Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249 – 266

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Structural inversion and origin of a Late Ordovician (Trenton)

carbonate buildup: evidence from the Tanglewood and Devils
Hollow members, Lexington Limestone, central Kentucky (USA)
Frank R. Ettensohn *, Julie M. Kasl, Alexander K. Stewart
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Kentucky, 103 Slone Research Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0053, USA

Received 22 November 2002; accepted 23 February 2004

Abstract

Throughout east – central United States, Lexington/Trenton limestones are largely Late Ordovician (Chatfieldian; mid-
Caradoc), argillaceous, skeletal calcarenites, which are transgressive upward into Late Ordovician (late Chatfieldian – Edenian;
mid-late Caradoc) shales and interbedded micrograined limestones. In central Kentucky, however, the same sequence is
partially truncated by an unconformity and passes upward into a thicker, younger (Edenian; late Caradoc), regressive shoal
complex of coarse calcarenites and calcirudites that is not generally typical of the Lexington/Trenton sequence elsewhere. The
shoal complex is interpreted to have been a carbonate buildup and is partially bound by extant faults with basement precursors.
Comparison of isopachous maps for pre- and postunconformity buildup units with basement structural lineaments suggests that
the buildup is related to reactivation—and in one prominent case, inversion—of the basement structures. The coincidence of
structural reactivation, inversion, and buildup development with other major regional, cratonic changes may reflect a
reorganization of cratonic, far-field forces accompanying a nearly coeval reversal in the polarity of Taconic subduction.
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Lexington/Trenton sequence; Central Kentucky; Carbonate buildup; Basement reactivation; Structural inversion; Far-field forces

1. Introduction Lexington Platform (Fig. 1). These carbonates are

Throughout east – central United States, the Lex-
ington Limestone and subsurface equivalents, com-
monly called the Trenton Limestone, are Upper
Ordovician (Chatfieldian; mid-Caradoc), bioclastic,
temperate – water carbonates (Pope and Read,
1997a,b; Ettensohn et al., 2002a) deposited atop the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-859-257-6232; fax: +1-859-
323-1938.
E-mail address: fettens@uky.edu (F.R. Ettensohn).
generally transgressive into later Ordovician (late
Chatfieldian– Edenian; mid-late Caradoc) deeper wa-
ter shales and interbedded, micrograined limestones of
the Clays Ferry, Kope, Point Pleasant, Utica, Maquo-
keta, Martinsburg, and Reedsville formations (e.g.,
Patchen et al., 1985a,b; Shaver, 1985). On most of the
Lexington Platform, Lexington – Trenton carbonates
attain thicknesses of 15– 60 m (Shaver, 1985), but
in central Kentucky, this interval is greater than 100 m
thick (Cressman, 1973; Shaver, 1985), is younger
(latest Chatfieldian – Edenian; late Caradoc) in age
(Sweet, 1979), and exhibits facies boundaries that

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doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.02.040
250 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266

Fig. 1. Regional paleogeographic setting during middle Late Ordovician (late Chatfieldian – early Edenian; late Caradoc) time in present-day,
north – central United States, showing the location of the Tanglewood buildup and the rectangular shape of the Lexington Platform. The
Louisville High (L) is only known from the subsurface and may have been another area of local uplift and buildup development.
T = Tanglewood buildup; PP = Point Pleasant basin; PE = Pennsylvania embayment; V = Virginia promontory; N = New York promontory;
L = Louisville high (adapted from Keith, 1989).

