The Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) was formed in 1983 by the emergency management agencies of the states bordering the New Madrid Seismic Zone. These agencies recognized the earthquakes originating in the central United States are one of the greatest natural hazard threats in this multistate region.

This group soon realized that their respective states lacked detailed maps of the near-surface geology, which are necessary to adequately assess the potential for ground shaking, liquefaction, and earthquake-induced slope failure. In 1992, the State Geologists from CUSEC Member States organized the Association of CUSEC State Geologists (CUSEC-SG) through a memorandum of understanding to address these and similar issues. Since the earthquake hazard affects the entire region, CUSEC-SG adopted the mission of promoting communication and coordination of earthquake hazard mapping and preparing information to assist State and Federal Emergency Management Agencies.

In cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), CUSEC-SG began coordinating efforts to map the region and to prepare databases and educational information to assist State and Federal Emergency Management Agency programs with earthquake exercises, mitigation, planning and design of emergency preparedness programs.

The goal of the organization is to work cooperatively to mitigate the impact of earthquakes and related natural hazards on the infrastructure and citizens living and working in the central United States. The intent of CUSEC-SG is to ensure that earthquake investigations are based on sound geological and geophysical science, while using standardized methodology and terminology.

The objectives of the organization are to compile maps showing how various soils will amplify earthquake ground motions, and to develop effective ways to deliver earthquake information to those responsible for mitigation and loss reduction, in order to help them assess seismic hazard. These activities aid in making decisions about land use planning, help to improve engineering design and construction practices, and provide information critical to post earthquake response. The resulting information also contributes to the education of federal, state, and local government officials, media, and the public about the nature, extent of damage and likelihood of earthquakes. Communicating scientific results to the nontechnical community is an important part of this mission.

History Goals

The CUSEC-SG and their respective state geological survey have developed comprehensive earthquake response plans. Post earthquake investigations document the interactions between the geological effects of an earthquake and the built environment and improve understanding of the destructive effects of earthquakes to help reduce future earthquake hazards. Additionally, CUSEC-SG, in cooperation with USGS, developed a plan for a Post Earthquake Technical Information Clearinghouse. This resource, which will operate in conjunction with state emergency managers, will be located close to the affected area in each state and will facilitate a coordinated effort among scientists to collect earthquake data and assess earthquake damage. The Clearinghouse will be valuable for estimating future earthquake damage and understanding the mechanics of earthquakes below the ground surface.

Earthquake Response

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SURFICIAL MATERIAL GEOLOGIC MAP OF THECOLUMBIA BOTTOM 7.5' QUADRANGLE

ST. CHARLES AND ST. LOUIS COUNTIES AND ST. LOUIS CITY, MISSOURI

TOP OF BEDROCK ELEVATIONSURFICIAL MATERIAL TH ICKNESS

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MEGA Well Logs MEGA Wells Certified

Geotechnical Borings

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!(Scale 1:60,000Contour Interval = 20 feet Illinois Geologic Survey Logs!(

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Scale 1:60,000Contour Interval = 20 feet

Access permission needs to be granted to visit privately owned land.

Geology and Digital Compilation byScott Kaden and Edith Starbuck

2008

OFM-08-531

MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCESDIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND LAND SURVEY

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROGRAMP.O. BOX 250, ROLLA MO 65402-0250

573-368-2100

THIS MAP WAS PRODUCED UNDER A COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTWITH THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND WITH

SUPPORT FROM STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANIES

SUBSURFACE DATA POINTS

Scale 1:60,000Data Source

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PHYSIOGRAPHYThe Columbia Bottom quadrangle includes part of the large floodplain near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The floodplain is greater than four miles wide in this area. The gently rolling upland surfaces were blanketed by windblown silt (loess) during the later part of the Pleistocene Epoch. This loess covers pre-glacial topography developed on sedimentary Pennsylvanian- and Mississippian-age rocks. Karst topography has developed on the upland area west of the quarry and near the center of the quadrangle where the overlying loess is relatively thin. The quadrangle lies within the Dissected Till Plains Section of the Central Lowland Province of the Interior Plains Physiographic Division. The lowest recorded elevation of just slightly less than 400 feet mean sea level (msl) occurs along the edge of the Mississippi Riverat St. Louis. The highest elevation of approximately 620 feet msl is along the western edge of the quadranglein Section 29 (projected), T. 47 N., R. 7 E. Total relief on the Columbia Bottom quadrangle is approximately 220 feet.

ARTIFICIAL FILLThis unit comprises artificially emplaced fill material and is composed of a mixture of heterogeneous clay, silt, sand, gravel and quarry waste in various quantities. This unit may reach 40 feet in total thickness and comprises the material for levees, highway and railroad beds, quarry waste deposits and waste water treatment facility fill. This artificial fill has typically been placed on undisturbed materials.

