Three-Dimensional Structural Interrelationships Within Cambrian-Ordovician Lithotectonic Unit of Central Appalachians

Abstract

A block diagram of the Cambrian-Ordovician lithotectonic unit illustrates three-dimensional structural relationships within that sequence along the length of the central Appalachian Valley and Ridge and High Plateau provinces. The diagram shows that the Valley and Ridge province is divisible into areas within which shortening is relatively constant in the Cambrian-Ordovician lithotectonic unit. These areas are bounded by zones across which significant differences in shortening occur. These transition zones contain major cross-strike structural discontinuities in surface structure; in some instances, these discontinuities extend across the Valley and Ridge province and into the High Plateau province. Increases in fold amplitude and number occur in the cover of the Plateau, across strike from the more intensely deformed areas of the Valley and Ridge, where shortening within the Cambrian-Ordovician unit is significantly greater than elsewhere within that province. Structurally controlled gas accumulations are more prevalent in these areas of the Plateau.