largely coincide with local basement structures (Fig.
2). Combining measured sections and biostratigraphy,
Cressman (1973) and Ettensohn (1992) demonstrated
that thickened parts of the Lexington Limestone in
central Kentucky grade laterally in all directions into
deeper water limestones and shales of the Clays Ferry
and Kope formations (Fig. 3). Large parts of the
thickened Lexington Limestone in central Kentucky
are composed of cross-bedded, coarse-grained calcar-
enites and calcirudites included in the Tanglewood
Member (Fig. 3). The great thickening of limestone in
central Kentucky and the contrast in facies between
the thickening and surrounding Clays Ferry and Kope
fine-grained limestones and shales (Fig. 3) suggest
that this thickening was, at most times, topographi-
cally higher than environments represented by equiv-
alent, surrounding facies, and hence was a carbonate
buildup (see Heckel, 1974). Paleoenvironmental anal-
yses of the Tanglewood thickening, using lithology,
sedimentary structures, and fossils, also support the
idea of a bathymetric high (Hrabar et al., 1971;
Cressman, 1973; Borella and Osborne, 1978; Etten-
sohn, 1992; Stewart, 2002). It is important to note,
however, that although a bathymetric high is neces-
sary for shallow-water facies to form the buildup, a
relative rise in sea level was also required to create the
necessary accommodation space for the resulting
thick limestone accumulation.
Today, the area of this thickening largely coincides
with the Jessamine Dome, a structural culmination on
the Cincinnati Arch (Fig. 2). Realizing this, McFarlan
(1938) first suggested the presence of elevated area in
central Kentucky during Middle Ordovician time. He
called the area the Cynthiana ‘‘Island’’ and thought
that it was probably related to a structural upwarp on
the Cincinnati Arch, although he later retracted the
interpretation (McFarlan and White, 1948). Subse-
quently, Hrabar et al. (1971) and Cressman (1973)
noted a thickening of the Tanglewood Member on the
edge of the shelf area and called it the Tanglewood
shoal. In a study of Middle and Upper Ordovician
facies in the Cincinnati Arch area, Borella and
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266
Fig. 2. Location map of central Kentucky showing the apex of the
Jessamine Dome (black triangle), outline of the Tanglewood
buildup (linear dark stipple), section line G – H (Fig. 3), distribution
of extant faults, and six related basement structural lineaments
(circled letters with bars extending in line with lineament) (see Fig.
1 for location of Tanglewood buildup in central Kentucky).
A = Georgetown – Gratz Fault System; B = unnamed; C = Centerville
Fault; D = Lexington Fault System; E = unnamed; F = Kentucky
River Fault System (adapted from Ettensohn, 1992).
Osborne (1978) also interpreted the presence of struc-
turally related shoal complexes in the areas of the
Jessamine and Nashville domes, but indicated that the
larger Cincinnati Arch was not yet active, based on
the distribution of depositional environments and
associated paleobathymetry along the axis of the arch.
In 1992, Ettensohn mapped the distribution of the
Tanglewood Member and showed that it had a rough-
251
ly triangular outline, which coincided with extant fault
zones that have basement precursors (Fig. 2). This and
other lines of evidence (Ettensohn, 1992; Ettensohn
and Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn et al., 2002a) were used to
support the idea of a regressive, structurally controlled
carbonate buildup in the midst of an overall trans-
gressive sequence, and Ettensohn (1992) called this
regressive shoal complex, which is surrounded by
deeper water facies, the Tanglewood buildup. Pope
and Read (1997a) supported the presence of this
thickening but called it the Tanglewood bank. Be-
cause large carbonate buildups like this may have
economic implications and may influence the sur-
rounding regional geology, in the following parts of
the paper, we demonstrate how and when the buildup
was constructed, how local structural framework was
involved, and how probable changes in the regional
tectonic framework triggered the necessary structural
changes.
2. Structural framework
The Lexington Platform, on which the buildup
developed, was a large rectangular, foreland block
(Keith, 1989) (Fig. 1) that resulted from breakup of
the larger Blackriverian carbonate platform in early
Chatfieldian (Rocklandian; early Caradoc) time during
inception of the Taconic tectophase of the Taconian
orogeny to the east (Ettensohn et al., 2002a). The
rectangular shape of the block apparently reflects
reactivation of similarly oriented Keweenawan, Gren-
villian, and Iapetan basement faults (Fig. 4). Subsi-
dence along these structures due to Taconic,
extensional, far-field, and flexural forces generated
the Sebree Trough and Pennsylvania embayment of
the foreland basin that defines the northwestern and
northern margins of the platform; the foreland basin
defined the southeastern margin of the platform and a
likely continental margin open to the Ouachita Sea was
present to the south (Figs. 1 and 4).
The Tanglewood buildup and Louisville high,
however, were associated with smaller scale structures
on north – central parts of the platform (Figs. 1, 2, and
4). These structures occur in linear trends with extant
surface expression (Fig. 2) and reflect intermittently
reactivated basement precursor faults (Drahovzal et
al., 1992; Drahovzal and Noger, 1995). Six trends of
252 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266

Fig. 3. Schematic NNW – SSE cross-section along line G – H in Fig. 2, showing the general relationships in the Tanglewood buildup between
Tanglewood shoal calcarenites/calcirudites and surrounding deeper water units (Millersburg Mbr. and the Clays Ferry and Kope formations)
based on 11 measured sections from Cressman (1973) (adapted from Ettensohn, 1992).

importance to the Tanglewood buildup are identified
(Fig. 2). The northeast – southwest-trending Center-
ville Fault and Lexington Fault System are associated
with the Grenville Front in the subsurface (Drahovzal
et al., 1992) and define trends C and D, respectively
(Fig. 2); the nearly east – west-trending Kentucky
River Fault System reflects the northern margin of
the Rome Trough, an Iapetan rift (Shumaker, 1986),
and defines trends E and F (Fig. 2); and two south-
east – northwest-trending fault zones in western parts
of the area, one of which is called the Georgetown –
Gratz Fault System (A), represent Keweenawan base-
ment fault zones and define trends A and B (Fig. 2)
(Drahovzal et al., 1992; Drahovzal and Noger, 1995).
Although the north margin of the buildup is not
wholly defined by extant fault zones as are the other
margins, northwest-oriented basement faults that may
have controlled the margin are present in the subsur-
face (Black, 1986; Drahovzal et al., 1992). The facts
that many lithologic/facies boundaries in and around
the buildup coincide with basement structures and
their extant surface manifestations, and that these
facies changes first developed near inception of the
Taconic tectophase, suggest that periodic reactivation
of these structures most likely represented responses
to the distal transmission of vertical, Taconian, supra-
crustal or subcrustal forces, but the transmission of
horizontal forces may have also reactivated, or even
inverted, the same structures (e.g., Sibson, 1995;
Lowell, 1995).
3. Stratigraphic –tectonic framework
The Lexington Limestone and its Trenton equiv-
alents are middle Upper Ordovician (Chatfieldian –
lower Edenian; mid-Caradoc), shallow, open-marine
carbonates that occur everywhere across east – cen-
tral United States. They are commonly separated
from underlying Blackriverian (lower Caradoc), very
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266 253

