Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6510

Samia Noor

Date

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Earth Sciences

Concentration

Geology

Committee Chair

Randel T. Cox

Committee Member

Robert Smalley Jr.

Committee Member

Roy B. Van Arsdale

Abstract

To identify neotectonism in and adjacent to the New Madrid seismic zones, I used Mississippi River Valley Pleistocene terraces of the Eastern Lowlands as a geomorphic marker for the evaluation of Pleistocene and Holocene deformation. The Quaternary glacial and interglacial cycles controlled drainage system in the northern Mississippi Embayment by cyclically draining meltwater from the retreating Laurentide ice sheet. The advance and retreat of the ice sheet caused avulsion of the Mississippi River several times and created the Pleistocene river terraces in both the Western and Eastern Lowlands. High-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) images of the terraces were used to construct polynomial surfaces to look for deformation of the terraces. From the LiDAR Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and higher-order polynomial surfaces, a tectonic bulge of Lake County uplift, north-to-south tilt of the Tiptonville dome, and north-south trough on the Kennett-Morehouse terraces parallel to the Bootheel fault were observed.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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