Field excursion : the Georgia marble district

field Excursion
The Georgia .Marble District
W. ROBERT POWIR
4ncl
IRNIST W. READ
ANNUAL MEETING
Sotttheastern Section
The Geological Society
of America
APRIL 14, 19b2
GUIDEBOOK NUMBER 1
Department ofMines, .M-ining and
Geology
GARLAND PEYTON, DIPECTOR Atlantn, Geor9ia
COVER PAGE
Creole Marble Photograph courtesy Georgia Marble Company,
Tate, Georgia.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction _________________

Page 5

Whitestone Area

Rocks west of the Murphy marble_________________________________

7

Meta-graywacke _______ _________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

8

Quartz-sericite phyllite______________________________

8

Spotted chlorite-sericite phyllite___________________________________ _ _____________________ _ 8

Meta-conglomerate___________________

8

Quartz-sericite phyllite________ _ __

- - - - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Graphite slate_______ ____________________________ _

8

Chlorite-sericite phyllite____ ______________ - - - - - - -------- -- - - - - 8

Murphy marble__________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _____________

9

Rocks east of the Murphy marble__________

9

Biotite-quartz schist________________ __ _

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9

Garnet-graphite schist_____________________________ ______ _ ____

9

Staurolite-graphite schisL____________________ _ _ ____ _

----- 9

Graphite schist_____________________

9

Sericite-chlorite schist

- - - - - - - ---------- - -- 9

Structure_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10

Tentative Correlation with other Metasediments in North Georgia _________________________________ ------------------------------------- 12 Structural Implications _---------------------------______________________---------------------------____ ____________________________________________________ _____ 13

Tate Quarries------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14 Tate Mi11 ______________________________________________----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ______________________ 19

BibliographY-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - 20

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

Page

Geologic Sketch Map of the Whitestone Area ________________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------- 6 2 Cross-sections of the Goble Mine_________________ _ _ _ _____ _ _ _ _ _____ _ 11

3 Correlation of Metasediments in North Georgia_______________________________________________________ 12

4 Generalized Cross-section of the Whitestone Area_______________________________

_ 13

5 Tate Area______________________________________________________________________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------- 15

6 Etowah Quarry_____________________________________ ______________

16

7 Etowah Quarry, Looking South_____________________________________________________________ _

17

8 Columns for the U.S. Capitol Building from Cherokee Quarry No. 13__________________________________________________________ 18

9 Tate MilL _____________ ____

-- 21

3

I
INTRODUCTION
The Murphy marble was named by Keith (1907, p. 5) for the town of Murphy, North Carolina. It has been mapped in Georgia by LaForge and Phalen (1913), Bayley (1928), Hurst (1955), and Fairley (in prep.). It has generally been assigned a Cambrian Age (Hurst, 1955, p. 7).
The Murphy marble in North Georgia underlies a long narrow valley that extends northeastward from Whitestone, Georgia, to and beyond the North Carolina border. The towns of Ellijay, Blue Ridge, and Mineral Bluff lie in the valley. Between Ellijay and Blue Ridge, the valley splits into two nearly parallel parts with an intervening ridge. Both parts of the valley are underlain in part by the Murphy marble.
South of Whitestone the marble is offset to the east. With only scattered intervening exposures, it picks up in the valley of Long Swamp Creek about one mile east of Jasper, Georgia, and underlies the valley of that creek to and beyond Ball Ground, Georgia.
At Tate, Georgia, the marble is thickest and best developed. It underlies the valley of East Branch eastward to a point about one mile east of Marble Hill. The outccrop pattern here appears peculiar on the map in that it forms a hook branching eastward off the main marble belt, the open part of the hook facing south.
South of Tate, several elongate bodies of marble are isolated from the main belt. Bailey ( 1928) interpreted them as infolds.
Outcrops along the main belt are discontinuous; the discontinuity in most cases has been ascribed to thrust faulting from the east.
Detailed mapping of the Murphy marble from Whitestone, Georgia, to Nelson, Georgia, was begun by the Geology Department of the Georgia Marble Company during 1961. The mapping is far from complete. The Georgia Marble Company has contracted with Surdex Corporation of St. Louis, photogrammetrists, to map 19 square miles in the Tate area and four square miles in the Whitestone area at a scale of 1:2400 and a contour interval of fiv~ feet. Large scale aerial photographs of the intervening area are also contracted for. These maps and photographs will be available during the spring of 1962, and at that time, systematic mapping of the marble belt in this area will begin.
The present Geology Department of the Georgia Marble Company has existed only since June, 1961. It has concentrated on collecting old records, locating and logging old drill cores, and has made a few reconnaissance surveys. Its present contributions to the knowledge of the Murphy Marble are therefore few and tentative.
E. H. Reade is primarily responsible for mapping and correlations in the Whitestone area; W. R. Power, for the Tate area; and M . C. Joyce, for descriptions of the Tate milL
5