Fig. 4. Map showing major Lexington/Trenton paleogeographic features, major basement structures, and the location of the Tanglewood
buildup. N = New York Promontory, V = Virginia Promontory (from Ettensohn et al., 2002a).

shallow, and open marine to peritidal carbonates by
a subtle unconformity that may represent shallowing
and Taconic bulge moveout (Ettensohn, 1991;
Ettensohn et al., 2002a). Throughout most of their
distribution, Lexington/Trenton carbonates reflect a
subsequent regional transgression that accompanied
initiation of the Taconic tectophase of the Taconian
orogeny (Ettensohn, 1991, 1994; Pope and Read,
1997a). Widespread bentonites indicating inception
of subduction-related volcanism are present near the
base of these carbonates (e.g., Cressman, 1973;
Huff and Kolata, 1990; Huff et al., 1992; Kolata
et al., 1996; Pope and Read, 1997a; Ettensohn et
al., 2002c), providing important temporal and cor-
relative constraints, and a few others occur in upper
parts of the unit.
The Lexington Limestone can be divided into two
parts in central Kentucky. The lower part, including
the Curdsville through the Brannon members (Fig. 5),
is overall transgressive and locally marked at its top
by another subtle unconformity called the Trenton–
Maquoketa or sub-Sulphur Well unconformity (Etten-
sohn et al., 1986, 2002a; Hohman, 1998). Although
this unconformity can be traced to continuity within
the Tanglewood shoal complex higher on the buildup
(Fig. 5), it truncates the entire Brannon Member, more
than 2 m thick, on the southwest margin of the
buildup (Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn et al., 2002a,b) and
can be traced westward and southwestward in cores
into the Sebree Trough, where it truncates nearly the
entire Trenton/Lexington section (Hohman, 1998;
Ettensohn et al., 2002a). The presence of mineraliza-
tion, borings, and corrosive features on the unconfor-
mity surface indicates that it was largely a subaqueous
omission surface, reflecting nondeposition and corro-
sion (Hohman, 1998; Ettensohn et al., 2002a). The
interbedded shales and micrograined limestones of the
Brannon Member represent deeper open-marine or
deep-ramp environments (Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn and
Kulp, 1995) and are relatively widespread and easily
discerned throughout the area; a bentonite at the base
of the member (Black et al., 1965; Cressman, 1973)
allows easy correlation. Abrupt unit changes just
below the Brannon Member, manifest in the lower
tongue of the Tanglewood and Perryville members
(Fig. 5), reflect facies changes due to reactivation of
basement fault lineaments A and B in Fig. 2 (Mackey,
1972; Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn and Kulp, 1995).
The sub-Sulphur Well unconformity, which trun-
cates the Brannon at many places in central Kentucky
(Fig. 5), probably began as a maximum flooding
surface, but was subsequently subjected to a period
254 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266

Fig. 5. Generalized stratigraphic column for the Lexington Limestone of central Kentucky, showing the Tanglewood buildup and the position of
the Brannon – Devils Hollow interval that is the nucleus of the buildup (adapted from Ettensohn et al., 2002b). (For color see online version).
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266 255

of uplift and erosion, reflected in subsequent super-
position of a high-energy Tanglewood (middle
tongue) shoal complex and its offshore Sulphur Well
equivalents (Fig. 5). We have informally used this
unconformity to delimit lower Lexington deposition.
However, what is lower Lexington Limestone in
central Kentucky largely comprises the entirety of
the Lexington and its Trenton equivalents elsewhere
in much of east – central United States (e.g., Cress-
man, 1973, Plate 10), and in many of these other
places, regional tilting, abrupt deepening, inundation
with deeper water muds, and horizons of seismically
induced liquefaction were coeval with unconformity
and subsequent shoal development in central Kentucky
(Ettensohn et al., 2002a). For example, not only are
such events reported from upper parts of the Lexington
Limestone in the buildup itself (Ettensohn and Stewart,
2002; Stewart, 2002), but also in off-buildup equiv-
alents in northern Kentucky and southwestern Ohio
(Brett et al., 2002) and possibly in central New York
equivalents (Baird and Brett, 2002). Hence, while
deepening and mud influx from the east (Clays Ferry
and Kope formations in Figs. 3 and 5) characterized
surrounding areas on the platform, uplift and develop-
ment of a regressive carbonate – shoal complex that
would become the Tanglewood buildup (middle and
upper tongues of the Tanglewood Member in Figs. 3
and 5) followed unconformity development in central
Kentucky. All of the roughly coeval events mentioned
above occurred in middle Late Ordovician (mid-
Chatfieldian; mid-Caradoc) time and most probably
reflect far-field forces (Ettensohn et al., 2002a) result-
ing from an east-to-west polarity shift in Taconic
subduction (Coakley and Gurnis, 1995; Karabinos et
al., 1998). Based on interpretations of radiometric
dating (Tucker and Robinson, 1990; Tucker and
McKerrow, 1995), this change in polarity occurred
between 454 and 442 Ma (Karabinos and Hepburn,
2001), which, on the older end, overlaps with the
timing of the mid-Chatfieldian – Edenian events noted
above. However, even if events in central Kentucky
prove to have been younger than the polarity change,
it is important to note that cratonward transmission of
stresses resulting from the change may have taken
longer to reach Kentucky, and it is possible that other
far-field or flexural forces may have been involved.
Nonetheless, change in polarity and its timing may
have had important consequences for the kinds of far-
field forces transmitted into the central Kentucky area.
During the earlier period of east-dipping subduction,

