The Cartersville fault problem : 1st annual field trip, Georgia Geological Society, September 30-October 1, 1966

l:!IJ LL Gi>OL. SOC AM.

'IOL. 2. : 8\iO. p;, 2

MAP Of' ROMC ANO CARTRSV/ll THRUST f'AUlTS.
!layes' 1891 Map

Errata
Description of STOP 7, p. 17 The dolostone is along the trend of the calcareous rocks at Alla-
toona Dam discussed by Kesler (1950, p. 9).
The long part of the cut shows phyllites and metasandstones. The phyllites are prominent to the west, the metasandstones to the east. The metaaandstones contain quartz, potassium feldspar, plagioclase, micaceous minerals, chlorite and a little carbonate. The rocks are intensely sheared.
Cross railroad track, follow main paved road east.
101.2 STOP 8 Amphibolite in large L & N Railroad cut to east of Allatoona
School. William M. Fairley, University of Notre Dame, Moderator.
p. 2, Fig. 4, metasubgraywacke metagraywacke
p. 12, line 21, metasubgraywacke = metagraywacke
p. 13, Fig. 4, metasubgraywaclce = metagraywacke p. 14, line 9, metasubgraywacke = metagraywacke

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

INTRODUCTION --------
Road Log - First Day Stops 1.-8\L-~

----- ------

- -- - -- -- - 3
_4

Road Log- Second Day Stops 9-15 - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - -- -- - - --- - _]9

Stop 1 Carter's Dam - Cartersville Fault -----------------

------------------ --------------------------------------------------- 7

Stop 2 Georgia Route 53 - Cartersville FaulL.. ------------- ---------------- -----------------------------------------------12

Stop 3 F airmount, Georgia - Cartersville Faull

- - -----~----

_ 14

Stop 4 FJexatile Slate Mine - Cartersville Fault -------------- -------- ......................................14

Stop 5 Cass Station, Georgia- Upper Rome Formation -Folds and Faults................................. . ---------------- ...16
Stop 6 Paga # 1 - Barite Mine......... --------------------- .. _____________. .................... --------------------------------- ___________16

Stop 7 L & N Railroad Cut - Schists and Dolostones .......... ........................................---------------------------------17

Stop 8 Allatoona Railroad Cut - Amph.iboJitc....... - -------------------- --- - ---- ----------------17

Stop 9 H. E. Smith Property - Middle Rome Formation - Folds and Faults ....... ------------------ ....................20

Stop 10 Wolfpen Gap Road - Weisner Section........... ............. . -------------------------------------------------- ................21

Stop 1.1 Breccia.................................. ___________.. ._ ................. ................................ ..................... .......................24

Stop 12 Wolfpen Gap Road- Contact with Corbin Gneiss. ------------- - - - - - 24

Stop 13 0)Qper Branch Landing - Corbin Gneiss - Lunch

26

Stop 14 Allatoona Dam - Weisner Formation (?) - - - --------- - - -- -- - -- - - _27

Stop 15 Cooper Branch - Contact with Corbin Gneiss

27

The Cartersville Thrust at Cartersville, Georgia ....................... ------------------------------------------------------ .....................28 by William M. Fairley, University of Notre Dame

Comments by A. S. Furcron ------------- -------------- ------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- ...................33

1. B. Hadley - -- - -- -

,_ _ _34

John Rodgers.. -----------------------------------------------------------------3 6

Bibliography - - ----- ---- -- --------

---- - 37

1

LiST OF ILLUSTR ATIONS

Location of Field Trip Stops_____________________ ----------- ______ __ . - - - -- - --- ....... ____________Front Cover

Hayes' 1 ~91 Map of Cartersville Region.................. .....- - __ ------------- .. ...... Inside Front Cover

Hayes' Map of 1900- - - - - - - - - -

Inside Back Cover

Fairley's Map (this paper) of correlations northeast of Cartersville area________ _ .Outside Back Cover

P age

Figure 1-Topographic Map of Carter's Dam Site, showing boring and section locations and fau lt trace after

Coogan et al., 1963 --------

9

Figure 2-Geologic Section after Coogan ct al., 1963

____ to

Figure 3- Geologic Map, showing location of Stops 2. 3, and 4; and isogrud lines in the Fairmount, Georgia,

arca

................. ................ ................... ...................... .................11

Figure 4-Negative print of thin-section of graded mctasubgraywacke bed from roadeut along Georgia Route

53, 1-1h mi . east of U.S. Route 411 intersection --- .

_ 13

F igure

5-Equal-area diagrams of plots of cleavage poles from slate west of Cartersville Fault and p.lots of lineations from east of the Fattlt in the map area (Figure 3). The diagrams have been divided into areas representative of the percent of cleavage poles or lineations which fall. within one percent of the area of the circle. North is at the top or the circles; so, most of the cleavage p lanes strike NE and dip from 45 SE, and lineations strike NW and are about horizontal. _____13

Figur.e 6-Bcd between Conasauga carb<.mate and slate truncated by Cartersville Fault at Flexatile Mine. Ocoee? Precambrian phyllite has been thrust over Conasauga Cambrian rocks . _ ____15

Figure ?-Photograph of clay after deformation. The lines were originally straight, and the ellipses were

circles ( 1-Y<I inches in diameter). The plate-s moved in a direction fro m the bottom toward

the top. . -------- ...... --------------------------- - -

---------------- ______________31

2

INTRODUCTION
This is the first of a series of annual field trips to be sponsored by the Georgia Geological Society which, it is hoped, will stimulate better understanding of Georgia geology. The problem to be studied this year is the Cartersville Fault. The existence and location of a major thrust .fault, the Cartersville F ault, separating the Valley and Ridge Province from the Piedmont Province in Georgia, is well established both north and southwest of the town of Cartersville. However, in the area east and southeast of Cartersville, the location and very existence of the fault have been questioned. The purpose of this field trip is to examine the area in question and throw what light is possible on the problem.
The CartersviiJc Thrust Fault was named by Hayes (189J) (See inside front cover.) who showed it passing northward through the town of Cartersville. In I 900 he published a map showing the Fault a few mi les cast of town (See inside back cover.). LaForge (Hull, LaForge and Crane, 1919, p. 53) concluded that "later studies have tbroWJl some doubt on the existence of a fault along this boundary and have made it seem not unlikely that the rocks next cast of it, which Hayes regarded as older than the Weisner, arc the lower part of that formation. There is no doubt of the existence of a great fault north of Pinelog Creek or of one southwest of Pumpkinvine Creek, but there is reason to suspect that the northern one swings eastward around the north side of Pinelog Mountain and that the southern one continues northeastward [rom the P umpkinvine along the southeast side or the granite instead of tuming northward as Hayes mapped it. The two may join to form a continuous faul t around the east side of Pinelog Mountain and the granite areu instead of along the west side, but this has not been determined, ami the whole question of lhc course of the Cartersville fault across the Cartersville district is stm unsettled."
Crickmay ( 1933) and Butts (1946) (See front cover.) seem to follow the second of Hayes' interpretations with minor modificatioos, but because of the small scale of these maps it is difficult to compare them. Kesler (1 950 ) decided that there is no major fa ult at all. Croft ( 1963) shows a number of thrust faults passing through the Cartersville mineral district, but believed that the Cartersville Fault (sic) lays east of the district as did LaForge. The conclusion one must draw from this brief review is that if the Cartersville Thrust Fault exists in the Cartersville district, no one know where it is.
The importance of the problem is this. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to establish stratigraphic relations between fossi liferous sediments of the Valley and Ridge and the nonfossil ifcrous and metamorphosed sediments of the Piedmont where the two arc separated by a major thrust fault. If, however, an area exists where no major fault separates the Provinces then it n1ay be possible to establish correlations across the boundary zone and these correlations could be extended within the separate Provinces to areas where the fuult does exist.
On this field trip, exposures north of Cartersville will be visited where a major fault is known to exist and the evidence for it is clear fr om a break in the stratigraphic sequence and an abrupt change in metamorphic grade. In the area immediately east of Cartersville, exposures showing a gradual change in Inctamorphism with possibly no major break in the stratigraphic sequence will be visited.
Contributors to this guidehook have presented their points of view with the intention of stimulating thought and discussion and they do not consider the problem settled.
3

