STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF LATE PALEOZOIC NORMAL FAULTS, NORTHERN CARTER COUNTY, KENTUCKY

Faults which are part of the Irvine-Paint Creek and Kentucky River zones of the Cambrian Rome Trough have been reactivated through the Late Paleozoic. However, smaller faults with a low displacement are present completely within Late Paleozoic rock formation in the Rome Trough region in northeastern Kentucky. We analyze an exposure of several small normal faults in northern Carter County, Kentucky that displace Mississippian Borden Group rocks, to better understand their genetic relationship to Late Paleozoic deformation. Characteristics and geometries of the small normal faults were determined to understand how these faults relate to the Irvine-Paint Creek and Kentucky River Fault Zones farther south. Gigapan panoramic photos and structural orientation data were collected to produce a detailed geologic map and calculate displacement amounts. Where larger fault systems in the Rome Trough may have been reactivated, these normal faults may have been newly formed as part of Alleghanian foreland flexure.