Fig. 6. Schematic diagrams showing the possible origins of preeminent, far-field forces in the Taconic foreland relative to subduction polarity in
the orogen, assuming that the western Lexington Platform was effectively ‘‘pinned’’ in place. No scale intended; positions of Lexington
Platform, foreland basin, and Taconic orogen are relative only. Thick, dark arrows reflect likely direction of predominant stresses. (A)
Extensional regime during early to mid-Chatfieldian time with east-dipping subduction in the orogen; Brannon deposition shown in central
Kentucky. (B) Compressional regime during late Chatfieldian to early Edenian time with west-dipping subduction in the orogen; deposition of
middle and upper tongues of the Tanglewood Member shown forming the Tanglewood buildup in central Kentucky. Note subtle change in
paleoslope and regional flooding with clastics.
256 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266
extensional forces would have probably been more
prominent across adjacent cratonic areas, and, in fact,
the most salient, regional, cratonic features of the
time, the Sebree Trough and related basins (Figs. 1
and 4), are thought to have resulted from extensional
reactivation of basement structures (Ettensohn et al.,
2002a). However, once west-dipping subduction en-
sued, compressional forces might be expected to have
become preeminent (Fig. 6).
Above the sub-Sulphur Well unconformity, the
upper part of the Lexington Limestone in central
Kentucky is a facies mosaic built around the middle
and upper tongues of Tanglewood Member, which
represent wave- and storm-influenced shoal com-
plexes with major tidal reworking (Hrabar et al.,
1971; Ettensohn, 1992). The Millersburg Member,
composed of nodular limestones in marly shale,
effectively ‘‘encapsulates’’ the Tanglewood (Fig. 5)
and represents intermediate-ramp, shallow, open-ma-
rine environments adjacent to the shoals (Ettensohn,
1992). Other important upper Lexington units include
the Sulphur Well Member, a nodular bryozoan bio-
strome (Ettensohn et al., 1986), and the Devils Hollow
Member, a light-colored calcarenite to calcirudite
(coquinite) that represents a carbonate, beach-barrier
deposit with local, back-barrier, tidal-flat calcilutites
(Etter, 1976; Kasl, 2001) (Fig. 5). The Devils Hollow
Member also contains a bentonite (Kasl, 2001), which
is important in constraining the study interval.
The study interval for this paper includes major
units between the Brannon and Devils Hollow mem-
bers. This interval was chosen because it includes the
sub-Sulphur Well unconformity, forms the core of the
Tanglewood buildup, and is bound by temporally
constraining bentonites at the base of the Brannon
Member and in the Devils Hollow Member (Fig. 5).
4. Methods
Eighty-six exposures and nine cores containing the
Brannon (Kulp, 1995), 80 exposures containing the
middle tongue of the Tanglewood (Stewart, 2002),
and 41 exposures and 1 core containing the Devils
Hollow Member (Kasl, 2001) were measured and
described in central Kentucky. Although examined
exposures and cores are not necessarily exclusive to
any one of the above units, detailed descriptions and
locations are provided in the respective studies (Kulp,
1995; Kasl, 2001; Stewart, 2002). Where exposures
and cores were unavailable or inadequate, descriptive
and thickness data were taken from U.S. Geological
Survey geologic quadrangle maps. These data were
then used to compile isopachous and distribution
maps for each unit. Unit distribution and patterns of
thickening and thinning in each unit were compared
with each other and with basement structural linea-
ments for inferences about possible structural influ-
ence and changes in that influence through time.
Temporal constraint was provided by the bentonites
that bound the study interval, and correlations within
the interval were based on lithostratigraphy.
5. Discussion
5.1. Brannon member
The Brannon Member consists of calcareous shales
interbedded with thin, tabular to nodular, micro-
grained limestones, interpreted to represent distal
tempestites in a deep-ramp, deeper, open-marine set-
ting (Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn and Kulp, 1995). Al-
though the unit reflects the culmination of regional
transgression begun with the inception of Lexington
deposition, it also represents a major flooding event
from the Sebree Trough to the west (Ettensohn et al.,
2002a) and, in most places, rests sharply on a hard-
ground that was the flooding surface. The dark, shaly
nature of the unit makes it very diagnostic among the
calcarenites that predominate in other parts of the
Lexington, and the bentonite at its base (Black et
al., 1965; Cressman, 1973) means that it is at least
partly isochronous. Nearly everywhere, the Brannon
also contains three conspicuous horizons of soft
sediment deformation that are interpreted as seismites
(Kulp, 1995; Pope et al., 1997; Ettensohn et al.,
2002b; Ettensohn and Stewart, 2002).
The Brannon has a relatively widespread distribu-
tion throughout central Kentucky, but pinches out to
the north and northeast into lower tongue of the
Tanglewood Member (Figs. 2, 5, and 7); its distribu-
tion and thickness were apparently controlled by local
structures. For example, the northward pinch out of
the unit occurs along a nearly linear boundary that
coincides with basement structural lineament A (cf.,
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266
Fig. 7. Isopachous map (contour interval 2 m) of the Brannon
Member, Lexington Limestone, relative to basement structural
lineaments A and B. The northward pinchout of the Brannon
Member into the Tanglewood Member occurs near and along
lineament A. Locations of lineaments A and B were based on
occurrence of extant fault systems and their basement precursors
(adapted from Ettensohn et al., 2002b).
Figs. 2 and 7), and in some areas near the line of pinch
out, the basal Brannon hardground, bentonite, and soft
sediment deformation continue into the Tanglewood
Member (Ettensohn et al., 2002b). Moreover, the
Brannon attains its maximum thickness of 6 –8 m in
a linear, trough-like belt between lineaments A and B
and abruptly thins south of lineament B (Fig. 7). The
thickening of the Brannon between these structural
lineaments suggests that subsidence of the block
between them must have generated a graben-like
basin in which a greater thickness of the Brannon
accumulated. At the same time, the likelihood of
subsidence along the lineaments helps to explain the
257
linear Brannon pinchout into Tanglewood shoal cal-
carenites and calcirudites (Fig. 7) on the uplifted side
of lineament A (Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn and Kulp,
1995; Ettensohn et al., 2002a). Inasmuch as subsi-
dence along these faults occurred before the sub-
Sulphur Well unconformity formed, subsidence and
Brannon thickening may simply be part of a general
regional trend toward extensional reactivation of cra-
tonic structures at the time (Fig. 6A), although not
every structure in the area responded in this way.
Moreover, seismites in the Brannon may represent
those movements on the faults that were intense
enough to generate penecontemporaneous deforma-
tion of previously deposited, semilithified sediments.
5.2. Sub-Sulphur Well unconformity
The Brannon and lower tongue of the Tanglewood
are locally truncated by the sub-Sulphur Well uncon-
formity (Fig. 5), which in the area of the Tanglewood
buildup, effectively ended lower Lexington deposi-
tion. Corrosion and mineralization of the unconformi-
ty surface indicate cessation of deposition, and the
nearly coeval change in off-buildup areas to a thick
sequence of fine-grained, clastic, and carbonate sedi-
ments in the Kope, Clays Ferry, Maquoketa, Utica,
Martinsburg, and Reedsville shales, not only around
the buildup itself, but also across the Lexington
Platform and Galena – Trenton Shelf (Fig. 1), suggest
regional deepening. Sea-level and coastal-onlap
curves for North America (Schutter, 1992; Diecchio
and Broderson, 1994; Pope and Read, 1997a) also
support the occurrence of this regional deepening
event. The coincidence of postunconformity deepen-
ing with regional cratonic tilting and structural reac-
tivation may also suggest association with the polarity
change in subduction noted previously (Fig. 6B).
North of lineament B, truncation on the unconfor-
mity is subtle or difficult to discern because litholog-
ically similar middle and lower tongues of the
Tanglewood are in contact across the surface. How-
ever, south of lineament B, truncation was in excess
of 2 m, completely removing the Brannon Member
and the underlying mineralized surface in places.
Location-specific destruction of the mineralized sur-
face and Brannon Member suggests that truncation on
the surface was a separate and subsequent event,
probably related to reactivating basement structures
258 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266