GEOLOGIC MAP

0~ TNE
WHITESTONE AREA

--IMPROVED ROAD
--UNIMPROVED ROAD
_ ...- ORAINA6
RAILROAD

--- G01-DGIC CONTACT

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. I

Figure 1 6

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Rocks West of the Murphy Marble. The field trip will leave Georgia Highway 5 and cross the ridge that borders the marble valley on the west.
The rocks under this ridge dip east, are believed to be right side up, and therefore, underlie the marble. Stops will be made to inspect the rocks (see fig. 1) . LaForge and Phalen (1913) mapped the Ellijay quadrangle which lies immediately east. They show the Mur-
phy marble to be underlain by the Valleytown formation. Northeast of Whitestone, they describe the Valleytown as "a narrow strip of talcose and siliceous slates" (1913, p. 6). Southeast of Whitestone, they describe the Valleytown as "being siliceous mica slate, curly phyllite, or augen gneiss ... (having) an appearance very similar to that of a bird's eye maple, the "eyes" being lumps of quartz and feldspar of apparently extraneous origin." LaForge and Phalen report the Valleytown formation south of Ellijay to be underlain by the Nantahala slate consisting chiefly of "graphitic schist with more or less staurolite throughout its thickness and containing few or no siliceous beds."
The section from Georgia Highway 5 to the Murphy marble shows the following sequence of rock types. Although none of the units have been "walked out", the sequence shows along five different roads extending to within two miles of Jasper, and it is reasonably certain that they are mappable units.
7

1. Meta-graywacke. The meta-graywacke is a medium to fine grained rock composed predominantly of quartz, feldspar, and biotite. The biotite is distributed throughout and gives the rock a weak foliation which is parallel to bedding. The bedding is well defined and ranges in thickness from ca 2" to ca 12". Beds are generally separated by thin slaty layers. The rock is distinguished by the conspicuous bedding and by the presence of biotite.
2. Quartz-sericite phyllite. The quartz-sericite phyllite is composed predominantly of sericite and fine granular quartz. Chlorite occurs on foliation planes and in thin layers, but is much less conspicuous than in the chlorite-sericite phyllites. The color is predominantly buff to gray rather than green. Garnets occur in some layers. Foliation planes are more widely spaced than in the chlorite-sericite phyllites and do not curve and branch conspicuously. The rock is distinguished by fine granular quartz and less conspicuous chlorite.
3. Spotted chlorite-sericite phyllite. The spotted chlorite-sericite phyllite contains tiny black spots one to three mm across, partly rhombic and partly equidimensional or irregular in outline. The spots appear to be composed of hematite and other iron oxides. Foliation planes are curved and branching so that in the "b" direction the rock has an augen appearance. In places the curved folia are crenulated. The rock is distinguished by the conspicuous green colored folia and the presence of black spots.
Some layers of the spotted phyllite contain elongate pebble-size fragments of quartz. These are believed to be I
meta-conglomerates as they increase in abundance toward the next unit which is clearly a meta-conglomerate.
4. Meta-conglomerate. The conglomerate contains elongate pebbles of blue quartz, milky to smoky quartz, and feldspar. Quartz predominates and quartz pebbles are generally larger than feldspar fragments. The matrix is feldspathic in places, elsewhere it is composed predominantly of sericite and chlorite. In places the conglomerate contains cobble-size fragments of fine-grained blue quartzite and fine-grained white to gray quartzite. Thin beds and lenses of chlorite-sericite phyllite are common within the conglomerate. A principle distinguishing feature of the rock is the presence of abundant blue quartz fragments.
5. Quartz-sericite phyllite. This unit is similar to # 2.
6. Graphite slate. The graphite slate is a black fine-grained slate or phyllite. Foliation planes curve slightly and in places are slightly crenulated, but they do not branch and intersect as do folia in the chlorite-sericite phyllite. At the top (eastern edge) thin beds of almost pure quartzite, one to two inches thick, are interlayered with the slate and the amount of chlorite in the slate increases. The rock is distinguished by its color and even foliation.
7. Chlorite-sericite phyllite. The chlorite-sericite phyllite contains lenticular pods and irregular bodies of milky vein quartz and minor amounts of calcite. In places it contains beds or lenses of black, micaceous marble. Epidote occurs sparingly in small vugs. Foliation planes are curved and branching so that in the "b" direction the rock has an augen appearance. In places the foliation planes are crenulated and branching on the curved surface. At one locality the foliation is markedly discordant to the general trend. This outcrop is unusually rich in epidote and may mark a fault. The rock is distinguished from the spotted chlorite-sericite phyllite by the absence of tiny black spots and by the presence of vein quartz and calcite. It is easily distinguished from other units by the conspicuous green colored, curved folia.
8