0.0
1.3 1.9 6.7-6.8 8.9 9.6 10.6
11.6 11.7 12.0 12.4 12.5 13.6 14.4 15.0

ROAD LOG - FIRST DAY STOPS 18
Assemble 8:00 AM Smith Motel, Kennesaw, Georgia, 5 miles north of Marietta, Georgia, on west side of US Route 41.
Smith Motel, TURN LEFT on US Route 41 north. NOTE: NEXT 11 MILES lN CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF PRECAMBRIAN(?) OR PALEOZOIC(?) AGE ALONG US ROUTE 41 NORTH. Amphibolite, on right. Weathered schists, steeply dipping to southeast.
Exposure of granite at Allatoona Creek. crossing arm of Allatoona Lake.
Cobb-Bartow County Line; amphibolite, dipping 45 southeast.
Amphibolite, with foliation dipping 20-40 southeast, may be traced to railroad cut to north (Stop 8). Carbonaceous phyllite dipping southeast, on left. Cartersville Fault (?) in valley (Location according to Croft, 1963.); definite Paleozoic sequence to west.
NOTE: NEXT 9 MILES IN CAMBRIAN SHADY AND WEISNER FORMATIONS, DEEPLY WEATHERED, ALONG US ROUTE 41 NORTH. Pumpkinvjne Creek crossing. Shady Formation deeply weathered, on left. Iron ore pit in Weisner Formation, on left. L & N Railroad overpass.
Weisner Formation, on right. Shady Fmmation, on right. Red Top Mtn. State Park junction, on right.
Allatoona Reservoir road, on right. 4

16.0 16.5 16.7-17.1 17.6 17.8
20.3
22.3 24.4 27.1 27.7 31.5 31.7 31.9 32.6 34.5 36.1 36.5 37.0 37.3 37.5

Thompson-Weinman plant, on right. Shady Formation, old barite pit on right. Unit in Shady Formation. 1st traffic Jight in Cartersville, Georgia. Ranch House on right; town of Cartersville, Georgia, on left; barite mining in distance, on right. TURN RIGHT on US Route 411 north; Shady Formation on left. NOTE: NEXT 23 MYLES lN ROME (?) AND CONASAUGA FORMATIONS OF CAMBRIAN AGE ALONG US ROUTE 411 NORTH. Gray shales in Rome Formation, on right. Exposure of shales of Rome Formation (?). Center of White, Georgia. Conasauga limestone. Rydal, Georgia, Post Office, on right. Conasauga limestone. Junction with Georgia Route 140, on right. Unweathered Conasauga shale on right; town of Pine Log, Georgia, on left. Conasauga limestone and shale. Conasauga shale. Conasauga limestone. Conasauga shale. Conasauga shale. Bartow-Gordon County line.
5

3X.O 38.1 38.8 39.1 39.5 40.7 41.6 42.1 42.8 44.l 46.2 46.4- 46.5 47.4 48.9 49.7 49.9 50.7 51.6 52.1 52.4 53.1 54.1

Salacoa Creek crossing. Conasauga shale. Conasauga shale. Traffic light, Fairmount, Georgia. Junction with Georgia Routes 53 and 143, on right Conasauga shale. Pin Hook Creek crossing. Conasauga shale. Conasauga shale. Ranger, Georgia, Post Office. Junction with Georgia Route 156. Conasauga limestone with white gash veins, on right. Conasauga limestone, on right. Oakman, Georgia. Conasauga shale, on left. Conasauga limestone. Junction with Georgia Route 156, on right. Coosawattee River crossing. Conasauga shale. Conasauga shale. TURN RIGHT on Carter's Dam road. Crossing Fault Zone between Conasauga shale and limestone (west) and Ocoee Series graywacke and phyllites (east).
6

STOP 1

54.3

STOP 1: On the north side of the Coosawattee River. Herb H. Fields, US

Corps of Army Engineers, (moderator) .

Part A: Fault Zone is exposed on south side of river at mouth of tunnel. The dip
oi fault plane is approximately 60 east. The Conasauga Group is probably
just west of the sheurcd zone, but is covered with alluvium. The shales of the Conasauga Group is exposed along the road immediately to the south in a deformed zone that is at least 50 feet wide. The break between the phyllites and the shales can be located within 3 feet.

Two cores showing the Fault Zone are laid out for observation in the flat area to the cast.

Logs by H. D. Lowe, US Corps of Army Engineers, (edited by Robert D. Bentley). LOG X-90

Surface- 20.8' Overburden (talus), red sandy clay (with angular rock fragments and a few isolated boulders) (Boxes I and 2).
20.8'- 61.0' Saprolite (Boxes 2 and 3).
61.0'- 70.4' Ocoee Series graywackes, very badly weathered with thick decomposed mncs (Boxes 3 and 4) .
70.4'_ 89.4' Ocoee Series phyiJite, very badly weathered, shows remnants of flaser structure (Box 4).
89.4'-107.9' Fault zone (Box 4 ).
107.9'-135.1' Conasauga shale, calcareous, badly weathered, partially to totally decomposed. badly broken (Boxes 4 and 5).
135.1'-148.6' Conasauga shale, calcareous, weathered, with few decompo:scd zones, badly broken (Boxes 5 and 6).
148.6'-177.9' Conasauga shale, calcareous, fresh, with steeply dipping folia dipping 50 to 70 (Boxes 6, 7, and 8).

LOG X-91
Surface- 48.8' Red sandy clay, with quartzite and argillite fragments and few quartzite boulders (Boxes 1, 2, and 3). 7

48.81- 61.01

LOG X-91-(Continued)

STOP 1
(Continued)

Ocoee Series graywackes, weathered, with argillaceous quartzite bands, with stained joints (Box 4).

61.0'- 7:1.2' Ocoee Series graywacke, massive, har.d (Boxes 4 and 5).

7 1.2'- 76.0' Ocoee. Series argill ite, with abundant highly a rgillaceous quartzite bands (Box 5).

76.0'- 110.1' Ocoee Series phyllite, slf foliatcd folia dip 40 to 60 ; core breaks easily along folia; highly pryritiferous in isolated zones (Boxes 6 and 7).

110.11-1 37.5' Ocoee Series graywacke, massive, hard (Boxes 8 a nd 9).

137.51-140.71 Ocoee Series phyllite, flascr structure, with thin inte rcalated quartzite (Box. 9) .

140.71-144.7' Ocoee Series graywacke with argillite stringers a nd augen, highly contorted, sl/flaser structure (Box 10).

144.7'- 153.7' Ocoee Series graywacke lincatcd, slf argillaceous, bard (Box 10) .

153.71-164.8' Ocoee Series graywacke, highly argillaceous, sl flincatcd, with argillite bands dipping 50 to 60 ; core breaks easily along lineation and bands (Box 11 ).

164.8'- 170.1.' Ocoee Series phyllite, sljflaser structure, with steeply dipping contorted folia, some slickensided joints (Box 12).

170.1 1-174.9' Ocoee Series graywacke, argillaceous, with phyllite bands, sl f sliekensided (Box 12).

j74.9'- l75.71 Ocoee Series phyllite, slj graphitic ( Box 12).

