GEOLOGIC APPLICATIONS OF SIDE-LOOKING AIRBORNE RADAR DATA IN THE CENTRAL APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS.

Side-looking airborne radar has provided a sufficiently detailed synoptic view of the central Appalachian Mountains that the images give an unparalleled representation of the size and nature of the folds within the Valley and Ridge province. The radar data show that fold wavelengths decrease abruptly south of the region of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia State lines. Concomittantly, this decrease in fold wavelength is accompanied by an increase in both frequency and length of disturbed zones. The model predicted by the combination of the radar images and field observations suggests a broad lateral ramp, perpendicular to the strike of the fold-belt, connecting a deeper decollement level north of the Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia State lines with a shallower decollement to the south. Recently, the first author has located a field example of a lateral ramp approximately one kilometer north of Mathias, West Virginia. This lateral ramp shows an up-to-the-north configuration and the extensions both northwestward and southeastward can be seen on the radar images as a series of cross-strike lineaments.