Late Cenozoic Reverse Faulting in the Fall Zone, Southeastern Virginia

A set of en-echelon reverse faults cut Paleozoic metamorphosed igneous rocks of the Piedmont and overlying late Cenozoic sediments at the Old Hickory Heavy Mineral Deposit in the Fall Zone of southeastern Virginia. Diorite of the eastern Slate Belt was faulted over nearshore to shore-face deposits of the Pliocene Yorktown Formation. These NW-SE-striking faults experienced oblique dip-slip movement with a maximum displacement of up to 6 m on individual faults. Faults tip out along strike and are overlain by distinct cobble beds, suggesting that sediment deposition and faulting were contemporaneous. Deformation at Old Hickory may have been formed by reactivation of existing Paleozoic structures under a regionally extensive compressional stress field parallel to the modern one.