, R.D., Bradley, D.C., Ver Straeton, C.A., Harris, A.G., Ebert, J.R. & McCutcheon, S.R. (1998) New U–Pb zircon ages and the duration and division of Devonian time. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 158, 175–186.
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Turcotte, D.L. & Schubert, G. (1982) Geodynamics: Applications of Continuum Physics to Geological Problems. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 450pp.
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Ver Straeten, C.A. & Brett, C.E. (2000) Bulge migration and Pinnacle reef development, Devonian Appalachian foreland basin. J. Geol., 108, 339–352.
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Waschbusch, P.J. & Royden, L.H. (1992) Spatial and temporal evolution of foredeep basins: lateral strength variations and inelastic yielding in continental lithosphere. Basin Res., 4, 179–196.
    [Google Scholar]
  73. West, T.E. (1998) Structural analysis of the Carolina‐inner Piedmont terrane boundary: Implications for the age and kinematics of the central Piedmont suture, a terrane boundary that records Paleozoic Laurentia–Gondwana interactions. Tectonics, 17, 379–394.
    [Google Scholar]
  74. White, T., Furlong, K. & Arthur, M. (2002) Forebulge migration in the Cretaceous Western Interior basin of the central United States. Basin Res., 14, 43–54.
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Williams, H. & Hatcher, R.D. (1983) Appalachian suspect terranes. In: Contributions to the Tectonics and Geophysics of Mountain Chains (Ed. by R.D.Hatcher ), Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. , 158, 33–54.
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Wilson, T.H. (1985) Section 11. In: Valley and Ridge Thrust Belt: Balanced Structural Sections, Pennsylvania to Alabama (Ed. by N.B.Woodward ), Univ. Tennessee Stud. Geol.12, 29–31.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1046/j.1365-2117.2003.00213.x
Loading
Stratigraphic evidence for a Late Devonian possible back‐bulge basin in the Appalachian basin, United States
Basin Research 15, 417 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2117.2003.00213.x
/content/journals/10.1046/j.1365-2117.2003.00213.x
/content/journals/10.1046/j.1365-2117.2003.00213.x
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article

Most Cited This Month Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error