Fault hunting: Potentially increased seismic risk in southwestern Oklahoma
Smith, Bryston P.
Citations
Abstract
The Wichita Mountains are composed of several intrusive rock units that are Cambrian in age (~532-530 Ma) and are proposed to have formed in a failed continental rift zone (Ham et al., 1964). The majority of the rock units in the Wichitas are granitic plutons which have been dated to the early- to mid-Cambrian period (Wall et al., 2020). Overlying these basement units is the Permian Post Oak formation which preserves evidence of Pennsylvanian mountain building. Mapped faults in the region include the Meers Fault, a known seismogenic feature which has considerable seismicity as recently as 1,200 years bp (Chase et al., 2022. Recent investigation of high-resolution digital elevation models (DEM) has led to the tentative identification of additional structural features in the area. This study aims to utilize field structural mapping and outcrop characterization to confirm the existence of these features and determine their potential contribution to seismicity in southwestern Oklahoma.