175.7'-183.1' Ocoee Series phyllite, flaser structure, contorted, consisting of black phyllite with intercalated quartzite units, slickensided (Box 'I 2), "Fault Zone."

183.l 1-1 84.W Ocoee Series phyllite, Haser structure, with inte rcalated quartzite and calcan~OU!) phyllite units (Box I2), "Fault Zone."

184.8'-197.7' Conasauga shale, calcareous, contorted, steeply dipping (70 to 90 ) folia, with a bundant calcite laminae ( Box 13).

Figures l and 2 show the location of cores and a cross-section across the OcoeeConasauga contact at this site.*
STOP 1: Part R: We will load on to vehicles for transport to overlook of dam construc tion. The Ocoee Series rocks are dominantly graywackes with minor interbeds of phyllites folded in a series of NW-SE trending folds. F olds can be seen on the far side of the dam. A prominent joint system trending N 70-80 E, dipping at high angles can be seen on tbe cliffs on the south side of the dam.

*After Coogan, Richard and Bryan, Jack H. 1963, "Interpretation of Core Borings Across the Ococc-Cona~au ga Contact at Carter's Dam Site, Murray County, Georgia": G~or~:iu Mineral Newsletter, Y. 15, No. 3-4.
8

\-- f:_T;ENN.- (}

.STOP 1
(Continued)

\Jr~.CA RrcRS oA'r.r..~trE

\

<>Cartersville

""

OATLANTA

\

\

"Macon

'
' '"' \ ' \

Figure

Topographic mop of Carters Dam Site area showing boring and section locations and fault trace.

' ; z - ~~~9.., '-<

GEOLOGIC SECTION A-A
(LOOKING SOUTH)

SCALE : r''=50'

50'

0

50FT

El . 900

Et. eoo
....... 0

OCOEE SERIES
(Phyllite with occa sional Quartzite beds in this section)

Et. 7oo

e: 1. eoo

C-8

r_ ' ~',,,9/' I Y h {f"J'< ,' )1

/HI' A :ASV ,~W ,', /"/ //ZH<?"'Vs:: II

II

Jl= I

* NOTE :

Photographs of core from these points ore shown by number on Plate I.

CONASAUGA
(Folio ted Marble and Colcoreous Phyllite in this section)

Figure 2 . - Geologic Section A- A

0 cn
~~
50
;: ""0
~
~ --'

EXPLANAT I ON

CONASAU GA GROU P n

)> ~
ClJ ::0

Lim e ston e, Do Ioston e, and Slate

):>
z

150 0 - 4000 1?

OCOEE SERIES?

Metagraywacke, Schi st

2500' +

-o
::0

fT1

Metosiltstone

(")

2000 - 25 00'

):> ~

ClJ ::0

)>

Upper Phyllite

z

0 - 5 00'

M etog roywo c ke, Phyllite 600 - rooo'

Lower Phyllite
0- 30 0'
Cartersvi ll e Th r u st Faul t

Fault Dip Syncl ine Bedding

- 21
14
--L

1 One Mil e___J
Fig. 3-Geologic Map, showing location of Stops 2, 3, and 4, and isograds in the Fairmount, Georgia, area (Smith, !. W., 1959).

55.5 59.1 59.8 60.2
60.2 61.5 61.9

TURN AROUND. Return to US Route 411.

STOP 2

TURN LEFT on US R oute 411 south.

NOTE: RETRACE ROUTE TO JUNCTION WITH GEORGIA ROUTE 53 ON NORTH SIDE OF FAIRMOUNT, GEORGIA.

TURN LEFT on Georgia Route 53 east (north side of Fairmount).
Conasauga shale, on right.
STOP 2: Cartersville Fault. James W. Smith, Georgia Geological Survey,
(moderator).

NOTE: HIGHWAY TRAFFIC TS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, WAIT FOR FLAGMEN TO ACCOMPANY YOU ACROSS THE ROAD, AND STAY ON
THE FAR SIDE OF THE ROAD FROM THE PARKING AREA WHILE GOING UP AND DOWN THE ROAD.

The first road-cut uphill (east) from the parking area contains Conasauga shale* which has weathered light greenish gray. Further uphill in the same road-cut is
Conasauga dolostone that is light gray and fine- to medium-crystalllne. A few
feet above the east end of this road-cut are exposures of a gray, crinklcy phyllite which is probably equivalent to the Precambrian Ocoee Series. Certainly the Ocoee rocks here ar:e not lithologically correlative of any of the rocks of Paleozoic age in the Valley and Ridge Province to the west. The Cartersville Fault would have to be between the Conasauga Group and the Ocoee Series (figure 3).

At the third major road-cut there is much gray mctasubgr.aywacke interbedded with dark gray phyllite. Beds dip about 15 degrees east and are rightside up as indicated by graded bedding (figure 4).

The Ocoee Series here is about 5,000 feet thick; so, the displacement along the Cartersville Fault is at least this distance. Direction of movement along the fault wos probably largely northwest, for lineations east of the fault and slaty cleavage west of the fault show that the major translation within the rocks was to the northwest (figure 5). These lineations are very prominent and most are positioned northwest. Some lineations are quartz grains deformed so that they are up to 30 times longer than they arc thick. This much elongation is believed to be associated only with the major direction of movement in deformed rocks.
TURN AROUND. Return to US Route 411 via Georgia Route 53.

TURN LEFT on US Route 411 south in Fairmount, Georgia.
NOTE: WE WILL EAT A BOX LUNCH IN THE CITY PARK IN THE CENTER OF THE CfTY AT 12:00 NOON, GEORGIA TIME. TURN LEFT at traffic light in Fairmount, Georgia, on paved road .

*Conasauga argillaceous units have slaty cleavage throughout the region north to south and are called slates by JWS.
12

STOP 2
(C ontinued)

Fig. 4- Negative print of thin-section of graded metasubgraywacke bed
from roadcut along Ga. Route 53, J-1/2 mi. east of U.S. R oute 411 inter-
section (Smith, 1957). Actual size.

42 SLATEY CLEAVAGE POLES
N

85 LINEATIONS

D
0-5~


7-9 "4

rnm
12-14"4

m
16-19 "4

D ~a UIID ~ -
o-2-x. 3 - 7% s-14"4 15-231. 2.4'-34% 3539"4

Fig. 5-Equal-area diagrams of plots of cleavage poles from slate west of Cartersville Fault, and plots of lineations
from east of the Fault in the map area (Figure 3). The diagrams have been divided into areas representative of the percent of cleavag.e poles or lineations which fall within one percent of the area of the circle. N orth is at the top of the circles; so most of the cleavage planes strike NE and dip 45 SE, and lineations strike NW and are about horizontal (Smith, 1959).

13

STOPS 3 & 4

60.2

TURN AROUND. Return to US Route 411 via Georgia Route 53.

61.5

TURN LEFT on US Route 41 t south in Fairmount, Georgia.

NOTE: WE WiLL EAT A BOX LUNCH lN THE CITY PARK l N THE CENTER OF THE CITY AT 12:00 NOON, GEORGIA TIME.

6 1.9

TURN LEFT at traffic light in Fairmount, Georgia, on paved road.

62.4

STOP 3: Cartersville Fault; Just east of Fairmount, Georgia. James W. Smith,

Georgia Geological Survey, (moderator). Walk up dirt road to east; view fault

exposed on north side of road.

Ocoee Series phyllite and metasubgraywacke have been thrust over Conasauga shale. The Fault is well exposed and dips about 47 east. X-ray diffraction traces show sharper peaks for the micas of the Ocoee Series phyllite than for the Conasauga shale. This indicates that the phyllite has been metamorphosed to a higher degree than the shale; so, there is a metamorphic break across the Fault. Isograds roughly parallel the Fault (figure 3); therefore, this metamorphic break proves a vertical component of movement along the Cartersville Fault since regional metamorphism.
A clay zone containing limonite and wad occurs at several places along the Cartersville Fault east of Fairmount. Here, this zone is about l-1/2' thick and contains a light gray, quartz mylonite up to 2" thick.