8. Murphy Marble. Core drilling has shown that the Murphy Marble in the Whitestone area can be subdivided into five well-defined units. In places these units can be further subdivided. The stratigraphy from top to bottom is as follows:
(a) 265-350' Fine-grained dolomitic marble ranging in color from almost pure white to gray. The top ten feet or so of this unit is transitional into the overlying schist. The transition zone contains alternating bands of dolomite and talc-phlogopite schist. The dolomite immediately below the transition zone is generally light gray to gray in color. In most of the area there is a second zone of alternating dolomite and talc-phlogopite schist anywhere from 17 feet to 150 feet below the transition zone. This zone also contains layers of pink marble a few inches thick. Below the second schist zone the color of the dolomite is white to light gray.
(b) 70-180' Fine-grained, white to light gray tremolite-quartz marble. This unit is also talcose in part, but the distinguishing feature is the presence of abundant white to light gray tremolite and of quartz.
(c) 215-280' Fine-grained, light gray to gray dolomite marble. This unit is similar to unit (a) except there is less white colored material.
(d) 0-50' Medium-grained white to light gray banded calcite marble. (e) 110-130' Coarse-grained, light gray to gray, banded graphite marble. This unit and unit (d) are easily
distinguished as being the only calcite marbles in the area. Dolomite is being mined by the Willingham-Little Stone Co., a division of the Georgia Marble Co., for use as terrazzo chips, agriculturai lime, roofing chips, road aggregate, and so on. White dolomite for terrazzo chips is the premium product and attempts are made to mine dolomite for other uses so as to develop reserves of white stone. Mining is by the room-and-pillar method and shovels are used underground to load trucks which deliver to the primary crusher. The crushing and screening plants are located on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad by which most of the products are shipped.
Three mines and two plants are being worked. Two other mines are inactive and are awaiting further exploration before being reopened.
Rocks East of the Murphy Marble.
The following sequence of rocks is exposed in a section along Fasset Creek east of the Murphy Marble. Contacts have not been traced in the field nor has any attempt yet been made to correlate them with other sections.
9. Biotite-quartz schist. This is a fine to medium-grained gray to brownish gray rock with distinct, thin compositional banding. It contains varying amounts of chlorite, sericite feldspar, and garnet. The light colored bands are rich in quartz and feldspar; the dark colored bands, rich in biotite. The unit also contains layers of fine to medium grained spotted sericite-chlorite-quartz schist and fine to medium-gr;:tined, brown, biotite quartzite. Several thin bands of amphibolite were found on the hillside above the mines, but attempts to trace them more than a few feet failed.
10. Garnet-graphite schist. A steel-gray, graphite schist with sericite, chlorite, and porphyroblasts of garnet and muscovite. The rock has regular even foliation and some crinkling on foliation planes.
11. Staurolite-graphite schist. Identical with (10) except for the presence of staurolite and the absence of garnet.
12. Graphite schist. Identical with (10 and (11) except for the absence of garnet and staurolite.
13. Sericite-chlorite schist. This is a silvery white and greenish gray sericite-chlorite schist mottled with small dark spots. Foliation planes are crinkled giving the appearance of button structure in the upper parts; contains elongate knots of chlorite, muscovite, and quartz that apparently pseudomorph kyanite or staurolite.
9

