FOLDING AS A POSSIBLE INDICATOR OF SUBSURFACE PALEOZOIC FAULTING, CENTRAL TENNESSEE

The investigators searched for a subsurface fault in central Tennessee by searching for macroscale fault propagation folds and fault-related fractures. They georeferenced existing 7.5’ geologic quadrangle maps, digitized the contact between the Ordovician Ridley limestone and the overlying Ordovician Lebanon limestone, and extracted the elevation of the contact at approx. 12,600 points from the National Elevation Dataset (NED). The investigators found a syncline involving 35 m of structural relief and having a length of approx. 16.3 km. They interpreted this syncline as a fold formed during the upward propagation of a north-side-down fault striking 283 ̊. Sub-vertical and moderately-dipping joints parallel the fault south of Murfreesboro, TN along Highway 231.