Known and suggested quaternary faulting in the midcontinent United States

Abstract

The midcontinent United States between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains contains 40 known faults or other potentially tectonic features for which published geologic information shows or suggests Quaternary tectonic faulting. We report results of a systematic evaluation of published and other publicly available geologic evidence of Quaternary faulting. These results benefit seismic-hazard assessments by (1) providing some constraints on the recurrence intervals and magnitudes of large, prehistoric earthquakes, and (2) identifying features that warrant additional study.For some features, suggested Quaternary tectonic faulting has been disproved, whereas, for others, the suggested faulting remains questionable. Of the 40 features, nine have clear geologic evidence of Quaternary tectonic faulting associated with prehistoric earthquakes, and another six features have evidence of nontectonic origins. An additional 12 faults, uplifts, or historical seismic zones lack reported paleoseismological evidence of large, Quaternary earthquakes. The remaining 13 features require further paleoseismological study to determine if they have had Quaternary earthquakes that were larger than any known from local historical records; seven of these 13 features are in or near urbanized areas where their study could affect urban hazard estimates. These seven are: (1) the belt of normal faults that rings the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas, (2) the Northeast Ohio seismic zone, (3) the Valmont and (4) Goodpasture faults of Colorado, (5) the Champlain lowlands normal faults of New York State and Vermont, and (6) the Lexington and (7) Kentucky River fault systems of eastern Kentucky.