in the area. What resulted, however, was a surface of

minor truncation with little variability north and
northeast of lineament B and a surface of substantially
greater relief to the southeast. Overall, truncation on
the unconformity and change to an overlying regres-
sive sequence of shallow-ramp, shoal calcarenites in
the middle tongue of the Tanglewood and related
facies in the buildup area (Figs. 3 and 5) indicate a
shift from structural subsidence during ‘‘preuncon-
formity’’ Brannon deposition to subsequent structural
uplift in the buildup area during unconformity devel-
opment and ‘‘postunconformity’’ time, and these
changes may reflect a larger regional switch to a
compression regime with the advent of westward
subduction (Fig. 6). It is important to note, however,
that while postunconformity structural uplift and
shallowing were ongoing in the buildup area, the
presence of equivalent shales and micrograined lime-
stones beyond the bounds of the buildup indicates
coeval regional deepening, and this deepening pro-
vided the necessary accommodation space for buildup
development.

5.3. Middle tongue of the Tanglewood Member

When deposition resumed with renewed deepen-

ing across the unconformity surface, coarse-grained
skeletal sands spread across the surface north of
lineament B, and Fig. 8 is an isopachous map of
the resulting middle tongue of the Tanglewood super-
imposed on major basement structural lineaments.
Although the middle tongue is widespread through-
out central Kentucky, linear areas of thickening are
clearly aligned with, and occur between, the six
major lineaments noted on Fig. 2. Although it could
be argued that the areas of thickening reflect tidal
channel complexes in structurally low, basinal areas
that had changed little since Brannon deposition,
there is little evidence for major channeling in the
Tanglewood Member or for current directions parallel
to structure and basin trend. In fact, paleocurrent
directions derived from cross-beds are dominantly
perpendicular to isopach and structure trends, sug-
gesting that currents were refracted in shallower shoal
waters (Hrabar et al., 1971). Moreover, although
high-angle, bimodal cross-beds suggesting tidal in-
fluence are locally common, low-angle, unimodal,
and swaley cross-beds, suggesting wave and storm
Fig. 8. Isopachous map of the middle tongue of the Tanglewood
Member and Sulphur Well Member (south of lineament B) with
superimposed basement structural lineaments (see Fig. 2) and the
distribution of the Devils Hollow Member. Location details as in
Fig. 7.
influence, seem to dominate. Inasmuch as cross-
bedded Tanglewood calcarenites and calcirudites re-
flect high-energy, shoal environments (Hrabar et al.,
1971; Cressman, 1973; Ettensohn, 1992), the thickest
development of these shoals must have been concen-
trated on uplifted blocks, whereas bathymetrically
lower areas accumulated finer-grained deposits (Mill-
ersburg Member). In the case of lineaments A and B,
the presence of thick shoal complexes between them
indicates that what had been a structurally influenced,
graben-like basin during Brannon deposition (Fig. 7)
must have experienced structural inversion during or
after unconformity formation to become a horst-like
block (Fig. 6) capable of supporting maximum shoal
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266 259

development. Although there is no indication of
major inversion on the blocks defined by lineaments
C – D and E – F, the coincidence of thick shoal devel-
opments on them (Fig. 9) suggests that they also
experienced uplift. Moreover, the juncture of all these
blocks with their ‘‘piggyback’’ Tanglewood shoals in
a broad ‘‘V’’ near the apex of the Jessamine Dome
(Figs. 2 and 8) suggests that they effectively defined
the southern terminus of the triangular Tanglewood
buildup noted earlier (Fig. 2). Hence, the Tanglewood
buildup and the three uplift-related shoal complexes
that form its nucleus may reflect the change to a
regional compressive regime accompanying the west-
ward reversal of subduction polarity (Fig. 6). As in
the Brannon, seismite horizons in the middle tongue
seem to reflect major movements on reactivated

Fig. 9. Block diagram showing environmental reconstruction of the Sulphur Well Member, Lexington Limestone, and its stratigraphic
relationship with other members. The irregular surface that truncates underlying members is the sub-Sulphur Well unconformity, and the
subsurface fault to the northeast is lineament B (from Ettensohn et al., 1986).
260 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266
structures during deposition of the unit (Ettensohn
