Coring and Geophysical Logging of a Deep Well in the Mississippi Embayment

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The dominant geologic feature of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is the Mississippi Embayment that extends from southern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. It is composed of deep, unconsolidated sediments with a maximum thickness of approximately 915 m near Memphis, TN. Relatively little data is available on the dynamic properties of soils in the Embayment. As a result, current efforts to understand the effects of the deep sediment column on earthquake site response are subject to large uncertainties.This objective of this exploratory research project is to perform geophysical logging and obtain samples from a deep well to be drilled in northeast Arkansas. The expected results are the seismic wave velocities, quality factors, and nonlinear behavior of the Embayment soils. When combined with a complementary effort to install a vertical array in the well, this project will enable the development and validation of numerical models used to predict earthquake site response in the Mississippi Embayment.