QUATERNARY CLAY-CAPPED ALLUVIUMThis unit has been deposited by the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The approximate upper 15 feet of these deposits are composed predominantly of clay with variable amounts of silt and organic material. The material residing below the clay is predominantly sand to the top of bedrock. In the northern portion of the map in St. Charles County, the thickness of this unit reaches 120 feet between the large rivers. The water table is approximately 15 feet below ground surface, resulting in an interval of saturated sand greater than100 feet thick. This unit is included in the cross sections as Quaternary alluvium.

QUATERNARY SILT-CAPPED ALLUVIUMThis unit has been deposited by the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The approximate upper 15 feet of these deposits are composed predominantly of silt with variable amounts of clay and organic material. The material residing below the clay is predominantly sand to the top of bedrock. In the northern portion of the map in St. Charles County, the thickness of this unit reaches 120 feet between the large rivers. The water table is approximately 15 feet below ground surface, resulting in an interval of saturated sand greater than100 feet thick. This unit is included in the cross sections as Quaternary alluvium.

QUATERNARY ALLUVIAL SANDThis unit has been deposited by the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The composition of this unit is predominantly sand with variable amounts of clay, silt and organic material in the upper 15 feet. In the northern portion of the map in St. Charles County, the thickness of this unit reaches 120 feet between the large rivers. The water table is approximately 15 feet below ground surface, resulting in an interval of saturated sand greater than 100 feet thick. This unit is included in the cross sections as Quaternary alluvium.

QUATERNARY TRIBUTARY ALLUVIUMThis unit has been deposited by smaller tributaries in the uplands. This alluvium consists of clay, silt, sand, gravel and organic material and may reach 20 feet in thickness at the mouth of the tributaries.

QUATERNARY ALLUVIAL TERRACEThis unit has been deposited by the Missouri and Mississippi rivers along the edge of the floodplain at the base of the uplands and is known as the Deer Plain Terrace, which postdates the loess in the area (Goodfield,1965). The composition of this unit is predominantly coarse sand and gravel with variable amounts of clay, silt and organic material.

QUATERNARY LOESSThis unit is a wind-blown deposit of silt and clayey silt with occasional pockets of clay, sand and gravel. The unit is composed of two separate loess layers, the Roxana below and the Peoria above (Goodfield, 1965). The total thickness of the two units may reach 70 feet. The Roxana is higher in clay content and may have a paleosol developed in the upper few feet. The contact between the two units forms a potential slide plane in areas of higher slope. The loess overlies bedrock of both Mississippian- and Pennsylvanian-age. The Mississippian units are limestone and, where the loess is thin, may be karstic. The Pennsylvanian units are predominantly shale with additional thin units of limestone and sandstone. Where the loess rests upon shale, the slide potential is increased. The approximate contact between the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian units is defined by a dashed line.

MISSISSIPPIAN ST. LOUIS LIMESTONE /SALEM FORMATIONThe St. Louis Limestone overlies the Salem Formation, both of which are members of the Mississippian-age Meramecian Series (Thompson, 1995). Both formations are predominantly composed of limestone and are quarried in the northwest quarter of the quadrangle. Waste from the quarrying process is emplaced south of the quarry and is delineated as artificial fill. The St. Louis Limestone reaches 145 feet in thickness and the Salem Formation averages 160 feet. Where the overlying loess is relatively thin, the limestone is typically highly weathered and karstic. This occurs in the central portion of the quadrangle in the uplands overlooking the Missouri River to the north.

The pattern of diagonal lines denotes areas where surficial materials have been removed, altered or filled to an unknown depth, primarily in residential and commercial developments. These areas are predominantly within the upland loess areas.

The dashed line indicates the approximate contact between Mississippian- (to the northeast) and Pennsylvanian-age (to the southwest) bedrock underlying the Peoria and Roxana loess (Ql). Tick marks are on the Pennsylvanian side of the line.

Line locates the placement of the cross section with end line symbols.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAllen, W.H. and R.A. Ward, 1977, Soil, The resources of St. Charles County, Missouri, land, water, and minerals, Satterfield, Ira and Barbara Harris, eds.; Missouri Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 237 pages, 51 figures, 19 tables, 1 appendix.

Benham, K.E., 1979, Soil survey of St. Louis County and St. Louis City, Missouri; Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 137 pages, 17 plates.

Goodfield, A.G., 1965, Pleistocene and surficial geology of the City of St. Louis and the adjacent St. Louis County, Missouri; unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 206 pages, 28 figures, 13 tables, 6 plates, 5 appendices.

Grimley, D.A. and S.W. Lepley, 2005, Surficial Geology of Wood River Quadrangle, Madison County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Preliminary Geologic Map, IPGM Wood River-SG, 1:24,000.

