Grants and Contracts Details
Description
This proposal requests funding to define the timing of late Quaternary deformation along a newly
identified fault in the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, the Uniontown Fault, which lies near the
confluence of the Ohio and Wabash Rivers in western Kentucky. Abundant geomorphic
evidence, shallow seismic reflection lines, and the morphology of a prominent scarp at the
surface all support the interpretation that this is a young fault scarp. A trench excavated across
the fault in October 2008 exposed folded Holocene alluvium, and radiocarbon ages indicate
deformation is younger than 3,745 ±25 yr BP. We propose to investigate deeper into the
subsurface using continuous sediment coring combined with various geophysical methods
(seismic reflection, gamma logging, and electrical resistivity) to determine the Quaternary
stratigraphic framework of the underlying deposits. Deformed sediments, paleosols, and/or
surfaces within this framework will be dated using radiocarbon and optically stimulated
luminescence dating methods to bracket the timing of older deformation and determine the
history of displacement on this fault. This project will build upon our previous trenching project
and is a collaboration between the University of Cincinnati (PI—Lewis Owen) and the Kentucky
Geological Survey (PI—Ronald Counts). This work will be part of the dissertation of Ronald
Counts, a full-time employee of the Kentucky Geological Survey and Ph.D. candidate at the
University of Cincinnati, who is learning optically stimulated luminescence in the geochronology
laboratories at the University of Cincinnati under the guidance of Lewis A. Owen. Furthermore,
several undergraduate students will act as field and laboratory assistants and will be trained in
paleoseismic methods, including field mapping, sedimentology, and optically stimulated
luminescence dating, to aid in the efficient completion of the project and for the broader exchange
of knowledge.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 12/1/10 → 4/30/12 |
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