Geophysical setting of the Reelfoot Rift and relations between rift structures and the New Madrid seismic zone

Abstract

Magnetic and gravity data in the northern Mississippi Embayment and surrounding region provide a geologic picture of the subsurface that indicates a long and complex tectonic and magmatic history. The Reelfoot rift possibly developed along a preexisting shear zone in early Paleozoic time and extends from east-central Arkansas to western Kentucky, where it seems to merge with the Rough Creek gra-