STRUCTURE
The rocks in the Whitestone area dip consistently east. A major normal fault trending about N 15 W cuts through the area. The trend of rocks west of the fault is arcuate and the continuity of the strata is interrupted by the fault. Less is known of the rocks east of the fault, but they apparently trend parallel or nearly parallel to it.
The fault can be seen in the mines at Whitestone and its attitude has been determined by drilling. The crosssections (fig. 2) show the relationships. The biotite-quartz schist is on the hanging wall, the Murphy marble and the biotite-quartz schist are on the foot wall. Large drag folds can be seen in the mines. The rock is brecciated and discolored up to 100 feet from the fault. No deep holes have been drilled in the hanging wall, but the dip-slip displacement is believed to be at least 500 feet.
The normal fault is cut by a number of low angle thrusts in which the biotite-quartz schist was thrust over the Murphy marble. These faults are of relatively small displacement, but are clearly outlined by core drilling.
Discordant structures within units 7 and 13 suggest the presence of other faults in the area, but they are not traced out or proved.
Small folds having the appearance of drag folds are common in the biotite-quartz schist. They suggest relative upward and westward movement of rocks from the east. Foliation cuts across compositional layering at a steeper angle than the layering in these folds.
Nearly all the rocks in the area are strongly foliated. In some rocks the folia are curved and branching, elsewhere crinkles are even. Except in the drag folds of the biotite-quartz schist the general trend of foliation is parallel to bedding.
10

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TENTATIVE CORRELATION WITH OTHER METASEDIMENTS IN NORTH GEORGIA
Figure 3 is a tentative correlation of rocks in the Whitestone area with other sections in North Georgia. It is based mainly on a comparison with lithologic descriptions published by Hurst (1955) for the Mineral Bluff quadrangle. The thin beds of quartzite at the top of unit 6 may represent the Tusquitee quartzite.

,.
CORRELATION OF METASEDIMENTS IN NORTH GEORGIA

LaForge & Phalen Ellijay Folio 1913

Bayley
Tate 1928

Hurst Mineral Bluff
1955

Reade Whitestone Area
1962

Nottely quartzite Andrews schist Murphy marble Valleytown fm . Brasstown schist Tusquitee quartzite Nantahala slate
Great Smoky formation

Nottely quartzite Murphy marble

Mineral Bluff fm. Nottely quartzite
Andrews fm.
Murphy marble

Valleytown fm.

Brasstown fm.

Nantahala schist
Great Smoky formation

Tusquitee quartzite Nantahala slate Dean formation
Hothouse formation

Figure 3

Andrews fm. af Unit 7
Murphy marble mm Unit 8
Brasstown fm., bf Unit 9
Nantahala slate, ns Units 6, 10, 11, 12
Dean formation, df Units 3, 4, 5, 13
Hothouse formation, hf Units 1, 2

12

Structural Implications. Tentative correlation of the rocks in the Whitestone area have two major structural implications:
1. The Murphy marble belt in the Whitestone area is an overturned syncline with its axial plane dipping toward the east.
2. A major fault must exist on the western side of the valley in addition to the large fault on the eastern side which has been discussed. This fault is of magnitude to bring the Andrews fm. into contact with the Nantahala fm. indicating a major loss in the stratigraphic column. The fault marks the border between units 6 and 7. These relationships are shown in figure 4.

