Reviewing the configuration and extent of the Midcontinent rift system

Abstract

Uncertainty exists in the configuration and extent of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) because of deficiencies in geophysical data and limited information from outcrops and basement drill holes. Additional ambiguity is caused by misunderstanding the definition of continental rifts. Six principal problematic regions in mapping the MRS are described. Gravity and magnetic data, supported by drill hole and seismic reflection data, show that the Eastern Lake Superior rift segment of the MRS continues south from Lake Superior and connects to a much narrower rift in northern Lake Michigan. The eastern margin of this transition is ill defined because of the lack of definitive anomalies and supporting seismic and drill hole data, but is interpreted to occur near the U.S. - Canada border. The rift segment in southeastern Michigan intersects the Grenville Front and likely continues eastwards in modified form to near the boundary with Canada. Cross-cutting gravity and magnetic signatures may reflect Grenvillian overthrusts near the terminus of the MRS in Michigan. The proposed southerly extensions of both branches of the rift system into Oklahoma and Ohio are based primarily on positive gravity anomalies, but neither postulated extension appears to be associated with rifted troughs. Rather the gravity anomalies of the western branch are related to intrusive mafic rocks and those of the eastern branch are most likely related to deep crustal metamorphic rocks thrust into juxtaposition with less dense crust by Grenville orogenesis. Recent paleomagnetic investigations, in conjunction with high-resolution radiometric dating, imply that the MRS developed during the rapid southward movement of Laurentia during a quiescent period along its eastern continental margin. Massive magmatic activity accompanying the rifting was likely due to rising mantle material that was displaced by subducted lithosphere along the southern margin. The heated crust was made more ductile, fostering rifting due to extensional stresses. The Nipigon Embayment remains as a possible candidate for an early “third branch” of the MRS, but current evidence is insufficient to include the Fort Wayne “rift” as part of the MRS. Future studies of the MRS would be well-served by new age-dating and high-resolution seismic studies of the lithosphere.