The Broadtop synclinorium is a large regional synclinorium which extends from central Pennsylvania to western Virginia. Critical study of more than 125 mi of seismic reflection surveys, 22 wells, and surface maps shows that the synclinorium is broken into a series of folded and faulted structures which reflect a precise relation of basement movement to thin-skinned tectonics. This relation indicates that Taconic and older tension-induced features have a pronounced controlling effect on structures caused by later compression. Early tension faults localize features such as decollement ramping. This ramping in turn produces many large prominent first-order structural features in both the Valley and Ridge province and the Plateau province of the Appalachian basin, such as Wil s Mountain anticline and the Allegheny front. The decollement ramping in turn induces formation of smaller second-order features such as the Whip Cove anticlines, the Whip Cove syncline, and other faults and folds within the Broadtop synclinorium.

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