TURN AROUND. Return to US R oute 41 1.

62.9

TURN LEFT on US Route 411 south at traffic light.

NOTE: FOLLOW US ROUTE 4 11 SOUTH TO FLEXATILE SLATE MlNE, 3.6 MILES.

66.5

TURN LEFT into Flexatile Slate Mine.

67.0

STOP 4: Flexatile Slate Mine exposure of Cartersville Fault: James W. Smith,

Georgia Geological survey, (moderator).

Geology: The shale here is similar to the Conasauga shale of the previous two stops, except fresh, greenish gray shale is exposed in the mine. On the east side of the open-pit that is presently being mined, the Cartersville Fault is exposed (figure 6). T he fault plane dips 45 degrees east. The bedding plane between Conasauga shale and Conasauga carbonate rock has been truncated; both rock types are in contact with phyllite that is most likely Precambrian Ocoee Series rocks. The Fault Zone is quite permeable, for when it was penetrated underground in the mine, much water came from the Zone.
14

STOP 4
(Continued)

Figure 6--Bedding plane (d.ashed line), between Conasauga carbonate and slate, truncated hy Cartersville Fault (solid ink line) at Plexatite mine. Ocoee(?) Precambrian(?) phyllite has been thrust over Conasauga Cambrian rocks (Smith, 1959).

Mining: The quarry was first opened in 1909 and operated until 1911 or 1912, and it was worked from February to June 1913. The Richardson Company built a plant here in 1920 to make split slate roofing shingles. A short time later the slate was ground to make granules for coating roofing paper, and production of split slate was discontinued. Funkhouser Mills bought the operation in 1927 and the ground slate finer than granule size was then utilized as a filler in fertilizer. lt'> use in fertilizer is now banned, but it is used as a filler in the asphaltic coating on roofing paper. In 1959 Funkhouser Mills merged with Ruberoid Company. The operation has been continuous since 1920, except for a month at a time during the Depression.

Mining started as an open-pit; then in 1933 underground mining began but was not continuous underground until 1938. The second open pit was started in 1963, and underground mining was discontinued.

TURN AROUND and return to US Route 411.

67.5

TURN LEFT on US Route 411 south.

NOTE: RETRACE ALONG US ROUTE 411 SOUTH (15 MILES) TO US ROUTE 41 IN CONASAUGA AND ROME FORMATIONS.
15

R2.7 gJ.2 83.3 g5.1
85.5 93.2 94.1 94.2
95.3

TURN RIGHT on US Route 41 north.

STOPS 5 & 6

Rome Formation shale and carbonate rocks.

Pettit Creek crossing.

STOP 5: Cass Station, Georgia, road-cut in Rome Formation, calcareous silt-
stone, sandstones, and shales. Robert D. Bentley, Georgia State CoJiege, (moderator).

Several folds and faults exposed in cut show characteristic style of deformation in this part of the Valley and Ridge Province near a fault zone. Croft ( 1963) mapped a fault through this cut. Note that the shale units display a slaty cleavage and show slight recrystallization. The local faults follow two trends north goo west and north-south, and show high angle reverse displacement with some lateral components. Ripple marks and crossbedding are found in some of the coarser grained units. The fault zones are filled in places with quartz-carbonate-feldspar (?) (kaolinite) veins.

NOTE: CONTINUE ON NORTH ON US ROUTE 41 TO TURN AROUND.

TURN AROUND and follow US Route 41 south through Cartersville, Georgia, across the Etowah River to junction with Georgia Route 294 in Rome, Shady and Weisner Formations.
TURN RIGHT on Georgia Route 294.

TURN RIGHT on Georgia Route 3.

TURN LEFT on gravel road leading to Paga No. 1 Mine.
NOTE: SHADY DOLOSTONE EXPOSED IN OLD PITS ALONG ROAD LEADING TO PRESENT MINING SITES.

STOP 6: Paga No. l Barite Mines. James W. Smith, Georgia Geological Sur-
vey, (moderator).
At least 50 stratigraphic feet of Shady dolostone are exposed in pinnacles in the Paga No. 1 Barite Mine. The dolostone is largely dark gray and some is light gray, fine-to medium-crystalline, thin to massively bedded, and contains a few phyllitic partings indicating that these rocks have been metamorphosed. Barite and quartz form prominent veinlets in a few of the pinnacles.
Kesler (1950) mapped this dolostone as Rome Formation; however, Croft (1963) mapped it as Shady dolostone. John Rodgers (personal communication, 1966) feels that Kesler confused the stratigraphy and mapped Shady as Rome, and Rome as Conasauga.
16

STOP 7
Mining: The Paga No. 1 Barite Mine has been operated almost continuously since 1916; and this is the largest open-pit in the Cartersville area. ThompsenWeinman Company is the present owner. The minable barite occurs in the clay residuum from dolostone. The residuum is up to 150' thick, and the average content
of barite is about 15 per cent by weight.

TURN AROUND and retrace route to Georgia Route 3.

96.4

TURN RIGHT on Georgia Route 3. Continue east on Georgia Route 3 until just

east of US Route 4 1 (underpass) in Shady and Weisner Formations.

98.4

BEAR LEFT on paved road (to Allatoona) just pass underpass (US Route 41).

98.5

Mosteller brothers' iron ore mine in Weisner Formation, on left.

99.2

Cartersville Fault (?) in valley, Shady Formation (west) against Ocoee Series

(?) or Talladega Se-ries (?) (east), according to Croft ( 1963 ), Hayes ( 1901), and

LaForge (1919).

99.8

STOP 7: Large L&N railroad-cut in phyllite and schists and dolostonc.'l. Wil-

liam M. Fairley, University of Notre Dame, (moderator).

Interbedded ampbibolites and quartz-albite layers occur here. The high quartz content of the quartz-albite layers suggest that they are of sedimentary origin, but it is difficult to conceive of a source rock(s) which would simultaneously supply so much quartz and albite with so few other constituents. (See the modal analyses, Table 1). The amphibolites are of even more uncertain origin. Kesler (1950) considered them to be para-amphibolites; Croft (1963) said they are ortho-amphibolites. This outcrop is the northwestern-most of several bands of amphibolites. Those to the southwest were considered by Hurst ( 1952, p. 41) to be para-amphibolites, but he has suggested an igneous origin for the (probable) equivalent of this body where it crops out on U.S. Route 4 I just to the southwest (Hurst, 1955a).

The following interpretation is offered for the purpose of discussion. The amphibolites in this cut lie high in the Murphy syncline, perhaps in the Andrews Formation. To the northeast similar amphibolites lie in the Andrews Formation which Fairley (unpublished) bas traced from the Tate quadrangle, although the intervening area has not been completely mapped. They formed during a time of early Paleozoic volcanism which terminated the quiet conditions under which the Murphy Marble was deposited and re-established a regimen of clastic deposition (the Andrews Formation). Volcanic and sedimentary components are intermixed in variable proportions, perhaps in a manner similar to that suggested by Clarke (1964, p. 20) for amphibolites in Alabama. Possibly this amphibolite is roughly equivalent to the Marble Hill hornblende schist which may contain volcanic
components even though its variable quartz and carbonate contents indicate a sedi-
mentary origin. To be real speculative, we can even suggest that the metagabbro at Marble Hill in the Tate quadrangle lies in the neck of one of the volcanoes which produced the materials for the amphibolites. The relatively unmctamorphosed state of the gabbro, however, suggests that it was intruded after the first regional deformation.
17

Hornblende Epidote, etc.* Plagioclase** Quartz Chlorite & Biotite Sphene Opaque Carbonate

Table 1: Modal Analyses of Amphibolites and Associated Rocks.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 73 67

43 73 70 55

3

5

2 tr

17 13 21

49 17 22 39 20

7 12 16

37

3

7 43 10

3

2

3

8

17 20

tr

1

tr

1

1

1

1

2

1 tr

1

tr

tr

1

2

1

6

2 4

STOP 7
(Continued)

9 10 11

3

5 64

2 17

47 46 11

44 36

6

5 11

tr

l

tr

1

tr

*Clioozoisite and zoisite are included with epidote. Note the relationship between this mineral group and plagioclase in the amphibolites.
**Most, if not all, the plagioclase is albite. Very small grains are untwiimed and difficult to distinguish from quartz so that the stated percentages are only approximate.
Number 5 is probably from a shear zone.

