Geologic Map of the Murray Quadrangle, Newton County, Arkansas
By Mark R. Hudson and Kenzie J. Turner

2016

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3360

ABSTRACT

This map summarizes the geology of the Murray quadrangle in the
Ozark Plateaus region of northern Arkansas. Geologically, the area
is on the southern flank of the Ozark dome, an uplift that has the
oldest rocks exposed at its center, in Missouri. Physiographically,
the Murray quadrangle is within the Boston Mountains, a high
plateau region underlain by Pennsylvanian sandstones and shales.
Valleys of the Buffalo River and Little Buffalo River and their
tributaries expose an approximately 1,600-ft-thick (488-meter-thick)
sequence of Ordovician, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian carbonate
and clastic sedimentary rocks that have been mildly deformed by a
series of faults and folds. The Buffalo National River, a park that
encompasses the Buffalo River, and adjacent land that is administered
by the National Park Service is present at the northwestern edge of
the quadrangle.

Mapping for this study was carried out by field inspection of
numerous sites and was compiled as a 1:24,000 geographic information
system (GIS) database. Locations and elevation of sites were
determined with the aid of a global positioning satellite receiver
and a hand-held barometric altimeter that was frequently
recalibrated at points of known elevation. Hill-shade relief and
slope maps derived from a U.S. Geological Survey 10-meter digital
elevation model as well as orthophotographs were used to help trace
ledge-forming units between field traverses within the Upper
Mississippian and Pennsylvanian part of the stratigraphic sequence.
Strike and dip of beds were typically measured along stream
drainages or at well-exposed ledges. Structure contours, constructed
on the top of the Boone Formation and the base of a prominent
sandstone unit within the Bloyd Fomation, were drawn based on the
elevations of field sites on these contacts well as other limiting
information for their minimum elevations above hilltops or their
maximum elevations below valley bottoms.

DISCLAIMERS

Any use of trade, product or firm names is for descriptive purposes
only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public
domain, it also contains copyrighted material as noted in the text.
Permission to reproduce copyrighted items for other than personal use
must be secured from the copyright owner.

This database, identified as SIM 3360, has been approved for release
and publication by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  Although this
database has been subjected to rigorous review and is substantially
complete,the USGS reserves the right to revise the data pursuant to
further analysis and review. Furthermore, it is released on condition
that neither the USGS nor the U.S. Government may be held liable
for any damages resulting from its authorized or unauthorized use.

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer
system at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty, expressed or
implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any
other system, or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act
of distribution constitute such warranty.  The USGS or the U.S
Government shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of
the data described and/or contained herein.

DATA FILES

List of files:
sim3360_readMe.txt
sim3360.pdf  (map file)
sim3360_georeferenced.pdf (georeferenced map file)
sim3360.met/.xml (metadata)

sim3360_GIS.gdb.zip
     GeologicMap
	attitudes
	ContactsAndFaults
	ControlPoints
	CrossSectionLines
	Folds
	MapUnitPoints
	MapUnitPolys
	StructureContours
     murray_base (topographic base map)
     murray_hill (shaded-relief base)
    
sim3360_shapefiles.zip directory:
     attitudes.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)
     ContactsAndFaults.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)	
     ControlPoints.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)
     CrossSectionLines.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)
     Folds.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)
     MapUnitPoint.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)
     MapUnitPolys.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)
     StructureContours.shp (dbf/prj/sbn/sbx/shp.xml/shx)

sim3360_basemaps.zip:
     murray_base.tfw
     murray_base_tif
     murray_base_original (unaltered 7.5-minute Murray quadrangle base)
     murray_hill.tfw
     murray_hill.tif

sim3360_metadata.zip
     sim3360.met/.xml        

HOW TO OBTAIN THE DIGITAL FILES

The digital files constituting the geologic map database of this
report can be obtained via the Internet from the U.S. Geological 
Survey publications website. Go to the web page at
http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3360/ or http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sim3360
and follow the directions to download the files.

The main product is a Portable Document Format (.pdf) map, which
requires Adobe Acrobat for viewing, and from which paper copies may be
printed. Acrobat software runs on a variety of systems, and is
available for download free of charge from Adobe at
http://www.adobe.com.

The map also is also presented as a georeferenced
map, sim3360_georeferenced.pdf, that has active layers (hence the
larger size). The georeferenced map can be opened in Acrobat and
the layers listed.Go to Tools=>Analyze in the
menu bar to enable the geospatial tool.

ArcReader may be downloaded free of charge from
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcreader/download for viewing
additional files included in this report.