and Stewart, 2002; Stewart, 2002).
5.4. Sulphur Well Member
The Sulphur Well Member is unique in the Lex-
ington Limestone because its principal lithologic con-
stituents are bryozoan fragments (McFarlan, 1943;
Cressman, 1973; Ettensohn et al., 1986). The unit is
equivalent to the middle tongue of the Tanglewood,
with which it intertongues and also sits on the sub-
Sulphur Well unconformity, but largely on parts of the
unconformity south of lineament B where erosion into
subjacent units has been greatest (Figs. 5 and 9). The
Sulphur Well is thickest near lineament B, where it
grades into the middle tongue and thins to the west,
south, and east through vertical and lateral intergrada-
tion with the Clays Ferry Formation (Fig. 5). Proximal
to the Tanglewood shoal, a higher-energy, wavy-bed-
ded calcirudite facies predominates, but in more distal
settings, a lenticular-to-nodular calcarenite and shale
facies is common, and the entire unit has been inter-
preted to represent a bryozoan biostrome that devel-
oped in a shallow, open-marine, intermediate-ramp
setting just seaward of a structurally influenced Tangle-
wood shoal complex (Ettensohn et al., 1986) (Fig. 9).
Today, the facies boundary between the Sulphur
Well and middle tongue of the Tanglewood largely
coincides with an unnamed system of small, north-
west – southeast-trending en echelon faults and the
northeast – southwest-trending Kentucky River Fault
System (Fig. 10), which are partial surface expressions
of basement structural lineaments B and F, respective-
ly (Fig. 2). A schematic cross-section along a part of
the Bluegrass Parkway (Fig. 11) shows the nature of
facies relationships between the two members and that
the abrupt facies boundary approximately coincides
with basement lineament B. The coincidence of the
facies boundary with basement structural lineaments,
and the fact that the Sulphur Well represents deeper
water environments relative to the middle tongue of
the Tanglewood, suggest that lineaments B and F must
have been active at the time such that Sulphur Well
environments were downdropped relative to adjacent
Tanglewood shoals (Fig. 8). This situation again sup-
ports the necessity for synsedimentary uplift on horst-
like blocks below the thickest Tanglewood shoals
(Figs. 8 –10).
5.5. Devils Hollow Member
The Devils Hollow Member contains light-colored,
low-angle, unimodal cross-bedded coquinite and as-
sociated bird’s eye calcilutites and calcisiltites
(McFarlan and White, 1948; Etter, 1976; Kasl,
2001). Although fragmented, open-marine fossils
comprise the coquinites; most of the whole in situ
fossils are ostracods and high-spired gastropods from
the calcilutites and calcisiltites. Moreover, the coquin-
ite facies of the Devils Hollow occurs as three
localized, linear bodies, which sit atop the thickest
Tanglewood shoal complexes (Fig. 9). The contact
between Tanglewood calcarenites and overlying Dev-
ils Hollow coquinites is generally sharp, but in a few
places, the contact is gradational. The member has
been interpreted to represent a series of linear, car-
bonate beach barriers with associated back-barrier or
on-barrier lagoonal and peritidal deposits (Etter, 1976;
Kasl, 2001). Each of the three Devils Hollow bodies
has developed atop one of the thick Tanglewood shoal
complexes between structural lineaments (Fig. 9). No
Devils Hollow was found on the shoal complex
between lineaments E and F, but exposures in this
area are not complete and may be missing. Again, the
linear nature of the Devils Hollow bodies corresponds
to the linear nature of the underlying Tanglewood
shoal complexes and the structurally bound blocks on
which they developed. The Devils Hollow beach
ridges apparently accreted onto respective Tangle-
wood shoal complexes at or slightly above sea level
when the shoals aggraded upward or were structurally
uplifted into sea level. Preservation of a bentonite at
different relative positions within the coquinite facies
probably reflects rapid beach progradation (Eastham
et al., 1999), and together with the thin sparse nature
of the unit (Kasl, 2001), suggests that beach develop-
ment was relatively rapid and essentially isochronous.
The accretion of a similar, linear, carbonate beach
ridge with associated peritidal deposits on a linear
high produced by probable faulting was reported from
Blackadore Cay on the northern Belizean shelf (Jor-
dan, 2002).
5.6. Post-Devils Hollow Lexington Limestone
The Devils Hollow Member is commonly capped
by a hardground and overlain by fossiliferous shales
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266 261