NOTE: TURN AROUND AND RETRACE ROUTE TO US ROUTE 41.

105.7

Go under overpass, TURN LEFT on US Route 41 south.

118.1

End of lst Days' Log.

18

ROAD LOG - SECOND DAY STOPS 9-15

0.0
1.3 1.9 6.7-6.8 8.9 9.6 10.6 11.3-11.5
11.6 11.7 12.4 12.5 13.6 14.4 15.0 16.0

Assemble 8:00 AM Smith Motel, Kennesaw, Georgia, 5 miles north of Marietta, Georgia, on west side of Route 41. Smith Motel, TURN LEFT ON US Route 41, north. NOTE: NEXT ll MILES IN CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF PRECAMBRIAN (?) OR PALEOZOIC(?) AGE ALONG US 41 NORTH.
Amphibolite, on right. Weathered schists, steeply dipping to southeast. Exposure of granite at Allatoona Creek crossing arm of Allatoona Lake. Cobb-Bartow County line; amphibolite, dipping 45 southeast.
Amphibolite with foliation dipping 20-40 southeast may be traced to railroad cut to north (Stop 8). Carbonaceous phyllite, dipping southeast, on left. Cartersville Fault (?) in valley (location according to Croft, I963); definite Palcozoic sequence to west. NOTE: NEXT 9 MILES IN CAMBRIAN SHADY AND WEISNER FORMATIONS, DEEPLY WEATHERED, ALONG US ROUTE 41 NORTH. Pumpkinvine Creek crossing. Shady Formation, deeply weathered, on left. L & N Railroad overpass. Weisner Formation, on right. Shady Formation, on right. Red Top Mtn. State Park junction, on right.
Allatoona reservoir road, on right.
Thompson-Weinman plant, on right. 19

16.5 16.7- 17.1 17.6 17.8
20.3
22.3 24.4 27.1 27.7 31.5 31.7 31.9 32.0 33.6 33.7 33.8 34.0 34.1 35.0 35.3

Shady Formation, old barite pit, on right.

STOP 9

Shady Formation.

1st traffic light in Cartersville, Georgia.

Ranch House, on right; town of Cartersville, Georgia, on left; barite mining in distance, on right.

TURN RIGHT on US Route 411 north, Shady Formation on left.

NOTE: NEXT 12 MILES IN ROME (?) AND CONASAUGA FORMATIONS OF CAMBRIAN AGE ALONG US ROUTE 411 NORTH.

Gray shale in Rome Formation, on right.

Exposure of shales of Rome Formation (?).

Center of White, Georgia.

Conasauga limestone.

Rydal, Georgia, Post Office, on right.

Conasauga limestone.

TURN RIGHT on Georgia Route '140.

Conasauga Group limestone, on left.

Folds in Rome Formation(?) shales.

Crossroads.

Oak Hill Church, on left.

Rome Formation (?) shales and carbonate highly deformed. TURN RIGHT on narrow gravel road. BEAR RTGHT on gravel road .
STOP 9: H. E. Smith "Bull" Pasture. Robert D. Bentley, Georgia State College
and William M. Fairley, University of Notre Dame, (modr.:rators). This stop is in 20

STOP 10
an approximate position of the projection of the Fault along the base of Johnson Mountain above the Flexatile Mine to the north. Croft (1963) mapped the exposures in H . E . Smith's "Bull" pasture as his middle unit in the Rome F ormation. The rocks to the west are Rome shales and to the east are Shady dolostones. The rocks on the west side of the pasture arc calcareous phyllites which show evidence of two periods of deformation. Numerous small folds are found in the phyllitic units.

NOTE: CONTINUE ON MATN GRAVEL ROAD ACROSS SUGAR HILL CREEK BE ARING LEFT AT 1st CR OSSROADS.

37.4

TURN LEFT on US R oute 411 south.

40.5

Center of White, Georgia.

40.7

T URN LE FT on Wolfpen Gap-Miller's Chapel R oad.

40.8

Ncar fault (Croft, 1963) between Rome Formation (west) and his upper unit of

Shady Formation (east) .

41.4

Fanlt (Croft, 1963) between upper unit of Shady Formation (west) and upper

unit of Weisner Formation (east).

STOP 10: Section of Weisner Formation (upper?) along Wolfpen Gap R oad.
R obert D . Bentley, Georgia State College; W. Robert Power, Georgia Marble Company, (moderators).

Unit#: 1

Thickness: 45 ft.

2

2 ft.

3

1 ft. 10 in.

4

7 ft.

5

1 ft.

6

7 ft.

7

1 ft. 9 in .

8

2 ft. 8 in.

T he followi ng is a measured section (Richard D. Davis, Georgia State College) starting at fault on west to breccia zone on east along Wolfpen Gap Road. Croft (1963) mapped a continuation of the fault (Stop 5) between upper unit of Shady F ormation (west) and Weisner Formation (east).
D escription R ed and gray, weathered phyllites; local gouge zone. F ault zone.
M assive, gray metaquartzite with manganese oxide staining. Yellow-gray scricitic phyllite.
Quartz-ite.
Phyllite with mylonites. Mctaquartzite; strike and dip: N 30 E, 76 SE .
Phyllite.
M etaqua rtzite. 21

Unit#: 9

Thickness: 10 in.

10

18 ft.

11

3 ft. Ph in.

12

11 in.

13

8 in.

14

1 ft. 9 in.

15

5 ft. 3 in.

16

8 ft. 8 in.

17

4 ft.

18

24 ft.

19

119 ft.

20

2 ft.

21

2 ft. 8 in.

22

39 ft.

23

26 ft.

24

32 ft.

25

3 ft.

26

12 ft.

27

9 ft.

28

231 ft.

29

3 ft. 6 in.

30

29 ft.

31

46 ft.

32

6 ft. 6 in.

33

4 ft. 6 in.

Description Red and brown phyJlite, sheared.

STOP 10
(Continued)

Metaquartzite.

Buff weathered, gray, fresh phyllite.

Metaquartzite.

Gray-green on fresh surface; sheared phyllite.

Metaquartzite.

Deeply weathered phyllite with same metaquartzite beds.

Metaquartzite with fracture cleavage; manganese oxide along cleavage planes.

Yellow-brown weathered phyUite, gray-green where fresh.

Drecciated zone, metaquartzite .fragments with manganese oxide matrix.

Covered interval.

Metaconglomerate-quartz pebbles 1h" - ~" diameter.

Phyllite, gray-green on fresh surface.

Metaquartzite, strike and dip: N-S, 22 E.

Covered interval.

Metaquartzite, yellow-brown limonite stain, deeply weathered, strike and dip: N 46 W, 21 o SE.

Fault zone; phyllite with some metaquartzite; secondary iron staining.

