Evidence that the Illinois basin was open toward the south during the Mississippian, the geographical coincidence of a unique Ouachita lithologic province with the Mississippi embayment, the distribution of late Paleozoic sediments, interpreted paleoslopes, and interpreted structural relations suggest that the embayment existed during late Paleozoic time. Further insight into the Ouachita orogenic belt and its relation to the Appalachian belt may be gained if the age of subsidence of the Mississippi embayment and its modification from or to the Ouachita belt can be determined.

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