Fig. 10. Distribution of the Sulphur Well Member, Lexington Limestone, in part of the study area. Note that the inner boundaries of the unit with
the middle tongue of the Tanglewood largely coincide with extant fault zones that are reflected in basement structural lineaments B and F (see
Fig. 8). The section in Fig. 11 is based on exposures 1, 35, 2, 34, and 33 along the Bluegrass Parkway. (For color see online version).

and nodular calcarenites of the Millersburg Member and reflects the abrupt change from beach deposits at
(Fig. 5), although calcarenites from the upper tongue or near sea level to the shallow, open-marine, inter-
of the Tanglewood truncate the Devils Hollow locally. mediate-ramp deposits of the Millersburg Member
The hardground is interpreted to be a flooding surface near storm wave base, a relative rise in sea level of
262 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266

Fig. 11. Schematic cross-section based on five measured sections along the Bluegrass Parkway (see Fig. 10 for location), showing the
relationship between the middle tongue of the Tanglewood, Brannon, and Sulphur Well members relative to an inferred basement fault
(lineament B). The datum is the sub-Sulphur Well unconformity (SSWU), which is the middle hardground below the Sulphur Well Member.
Olt = Tanglewood Member; Olb = Brannon Member; Olg = Grier Member; Olsw = Sulphur Well Member; Olm = Millersburg Member;
Ocf = Clays Ferry Formation. (For color see online version).

at least 40 m. Whether this relative rise was caused by
structurally mediated subsidence or eustacy is uncer-
tain, but the rapid flooding and burial of the unit most
likely preserved it from erosion in subsequent, higher-
energy, Tanglewood (upper tongue) environments.
The thin, overlying interval of Millersburg Mem-
ber and locally equivalent tongues of the Clays Ferry
Formation represent only a brief interval of time and
were succeeded by more calcarenite and calcirudite
shoal complexes in the upper tongue of the Tangle-
wood Member (Fig. 5). Although the upper tongue of
the Tanglewood has not yet been studied in detail, it
appears that the middle tongue – Devils Hollow com-
plex may have formed the nucleus on which its
subsequent upward accretion occurred.
By Late Ordovician, early Edenian time (late
Caradoc), vast amounts of siliciclastic sediment pro-
duced by the regressive, relaxational phase of the
Taconic tectophase (Ettensohn, 1991) were shed west-
ward across the filled foreland basin and onto the
Lexington Platform (Fig. 6B). The widespread distri-
bution of Upper Ordovician (upper Chatfieldian –
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266 263

lower Edenian) siliciclastic-rich units like the Clays
Ferry, Kope, Utica, and Maquoketa Formations on top
of Lexington/Trenton carbonates across the Lexington
Platform indicates that these siliciclastic sediments
literally engulfed the platform. However, in the midst
of this clastic inundation, carbonate sedimentation
persisted on the Tanglewood buildup until Late Or-
dovician (mid-Edenian; late Caradoc) time. Structural
reactivation on several basement lineaments apparent-
ly kept the buildup area largely elevated into and near
wave base where clastic sediment could be winnowed
away and the growth of skeleton-producing organisms
encouraged. Eventually, however, as the abrupt con-
tact between the upper tongue of the Tanglewood and

