Northeast Missouri Arch

Location

Northeastern Missouri, southeastern Iowa, and west-central Illinois

References

Bunker 1981, Bunker et al. 1985, Lee 1943, Howell 1935

Description

Bunker (1981) introduced the name Northeast Missouri Arch for a pre-Middle Devonian paleotopographic high that apparently was a northward extension of the Ozark Dome. Strata ranging from the Middle Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone through Niagaran (Upper Silurian) are upturned, truncated, and overstepped by Middle Devonian rocks on this arch. Several geologists prior to Bunker, notably Collinson (1967), recognized the existence of this feature, but either did not name it or called it the Mississippi River Arch. The latter name was restricted by Bunker et al. (1985) to a feature that developed in post-Morrowan (early Pennsylvanian) time.