Origin, Architecture, and Thermal State of the Lackawanna Synclinorium, Pennsylvania: Implications for Tectonic Evolution of the Central Appalachians

Harrison, Michael Joseph

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Description

Title

Origin, Architecture, and Thermal State of the Lackawanna Synclinorium, Pennsylvania: Implications for Tectonic Evolution of the Central Appalachians

Author(s)

Harrison, Michael Joseph

Issue Date

2002

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Marshak, Stephen

Department of Study

Geology

Discipline

Geology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Geology

Language

eng

Abstract

Mapping of the Pittston quadrangle in the central domain and structural analysis elsewhere in the synclinorium reveal that mesoscopic faults, folds, and cleavage throughout the synclinorium trend ∼075°; thus, these structures parallel the southern domain, but trend at high angles to the northern domain. Many of these structures are better developed in the hanging wall of a regional detachment than in the footwall. Crosscutting structures (e.g., cleavage, faults) indicate that the shortening direction rotated ∼45° clockwise during the Alleghanian orogeny. Heat-flow calculations suggest that the migration of hot (∼270°C) brines could have induced anthracitization at shallow depths (≤5 km) in the synclinorium; thus, deep burial (6--9 km) by post-Pennsylvanian strata was not required for anthracitization. Field observations, fluid-inclusion studies, and illite-crystallinity analysis suggest that Alleghanian fluid flow was stratigraphically controlled.

Graduation Semester

2002

Type of Resource

text

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