[Rockhounds] New Madrid fault / Rivers

[Mr EMan]

--- On Wed, 3/25/09, Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at insightbb.com> wrote:

> The failed rift dates to the Precambrian - about 700 million
> years ago.

Sorry, Alan you are correct-- my brain only holds so much trivia without frequent "reactivation".  200-180 mya was the reactivation age not the original formation age--mia culpa.

Agreed,Rift zones were great influences of drainage basins and paleo-rivers. Now we can add the St Lawrence River to the list.  The recent History Channel episode:  How the Earth Was Made: The Great Lakes brought up the discovery that Lake Superior and Lake Ontario have failed rifts at there long axis which laid the foundation for a paleo river drainage basin that probably drained a region (possibly including the paleo-Mississippi) to the north then east. 

Elton