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13

TATE QUARRIES
The Tate quarries of the Georgia Marble Company, located in Long Swamp Creek valley, produce five commercial varieties of marble. They are known as "Cherokee", "Creole", "Mezzotint", "Silver Gray", and "Etowah''. Cherokee marble ranges from almost pure white to white with light gray veining. Creole has a white background with abundant dark gray to black veining. Mezzotint has a gray background with dark gray to black veining. Silver Gray is a uniform gray. Etowah is all pink with varying amounts of green veining. A sixth variety, "Golden Vein", is produced from quarries at Marble Hill, a few miles east of Tate.
All the Georgia marbles are medium to coarse grained calcite marbles. The "veining", actually a layering in the marble, is caused by slight compositional differences. The grays and blacks are caused by disseminated graphite and sulfides; the greens by chlorite and in a few places biotite and tremolite; the "golden brown", by phlogopite. No adequate analyses of the pink have been made in order to determine the cause of the color, but the presence of abundant manganese oxides in the residuum over the pink suggest that manganese is the cause.
The layering, or "veining", is in places straight and uniform; elsewhere it is highly contorted and discontinuous. The marble is generally sawed across the layering, but in some cases, parallel, giving the slab a "fleuri" effect.
The marble and quarries at Tate have not yet been mapped in detail, but enough is known to give some idea of the gross stratigraphy and structure. All of the quarries are in the west side of the valley and the various colors lie in elongate parallel belts striking slightly west of north. (See figure 5).
Creole and Mezzotint are furthest west, the Creole apparently grading southward into Mezzotint. Next comes a narrow belt of Silver Gray. West of the Silver Gray and underlying the greatest area is Cherokee. Etowah underlies a narrow belt in the north-central part of the valley. Cherokee is found again to the west of the Etowah. The gross dip in all the quarry walls is toward the east.
Drill holes around the Etowah quarry (fig. 6) show a repetition of rock types suggesting a fold. Drill holes west of the quarry pass through pink marble containing amphibole into a white marble containing gray and brown "veining". The brown color comes from phlogopite. At greater depth the phlogopite disappears and the marble becomes typical Cherokee. On the east side of the quarry drill )loles start in Cherokee, pass through the phlogopite marble into pink marble with amphibole. Outcrops of pink marble can be traced from the quarry southwestward across Long Swamp Creek for several hundred yards, but the extension. is finally cut off by outcrops of Cherokee marble. Cherokee marble also crops out on the east valley wall. These relationships suggest that the Etowah quarry is on the axis of a plunging fold that is strongly overturned. Pink marble, rich in biotite, occupies the core of the fold. This passes outward into pink marble with biotite and tremolite, then phlogopite marble, and finally Cherokee marble. The correct order of stratigraphic succession is not known. It is therefore also unknown as to whether the fold is an anticline or a syncline.
14

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ETOWAH
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Figure 7 Etowah Quarry, looking south. 17

Column For The U.S. Capitol Building from
Cherokee Quarry No. 13
Figure 8 18

TATE MILL
The Georgia Marble Company presently is producing marble from nine quarries along the Long Swamp Valley. Most of the quarrying is open-pit, though, some has been underground, utilizing pillar-and-room methods.
Large blocks of selected varieties of marble are cut to predetermined size by portable channeling machines. These machines, employing carboloy-tipped steel drills, run on tracks and make vertical cuts to the necessary depths. Then, horizontal holes are drilled under the blocks. Either wedging or blasting is used to free the block. Fifty ton capacity derricks are used to lift the blocks into railroad flat cars or trucks for transportation to a company mill or to other marble finishing concerns.
Underground quarries produce the bulk of crushed stone. Following the seams, rock is "shot" or dynamited into pieces that can be easily transported by truck to a nearby crusher. More than three hundred and fifty thousand tons per year of terrazzo, road stone, agricultural lime, and calcium by-products are produced by this method.
Around the quarries, inter-connected by fourteen miles of company-owned railroad track and two diesel locomotives, sawing and finishing plants at Tate, Marble Hill, and Nelson produce finished or semi-finished monumental and structural marble. Some nine hundred people are employed here-many of them third and fourth generation craftsmen. Altogether, the four plants in the area have a combined floor space of over three hundred thousand square feet housing eighty five gang saws, fifteen diamond saws, six wire saws, and over twenty-three-hundred feet of roller conveyor production line.
The mill at Tate is an example of l:he marble finishing methods employed by the company. (Fig. 9) Blocks are carried by the high lift from railroad cars to the gang saws (2 & 3). At this point the blocks, weighing from fifteen to fifty tons, are cut into slabs. Cold roll steel blades, cutting one-half inch per hour, are used by the sand gang saws. Flint and sand are used as abrasives in this process, with water utilized not as a cooling agent, but to keep the blocks cleanly cut. The rate of cutting can be doubled by using silicon carbide rather than silica sand. Diamond gang saws consist of steel blades tipped at 18 inch intervals with commercial diamonds. The diamond gangs, though able to cut six times as fast as the sand gangs, must be replaced at shorter intervals. Wire saws, cutting two and one half feet per hour, must be replaced at intervals as short as three hours. Additional time is necessary realigning and balancing the wire saws.
19