Buff colored phyllite, gray with lavender banding on fresh surface; extremely :;heared and fractured; overlying units related by fault zone.

Alternating metaquartzites and phy1lites, yellow-brown and red iron staining, 6" lens of manganese oxide near center of unit, strike and dip: N 31 E, 26 SE.
Covered interval.
Alternating metaquartzites and phyllites, manganese oxide staining. Gray and red scr icitic phyllite, some metaquartzite, strike and dip: N 10 E, 38 SE. Red-gray phyllitic metaquartzite, deeply weathered.
Metaquartzite. Phyllite.

22

Unit# : Thickness:

34

3 ft. 8 in.

Description Phyllitic metaquartzite, deeply weathered.

STOP 10
(Continued)

35

33 ft.

Phyllite.

36

4 ft. 8 in.

Phyllite, reddish color and some metaquartzite.

37

30 ft.

Massive, light blue-gray metaquartzite with sulfide veins (pyrite? ) lJ8" to 2"

"SULFIDE STRIKE" thick, manganese oxide staining, strike and dip: N 28 E, 46 SE.

38

72 ft.

Phyllite.

39

21 ft.

Metaquartzite.

40

378 ft.

Covered interval.

41

17 ft.

Gray sericitic phyllite with some metaquartzite.

42

16 ft.

Alternating phyllites and metaquartzites, deeply weathered, strike and dip: N 26 E, 48 SE.

43

1 ft.

Shear zone.

44

42 ft.

Alternating metaquartzites and phyllites.

45

76 ft.

Dark gray sericitic phyllite; deeply weathered.

46

228 ft.

47

137 ft.

Covered interval.
Extremely fractured and weathered quartzitic phyllite, lower 20' - 40' of unit grades into fault zone.

48

48 ft.

49

8 ft.

50

12 ft.

51

67 ft.

52

756 ft.

53

407 ft.

54

298 ft.

Metaquartzite, vertical bedding. Sericitic phyllite and metaquartzites, vertical bedding. Metaquartzite, grading into fault zone of highly brecciated metaquartzites and phyllites. Fault zone, brecciate. Mostly covered. Saprolite, red-brown color. Fault (?) breccia, metaquartzite and phyllite fragments, zones of specular hematite.

3355 ft. Total Thickness (assuming no structural complications.)

23

41.7 42.0-42.4
42.7-42.8 42.8 42.95
43.0

Sulfide veins in massive metaquartzite (Unit 37).

STOPS 11 & 12

NOTE: CONTINUE ON EAST ON WOLFPEN GAP ROAD.
STOP 11: Brecciated Weisner Formation. Robert D. Bentley, Georgia State
College and W. Robert Power, Georgia Marble Company, (moderators).
Exposed on the north side of the road is approximately 300 feet of breccia of unknown origin. Thjs stop is in line with the location of the Cartersville Fault as shown by Hayes ( 1900) and the State Geologic map of Georgia (1939).

Problem: Is this the Fault? Slickensided fragments of metaquartzite and specular hematite can be found Locally along the cut. Some suggestion of stratigraphic units (quartzite, phyllite, etc.) can be seen on a gross scale. AIL units dip at moderate angles to the southeast. This zone appears to be typical of the crushed breccia zones mapped by Kesler ( 1950).

Sheared gray phyllite (Wilhite of Hayes) middle unit of Weisner Formation (Croft 1963), intensely sheared.

Sheared metaquartzite on right. TURN RIGHT on narrow gravel road.

STOP 12: Contact of Corbin gneiss on right in road gutter. Robert D. Bentley,
Georgia State College and W. Robert Power, Georgia Marble Company, (moderators).

The purpose of this stop is to show the contact relations of the Weisner lithology with the Corbjn gneiss. Here the contact can be located within a few feet in the saprolite in the road gutter on the east side of the road. The contact exposes to the northwest highly sheared quartzites of the Weisner (?) Formation and to the south coarse-grained Corbin gneiss. The contact zone is trending N 30 to 40 E, dipping 45 to 50 SE. Extreme crushing of all units west of the gneiss is apparent. Small 3"- 10" quartz zeins (?) of blue quartz show extreme cataclastic texture. The fine-grained phase of the immediate contact displays many small rounded and stretched grains of blue quartz in a ground mass of finer ground up quartz and muscovite. This zone is 4-8' thick and grades laterally into the sheared quartzite with scattered phyllitic layers of Weisner (?) Formation to the north. The Weisner (?) rocks are dipping uniformly 40-60 SE with intensely cataclastic textures. Scattered phyllitic layers are found from the contact, to the junction with the improved Wolfpen Gap road to the north.

TURN RIGHT, south, on narrow gravel road.

NOTE: THE ROUTE LEADING TO NEXT STOP FOLLOWS THE APPROXIMATE CONTACT FOR 5 MILES.
24

43.65 43.9 44.2 45.2 45.3 45.9 47.0 47.1 47.5 47.55 48.1 48.5 48.8 49.05 49.15 49.25 49.3 49.5
49.75
49.95
50.00

Contact of Corbin gneiss with Weisner Formation (?).

STOPS 11 & 12
(Continued)

Weisner metaquartzites.

Corbin gneiss, on right.

Corbin gneiss boulders.

Corbin gneiss boulders (USBM 1065-1 ? ).

TURN LEFT (sharp) on gravel road.

Cross Georgia Route 20. BE CAREFUL!

Rowlaud Springs Church, on left.

BEAR RIGHT on paved road-Double Springs, Georgia.

TURN SHARP LEFf on Georgia Route 294.

Boulder of Corbin gneiss, on right.

Contact (?) of Corbin gneiss with Weisner Formation (?).

Weisner phyllite unit showing multiple deformation.

Weisner (?) metaquartzite and conglomerate. Sheared Corbin gneiss in road-cut, to right. McKaskey Creek Road junction. Contact of Corbin gneiss (sheared and weathered) with basal (?) conglomerate.

Contact of Corbin gneiss and basal (?) conglomerate, on right (This is location of Stop 15.).
Picnic Area #2 road.
TURN LEFT on road to Cooper Branch Public Launching Ramp and Picnic Area #1.
Contact with Corbin gneiss and Weisner (?) Formation.
25

50.1

TURN LEFT into Picnic Area # 1.

STOP 13

50.2

STOP l 3: Cooper Branch Landing, Corbin gneiss. Benjamin A. Morgan, Geor-

gia State College, (moderator).

Excellent outcrops of Corbin gneis:s are exposes in the area of Cooper Branch Landing, about ~ mile north of the Allatoona Dam. A series of low rounded outcrops are particularly abundant near the lake shore, and fresh samples are easily obtained from both outcrops "in place" and from boulders and cobbles lying on the shore. The outcrops continue in the smaJJ islands in the lake immediately east of the boat landing. The Corbin gneiss is a coarse-grained, sheared rock with exceptionally large porphyroclasts of white microline, coarse-grained, blue quartz, and a fine grained, highly sheared matrix. consisting of these minerals as well as biotite, muscovite, garnet, and others. Banding in the rocks, defined by stringers and segregations of blue quartz, is usually either weakly present or entirely absent. An accurate modal analysis of a ve.ty coarse-grained rock with a non-homogeneous texture such as the Corbin gneiss is difficult to obtain. Several large blocks of Corbin gneiss were cut and macropoint count was made of microcline porphyroclasts and blue quartz utilizing several square feet of cut material. Mineral abundances of the matrix were obtained from examination of powders and several thin-sections.