Fig. 12. Probable sequence of events and resulting facies development relative to structural lineaments A and B in the Brannon-to-Devils
Hollow interval that forms the nucleus of the Tanglewood buildup. Thickest Brannon (Olb) deposits developed in the graben-like basin, whereas
thickest Tanglewood shoal deposits (Olt) developed on uplifted, horst-like blocks. Transition between the Brannon basin (B) and overlying
Tanglewood shoal (C) represents the time of structural inversion. No horizontal or vertical scale intended. Old = Devils Hollow Member;
Olt = Tanglewood Member; Olb = Brannon Member; Olg = Grier Member; Olsw = Sulphur Well Member; Olps = Salvisa Bed; Olm = Millers-
burg Member; SSWU = Sub-Sulphur Well Unconformity.
264 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266
Clays Ferry Formation indicates (Figs. 3 and 5), either
uplift halted or some combination of deepening and
clastic influx prevailed over the effects of uplift, and
the buildup was snuffed out.
6. Summary of evidence for structural influence on
the Tanglewood buildup
Evidence for structural influence on regional facies
distribution in the Upper Ordovician Lexington/Tren-
ton limestones of east –central United States continues
to grow (e.g., Ettensohn et al., 2002a). Moreover, in
areas like central Kentucky, a detailed study of Lex-
ington/Trenton limestones is also showing the influ-
ence of structure on local facies changes, particularly
in lower parts of the unit prior to the sub-Sulphur Well
unconformity (e.g., Mackey, 1972; Grossnickle, 1985;
Kulp, 1995; Ettensohn and Kulp, 1995). However,
upper parts of the Lexington Limestone in central
Kentucky are anomalous because the included rocks
are younger and are anomalously thicker than the
typical Lexington/Trenton sequence elsewhere. Al-
though others have noted this thickening, Ettensohn
(1992) suggested that it was a carbonate buildup,
shown in a general way that its triangular outline
coincided with extant fault zones, and inferred that
reactivation on basement precursors of the extant
structures helped to generate the buildup. Exactly
how this happened was uncertain.
Now, however, comparison of isopachous and
distribution maps with basement structural lineaments
across a critical, temporally constrained, stratigraphic
interval (Brannon – Devils Hollow) has permitted
more detailed interpretations regarding buildup origin
and growth, which are illustrated in Fig. 12. Although
quasi-estuarine-based upwelling in the area provided
enhanced nutrient supply for fauna producing the
skeletal remains, out of which the buildup was con-
structed (Ettensohn et al., 2002a), it was the structural
inversion of one basement fault-bound block (Fig.
12A – C) and the uplift of others that provided the
critical foundation for the buildup. Thickened Tangle-
wood shoals and later accreting Devils Hollow
beaches (Fig. 12D) developed on each uplifted,
horst-like block and later spread laterally to form the
nucleus of the buildup, which even persisted though a
short-lived flooding event in its later history. More-
over, the triangular outline of the Tanglewood buildup
is apparently related to the way in which the structural
lineaments defining these blocks intersect.
7. Conclusions
The Tanglewood buildup was initiated during a
middle Late Ordovician (mid-Chatfieldian; late Sher-
manian; late Caradoc) interval of cratonic tilting,
flooding, and clastic influx that ended lower Lexing-
ton/Trenton carbonate deposition nearly everywhere
across the Lexington Platform. However, the same
event also reactivated, and even inverted, some base-
ment structures in the area such that they facilitated
the local accumulation of carbonate shoal complexes,
which formed the nucleus of the buildup in central
Kentucky—at least until uplift faltered, and the com-
bined effects of flooding and clastic influx over-
whelmed the carbonate factory.
Although the Tanglewood buildup is a local
occurrence, it is one manifestation among a series
of nearly coeval regional events that seem to reflect
a larger cause. The nature of this cause may never
be proven with certainly, but coincidence in timing
with a change in Taconic subduction polarity, some
1100 km to the northeast, is evocative. Moreover,
what makes this cause even more compelling in
central Kentucky is the fact that the shift from an
east- to west-dipping subduction zone would have
likely changed regional stress fields from a more
extensional to a more compressional pattern, which
is the same pattern exhibited in the structural inver-
sion that apparently laid the foundation for the
Tanglewood buildup during post-Brannon-to-Devils
Hollow time (Fig. 6). The widespread nature of
apparently resulting cratonic changes and the anom-
alous nature of some like the Tanglewood buildup
attest to the potential significance of distant tectonic
events and their far-field forces in understanding
cratonic stratigraphy.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank B.D. Keith, D. Lehmann,
and M.C. Pope for their reviews, which much
improved the content and style of the paper.
 F.R. Ettensohn et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 249–266
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