[Antentcan Journal, oF Science, Vor. 263, June 1965, P. 465.493] American Journal of Science JUNE 1965 EXPLOSIVE IGNEOUS ACTIVITY ALONG AN ILLINOIS-MISSOURLKANSAS AXIS F. G. SNYDER* and PAUL E. GERDEMANN** ABSTRACT. Eight distinct geologic events, cheracterized by intrusive or hneous activiiy and/or intense localized. deformation, are trending structural zone across southern Illinois, Missouri, and eastern Kansas. The geol- gic features defining this zone ate, {rom east to west:' Hicks dome in Illinois; Avon diatremes, Furnace Creck voleanie crater, Crooked Creek disturbance, Hazel Green vol- gguies, Decatonilc ditebanes, and Weavblons faut ne in Misouri and the ose ‘The Furnace Creck structure in Washington County, Missouri represents a period of oxtrusive vuleanism in Upper Cambrian time. Extensive core drilling revealed a crater approximately 7000 fest jn diameter and at lesst G00 fect deep in Lamotte sandstone, The cater is flled with baste volcanic ejecta and fragments of basement rocks, Surrounding the erater isa thin layer of voleanie ash, The ash hed is in the lower part of the Bonne: terre formation, and ash and erater are overlain by a normal Bonneterre section. ‘The Hazel’ Green voleanics in Laclede County, Missouri, represent a similar period of voleanie activity in early Lamotte time Considered 9s isolated, unrelated phenomena, the individual features along this strue- tural exe ave oon inerpreted x erprovolanio explosions, meteorite pact scars, ig neous intrasives, and complex fault structures. Details of structure end lithotogy, sub- rfaco information from core drilling, the remarkable eljgnment of the features, and the frequent association with basic jgneaus rocks suggest that these structures. are closely related in mode of origin and that they represent intermittent deep-seated faulting and Jntrision through a Tong period of time. rusive ig- igned in a 400-mile eastovest INTRODUCTION During the last few years, interest in lunar research has stimulated study of the relatively small, intensely disturbed areas variously interpreted as crypto- volcanic structures. cryptoexplosion structures, or meteorite impact scars. Two well-known structures in south-central Missouri, the Crooked Creek and De- caturville disturbances, are of this type. Generally, the structures seen hy the writers or reported in the literature reveal no definitive criteria of mode of origin. The problem of origin is com- pounded by the tendency of many authors to regard each small, intensely dis- turbed area as an isolated complete entity, independent from and foreign to regional structural relationships. Regarded as a unit complete in itself, the individual structure may be plausibly explained by recourse to extra-terrestrial forces. The Crooked Creek and Decaturville structures appear as roughly ofr- cular disturbed areas, each with an intensely brecciated core, a well defined ring pattern, and a central zone containing abundant shatter cones. Studied as individual, isolated phenomena they offer no conclusive evidence of mode of origin. The choice of hypothesis is a matter of personal preference of the one examining the structure. However, when considered in relation to their regional structural environment, they appear to be expressions of deep-seated, often ex- ¥ G08 South Gables Boulevard, Wheaton, Illinois, ** St. Joseph Lead Company, Bonne Terre, Missouri. 465,466 F.G. Snyder and Paul E. Gerdemann plosive, volcanic activity along a 400-mile zone extending across southern Mllinois, Missouri, and eastern Kansas. The features delineating this structural axis include, from east to west: Hicks dome in Ilinois; the Avon diatremes, the Furnace Creek volcanic crater, Crooked Creck, the Hazel Green volcanics, Deeaturville, and the Weaubleau structure in Missouri; and the Rose dome area in Kansas (fig. 1). DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIVIDUAL STRUCTURES Several of the features along this axis have been described in recent litera- ture and are fairly wellknown; others are known only from subsurface infor- mation derived from St. Joseph Lead Company drilling. The drilling reveals extensive early Paleozoic volcanic activity and a probable deep-seated relation- ship between what appear to be isolated events. ‘The major characteristics of the eight structural features are summarized below. Hicks dome—Hicks dome in Hardin County, Illinois, is a circular uplift appreximately 10 miles in diameter (fig. 2). Devonian shales outeropping at the core are ringed by Mississippian and Pennsylvanian formations, exposing approximately 4000 feet of stratigraphic section. The ring structure is well de~ fined on the north and west sides of the dome and is further emphasized by ring faulting: on the southeast side the ring structure is obscured by later faulting, Hicks domes lies near the northerly end of a northwest-trending anti- cline and a short distance south of the east-west Rough Creek-Shawneetown fault zone. In 1952, the St. Joseph Lead Company drilled a hole, the Hamp well, at the center of the dome, The drill hole collared in the Clear Creek formation of Devonian age and revealed a normal stratigraphic section to 1600 feet depth. From this depth to 2944 feet, where the hole was bottomed, the rock inter- sected was a breccia composed of limestone. dolomite, and shale fragments and sand grains with fluorite, calcite, quartz, and sulfides as veins and replacements of the breccia (pl. 1-A). Details of the drill record were reported by Brown, Emery, and Meyer (1954) with their interpretation of the dome as an incipient or uncompleted cryptovoleanic structure. No primary igneous material was recognized in the breccia, Fragments of Maquoketa shale were found 1000 feet below normal position for the formation. Sand grains from the St. Peter were present from a position 400 fect above its normal occurrence to the bottom of the hole, a vertical interval of 1100 feet. and on the flanks of the dome, several pipelike or dike-like intrusive masses of similar brecoia have been mapped as explosion dikes (Weller, Grogan, and Tippie, 1952). These consist of angular to sub-angular rock fragments in a matrix of rock flour, The fragments include feldspar, quartz, and granite brought up from the basement. Weller, Grogan. and Tippie }) assigned a thickness of 12,000 feet to the Paleozoic section of southern Illinois; consequently, the fragments of Precambrian were carried upward some 8000 feet. The evidence indicates that in the pipe conduits breccia fragments moved both upward and downward stratigraphically. Within the limits of the dome and for 20 miles to the north-northwest andExplosive Igneous Activity Along an Mlinois-Missouri-Kansas Axis 467 ‘sTRUCTURES LEGEND rauur Tpowanas ory i me i -f Zz Ly q x Fig. 1. Cryptoexplesion