The following modal analysis was thus obtained:

quartz

41

microcline

36

biotite

10

m u scovite

4

garnet

4

chlorite, opaque minerals, rutile, epidote, zircon

5

Quartz grains have a remarkably consistent and pronounced blue color. The coloration is attributed to the large number of very fine rutile particles incorporated in the grains; rutile can be identified only with a l OOOX magnification using an oil immersion lens.
Microclinc grains arc very large, often greater than 10 centimeters in length. Crushing and shearing of these grains is especially evident in thin sections which show bent or totaUy disrupted microcline grid twins and carlsbad twin sections; the crystals are characterized by extreme undulatory extinction. The large microcline crystals are considered as porphyeroclasts in view of their highly sheared character. Exsolution lamallae are not common and perthitic textures characterize only a few of the grains. A preliminary check of the composition of the microcline was made by measuring the (201) reflection angle using a Phillips Norelco X -ray diffractometer and copper radiation following the method of Tuttle and Bowen (1958). The plagioclase content of microcline was estimated to be about 20%; accurate determination would require the complete removal of quartz and thermal homogenization of the sample.
26

STOPS 14 & 15
Biotite is present in subordinate amounts. Jn thin section biotite has deep brown to yellow pleochorism; inclusions of rutile, apatite, and opaque minerals are common. Garnet is never abundant and usually it is partly replaced by chlorite and epidote.

No definite evidence for the origin of the Corbin gneiss can be given here. Jt should be pointed out, however, that the modal analysis of this unit indicates a bulk chemical composition rather far removed from the thermal minimum composition which Tuttle and Bowen studied. Rounded zircons arc common and may have once been detrital grains. Fine-grained schists are interbedded with the Corbin gneiss in many areas including a highly weathered zone in the Cooper Branch Landing area. These zones could be interpreted as relcct sedimentary bedding. Whether sedimentary or igneous in origin, the Corbin gneiss probably has had two or more periods of deformation which were accompanied by metamorphic changes in mineralogy and possibly bulk composition.
LUNCH STOP
NOTE: TURN AROUND AND RETURN TO GEORGIA HIGHWAY 294.

50.5

TURN LEFr on Georgia Highway 294.

50.9

STOP 14: Allatoona Dam : Weisner (?) Formation. Robert D. Bentley, Georgia

State College and W. Robert Power, Georgia Marble Company, (moderators).

NOTE: TURN AROUND, FOLLOW GEORGIA 294.

51.7

STOP 15: Contact of Corbin gneiss and metasediments. Robert D. Bentley,

Georgia State College, and W. Robert Power, Georgia Marble Company, (mod-

erators).

The following quote from Hayes (1901, p. 406) describes this stop: "This area of Corbin granite at one time probably formed an island, since it is surrounded,
in part at )east, by rocks derived from its waste. These are feldspathic conglom-
erates, in which the blue quartz and the porphyritic crystals of microcline, which characterize the granite, can be readily distinguished. In some places the transition from granite to conglomerate is so gradual that it is difficult to determine the exact boundary between the two formations. The development of the gneissoid structure in the granite evidently took place after it was deeply buried by sediments; for the alteration of the latter is even more marked than that of the granite itself. Whenever the granite is not bordered by coarse conglomerate or quartzite, it is in contact with black graphitic slates, which generally overlie the coarser sediments."

53.7

TURN LEFT at Sinclair station in Double Springs, Georgia.

54.3

Approximate contact with Corbin gneiss.

54.4

Highly contorted phyllites.

56.8

US Route 41 just north of Cartersville, Georgia.

End of Field Trip.

27

THE CARTERSVILLE THRUST AT CART.ERSVILLE, GEORGIA
by William M. Fairley
Introduction. Correlations parallel to strike arc relatively easy to make in the crystalline rocks of the Appalachians. Correlations perpendicular to strike are difficult to make. Of great interest are the correlations proposed across the strike which relate the rocks of the Valley and Ridge Province with those of the Blue Ridge and Piedmont Provinces. Kesler (J 950) made such correlations in the Cartersville district but generally they have not been accepted (Croft, 1963). The purpose of this discussion is to suggest that some of Kesler's correlations may be right, and any blanket denials of his conclusions are, in the present state of our knowledge, unwarranted. The reader should have the following maps of the Cartersville area at his disposal: Hayes (1900, p. 405) (See inside back cover. )-this map also appears in Watson ( 1904); Kesler (1950); and Croft (1963 ). An earlier map by Hayes (1891) and maps by Butts {1946), Crickmay (1936), and the Geologic Map of Georgia {1939) would be helpful.*
Acknowledgements. Part of this work was supported by the Georgia Geological Survey, and by the National Science Foundation under grant GP-3133.
Jarvis B. Hadley and M. G. Croft of the U.S. Geological Survey, and A. S. Furcron and James W. Smith of the Georgia Geological Survey read the manuscript and offered many criticisms and suggestions.
The Pl'oblem
The validity of Kesler's correlations depends on whether the Cartersville Thrust exists and, if so, its exact location. A brief review of opinions concerning the Thrust follows. (See also Kesler's review, 1950, p. 30.). The Thrust was named by Hayes (189{) who showed it passing northward through the town of Cartersville. (See inside front cover.) Tn 1900 he published a map showing the Fault a few miles to the east. (See inside back cover.) LaForge (Hull, LaForge, and Crane, 1919, p. 53) concluded that there is no major thrust through the entire central portion of the Cartersville district where Hayes had previously shown it. LaForge thought the Fault went to the east of the district, but he published no map. Crickmay (1933) and Butts ( 1946) seem to follow the second of Hayes' interpretations with minor modifications, but because of the small scale of these maps it is difficult to compare them. Kesler (1950) decided that there is no major thrust fault at all. Croft (1963) sided with LaForge. The conclusion we must draw from this brief review is that if the Cartersville Thrust exists in the Cartersville district, no one knows where it is.
Hayes (1900) and those who followed his general interpretations had one especially difficult problem in placing the Thrust. They all recognized rather pure quartzites as belonging to the Weisner Formation which is considered to be of Cambrian age. But outcrops of very similar quartzites occur at intervals far to the cast, all the way to the northwest corner of the Tate quadrangle. They had to divide these quartzites between a Cambrian part, the Weisner Formation, and a Precambrian part. Most of the Precambrian part was assigned to the Pine Log Conglomerate, the remainder to the Wilhite Formation. Efforts to differentiate the quartzite on the basis of partially carbonaceous metashales which were thought to occur in the quartzites to the east have not been successful as indicated by Croft ( 1963) who considers the shale as the middle unit of the Weisner Formation.
*Many of the formational names appearing in this discussion were of local usage or are out of date. King and his colleagues (1958) have elucidated a more modern terminology in North Carolina and Tennessee. Correlations southward into Georgia arc not yet well established.
28