Illinois State Geological Survey, Water and related wells in Illinois, ISGS map service: ILWATER 5/23/2007 <http://ablation.isgs.uiuc.edu/website/ilwater/viewer.htm>

Lutzen, E.E, and J.D. Rockaway, 1971, Engineering geology of St. Louis County, Missouri; Missouri Geological Survey and Water Resources, 23 pages, 1 plate, 12 figures, 3 tables.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources, 2007, well logs, wells certified, bedrock, roads, IMOP, in, Missouri Environmental Geology Atlas (MEGA); Division of Geology and Land Survey, Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Pearce, J.T., and J.N. Baldwin, 2005, Liquefaction susceptibility mapping, St. Louis, Missouri and Illinois; William Lettis and Associates, Inc., 42 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, 8 plates.

Schrader, W.D., and H.H. Krusekoph, 1956, Soil survey of St. Charles County, Missouri; Soil Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture, 49 pages, 1 plate.

Thompson, Thomas L., 1995, The stratigraphic succession in Missouri, Volume 40-revised; Division of Geology and Land Survey, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, 190 pages, 42 figures, 1 table.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Black & Veatch Corporation, and the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) and Metrolink provided boring data for St. Louis, St. Charles and northern Jefferson counties. This data was used in conjunction with division data to determine surficial material type and to contour surficial material thickness and top of bedrock elevation for a 22 quadrangle area. The contour maps for the Columbia Bottom 7.5' Quadrangle were clipped from these maps. The MSD also provided 2005 LIDAR coverage for St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis. These contributions are greatly appreciated. The assistance of Missouri Office of Administration, Information Technology Services Division staff Michael Hill, Elizabeth Retherford and intern Vicki Dove, as well as, Travis Carr, Division of Geology and Land Survey, to produce contour maps from the data was invaluable. Michael Hill also analyzed imagery to delineate disturbed areas. Thanks are also due to Michael Starbuck of the USGS for providing a custom image for the base map.

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CROSS SECTION A - A'

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Quaternaryloess

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MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCESDivision of Geology and Land Survey

Post-EarthquakeGeologic InvestigationProcedures

Missouri Department of Natural ResourcesDivision of Geology and Land Survey111 Fairgrounds Road • Rolla, MO 65401573-368-2100 • dnr.mo.gov/geology

Central United States Earthquake ConsortiumAssociation of State Geologists

www.cusec.orgJanuary 2011

One key element for assessing the impact of earthquakes throughout the CUSEC region is operation of modern seismic recording networks. Recording earthquake waves allows seismologists, geologists, geophysicists and engineers to make determinations that contribute to earthquake risk assessment and earthquake resistant design.

Other seismic networks in the central United States are concentrated in the southern sector of the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the greater St. Louis area. Seismic networks that monitor the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone are also present in southwestern Indiana and southeastern Illinois.

•Efforts in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri to collect and maintain subsurface geologic and geophysical data

•St. Louis Metro Area Earthquake Hazard Mapping Project

•Evansville Earthquake Hazard Mapping Project

•Establishment of the Arkansas Seismic Network

•Mid-America Earthquake Center – New Madrid Seismic Zone Catastrophic Planning Initiative

•FEMA National Level Exercise 2011

•The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut – April 28, 2011

•EarthScope USArray

•Soil Amplification/Liquefaction Map of CUSEC region (1:2,000,000-scale)

•Soil Amplification Maps of selected communities in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas (1:24,000-scale)

•Liquefaction Susceptibility Map of eight-state CUSEC region

•Soil Site Class Map of eight-state CUSEC region

•The Central U.S. is Earthquake Country – The Science Behind Earthquakes training module

Products

Supported Projects

Alabama – Nick TewArkansas – Bekki WhiteIllinois – Don McKayIndiana – John SteinmetzKentucky – James CobbMississippi – Michael BogradMissouri – Joe GillmanTennessee – Ronald Zurawski

Member States and State Geologists

For further information, contact your state geological survey.

Georgia – James Kennedy

Iowa – Bob Libra

Kansas – TBD

Louisiana – Chacko John

Nebraska – Mark Kuzila

North Carolina – James Simons

Ohio – Larry Wickstrom

Oklahoma – Randy Keller

South Carolina – CW Clendenin

Virginia – David Spears

Associate States and State Geologists

Research

Sand boils occur when a liquefied sand layer completely penetrates the non-liquefied layer above it and reaches the ground surface. The water pressure in the liquefied layer causes an eruption of liquefied soil at the ground surface, often resembling a volcano. This can carry large amounts of sand to the surface, covering areas tens of feet or more in diameter.

www.cusec.orgJanuary 2011

Central United States Earthquake ConsortiumAssociation of State Geologists

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