From the gang saws slabs are run through surfacing machines (4). Slabs are surfaced with soft cast iron wheels using silica sand as abrasive. Vacuum lift loaders aid in turning and moving heavy slabs. Surfacing eliminates saw marks and smooths the surface. One reason for surfacing at this stage is to detect imperfections in the stone before further processing. A quality control check is made to determine further progress of the slab.
Slabs are trimmed to size, ripped, or jointed by 32-inch diamond saws (5 & 11). Small ornaments are also roughed out here. Special cuts may be made with a wire saw (6). Curved and irregular surfaces, grooves, and special jointing are ground with carborundum wheels (9 & 10) . Further smoothing and finishing is done with belt sanders (15). Special carving is done by skilled craftsmen using pneumatic tools (15). Urns and columns are turned out on lathes ( 11). Honing and polishing using 600-grit aluminum oxide is done on a special surfacing machine ( 16). Lettering is sandblasted into the stone.
Slabs are trimmed or ripped with 32-inch diamond saws (5). They may be gauged on rubbing beds (8) or the carborundum saws (9) where grooves and jointing is also done. Some curved surfaces are cut on the contour machine ( 10) using carborundum wheels.
Urns and columns may be turned out on lathes ( 11), decorative carving is done by skilled craftsmen using pneumatic tools ( 15), printing or lettering is sand-blasted ( 12 & 13).
At least four different finishes may be put on the marble. They are in increasing order of fineness: a. Sand-rub produced by the surfacing machines or rubbing beds. b. "Sparkle" produced by belt sanders. c&d. Hone or polish produced on the special polishing machine ( 16). 600-grit aluminum oxide is used in a "putty paste" for final polishing. Most of the work in the Tate mill comes out with a sand-rub or "sparkle" finish.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bayley, W. S. (1928), Geology of the Tate quad., Ga.: Ga. Geol Surv., Bull. No. 43. Fairley, W. M., (in prep.). Hurst, V. J. (1955), Stratigraphy, Structure, and Mineral Resources of the Mineral Bluff quad., Ga.: Ga. Geol. Surv., Bull. No. 63. LaForge, Laurence and Phalen, W. C. (1913), U. S. Geol. Surv. Geol. Atlas, Ellijay Folio; No. 187. Keith, A. (1907), U.S. Geol. Surv. Geol. Atlas, Nantahala Folio: No. 143.
20

TATE MILL

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The overhead crane carries blocks from (1) to either the sand gangs (2) or the diamond gangs (3). After cutting, the slabs are carried to the surfacing machines (4). Additional cutting by the diamond saws (5), or wire saws (6), may be necessary. Finished or semifinished products are shipped from the mill at (7). Prior to shipment, the marble may be polished at the rubbing beds (8). Further processing may occur at the carborundum saws (9) where both cutting and polishing is possible. The contour machine (10), and the vertical wire saw (11) process the marble for the lathes (12). At the layout table (13 ), printing is done for the military headstones. The sandblasting rooms (14) do both printing and small ornamental designs. To complete the processing, intricate hand carving is done in area (15). Final polishing is done at the polishing machines (16).

Figure 9 21