LaForge (1 919) and Croft (1963) ci rcumvent the quartzite problem by having the thrust trend eastward, but this interpretation is very forced as the following discussion indicates. Two graphite (carbonaceous phyllite) pits are shown by Kesler (1950 ) in the southern part of the district (See footnote below for exact locations.). He shows them in the Rome Formation, but LaForge mapped that area as the Wilhite Formation. Carbonaceous outcrops occur between the two pits. On Croft's (1963) map the pits aren't shown, but the northern pit would be located in his Cambrian Weisner Formation, and the southern pit would be located in his Precambrian Ocoee Series, and he shows the Cartersville Thrust separating them.
To make matters worse, e'\len in the (sparingly) fossiliferous P aleozoic rocks, the stratigraphy is not well known. The Weisner Formation was identified by long-range correlations, and even at its type locality jn Alabama it is of uncertain age (Cressler, personal communication, 1966). L imestones and shales overlying the Weisner F ormation around Cartersville have been variously assigned to the Shady, Rome, and Conasauga F ormations.
The matters mentioned above pertain directly to the problem of faulting. How little we know with certainty about the Cartersville district in general can be furthe r. emphasized by considering that the amphibolites have been interpreted as para-amphibolitcs by Kesler ( 1950) and as orthoamphibolites by Croft ( 1963). The coarsegrained gneisses of the eastern part of. the district have b een interpreted as basement material serving as a source for the overlying sediments (Hayes, 1900, p . 406) , as granitizcd sedimentary rock (Kesler, 1950, p. 20), and as an intrusive rock (Crickmay, "1936, p. 1384; Croft, 1963, p. FF7).
Discussion
Considering all these uncertainties, .it should not be surprising that the present author does not intend to offer a complete solution to the geological problems o f. the Cartersville district. But a few observations are in order. T he most important point is that some of the rocks generally considered to be Paleozoic can be traced into the crystalline area. This is true of the metash ale-quartzite sequence included in the Wilhite Formation by L aForge, in the Weisner and Rome Formation by Kesler, (1950) and in the Weisner Formation by Butts (1.946) and by Croft ( 1963). This sequence is easily traced all the way into the Tate quadrangle where in part it constitutes the H iwassee Formation of Bayley ( 1928). The Hiwassee Formation is interbedded with the Great Smoky Formation ( Bayley, 1928, p. 49). The equivalence of the Wilhite and H iwassee Formations ( as the names arc locally used ) apparently h as been known for a long time, and was discussed briefly by Bayley (1928 p . 51). Only Kesler (1950) has gone so far as to suggest that this fact is incompatible with Hayes' concept of a major thrust fa ult. lf the Weisner Formation (which contains part of the Wilhite Formation of earlier workers) has been correctly identified by Kesler (1950 ) , Croft (1963), and many others, and if it is really Cambrian, Hayes' (1900) second position for the F ault must be incorrect because it truncates this unit. We need to take a long, hard look at the age and correlation of the "Weisner Formation".
Another point to consider is Kesler's (1950) conten tion that some of the limestones of the district grade eastward jnto shales. He is very likely correct. Hayes noted this as early a:~ 1891 (p. 148) . The critical matter is whether this graduation just involves Paleozoic rocks or whether the slightly metamorphosed shales of the adjacent P iedmont which may be Precambrian are involved. Examination of the outcrops along Georgia Route 140 which crosses the supposed Fault in the northeast part of the district suggests the reasonableness of Kesler's contention. R ocks to the west are certainly Paleozoic and consist o f shale and limestone. Eastward the limestone is Jess abundant and the shales more metamorphosed. Calcite-rich layers are found in metashales along the road well within the crystalline area. Still, a major thrust could b e concealed in the many areas lacking outcrops, and similar lithologies could be fortuitously juxtaposed on opposite sides of the fault . H ere we need detailed mapping and work on the minor minerals and microfossils, if any arc present, to test the correlation of these calcareous lithologies.
The southern pit is located just weJt of the lonf(itude line 84 45', about % mile from the southern border of the map. The ot!ter pit is located about 1.75 miles to the northeast of the first.
29

The author cannot refrain from speculating about one more point. Hurst and Schlee (1962, p. 21) contend that the "Fine-grained part of the Ocoee Series" shown on Salisbury's ( 1961) map overlies the Great Smoky Group. These fine-grained Ocoee rocks arc in part equivalent to the Wilhite Formation of Hayes (Salisbury, 1961, p. 39). Furcron and Teague (1947) show a bit of the Wilhite Formation a little farther south ncar Chatsworth, and the unpublished map of LaForge shows it, with one interruption, continuing into the Cartersville district. Now remember that the Wilhite and Hiwassee Formations are equivalent in the Cartersville-Tate area. 1f Hurst and Schlee ( 1962) are correct, and if all the Wilhite as mapped along tl1e western edge of the crystalline area is the same formation, then the Hiwassee Ponnation lies ahove the Great Smoky Group and is equivalent to the Nantahala Formation. If Croft (1963) is right that the middle unit of his Weisner Formation is Cambrian and that it contains parts of the old Wilhite Formation, then the Nantahala Formation must be Cambrian. But isn't that what many people have been saying all along? But is the Wilhitc-Hiwasscc Formation really equivalent to the Nantahala Formation? Bayley's ( 1928) map would indicate it is not, yet he pointed out the similarity of the two formations (p. 63). Crickmay ( 1936, p. 1383) says they are identical and that the Hiwassee and Nantahala Formations "come together" near Waleska. The present author has traced the Formations he mapped in the Tate Quadrangle (Fairley, 1965) to the southwest, and finds that the two formations do approach each other. Despite considerab.le work, it is still uncertain if they arc actually one formation. Cross-sections can be drawn of the Tate Quadrangle making the Canton, Nantahala and Hiwassee Formations equivalent, but some weird structures must be postulated around the Salem Church Anticline in order to do so.
At any rate, several lines of evidence indicate the feasibility of Kesler's interpretation of the Cartersville Thrust, and until someone can tell just where the Fault exists in the district, if it exists there, we should keep an open mind on the subject.
But we arc not to conclude that there is l10 Cartersville Thrust at all. We know the Fault exists to the north of the district (Smith, 1957; Coogan and Bryan, 1963). lt probably exists to the south of the district (Cressler, in preparation). Is it reasonable then to suggest the absence of the Fault in the heart of the Cartersville district? Jt probably is. The Cartersville Thrust foJlows a highly irregular path through Georgia and Alabama as the geologic maps of those states show. lt is possible that in the Cartersville district little or no movement took place along the Fault. The Fault could be hinged in the district with abundant movement both to the north and to the south. This explanation would circumvent all the aforementioned problems. The Fault enters the District at the north along the western slope of Johnson Mountain. It could die out in the lowland to the south and pick up again along the prominent hills south of the town of Cartt:rsville. When Kesler conducted field trips over Johnson Mountain, he picked the wrong place to demonstrate the difficulties or the faulting hypotheses.
If the Fault is actually hinged with little or no movement in the Cartersville district, we would be ahle to show how the movement took place and how the deformation was registered in the rocks. This can be done with a clay cake experiment which will also explain the arcuation and cross-folds mapped by Fairley (1965) in the Tate quadrangle. A few inches of soft clay arc placed upon adjacent metal plates a few inches wide and about 18 inches long. Reference lines and circles arc inscribed in the clay before deformation. If some of the strips arc slowly pulled forward at different rates while others remain stationary, the pattern shown in figure 7 develops. The circles which lie above the junctions of the plates are deformed into ellipses. Two sets of fractures form in the clay with the short axis of the ellipses, the direction of compression, bisecting them. Rocks in the :L.one of flowage would be expected to develop folds at right angles to the direction of compression rather than the sets of fractures. The arcuation in the Murphy Syncline corresponds to the lines inscribed on the clay. The lineation (crenulation as described by Fairley, 1965, p. 49) is the result of compression analogous to the compression which formed the eHipses. The relative orientations of the arcs and ellipses .in the left hand part of figure 7 should be compared with the trend of the Murphy Syncline and the crcnulations shown by Fairley ( 1965, p. 5 I). The arc (Fairley, 1965, p. 5.1) corresponds to the )eft hand portion of figure 7, and if we consider north in figure 7 to be located in the upper right corner of the page, the correspondence in orientation is apparent. The lineations at the top of the sketch map (Fairley, 1965, p. 51) do not 'fit the pattern because they are on the northeastward plunging end of the Salem Church Anticline. This experiment has provided us with an understanding of how the big arc in the Murphy Syncline formed and its relationship to the lineation. The effects of extension along the plates have not been fully
30

r
Fig. ?-Photograph of clay after de/ormation. The lines were originally straight, and the ellipses were circles (1 1.4 inches in diameter). The plates moved in a directon from the bottom toward the top.
investigated. The arcs on the right hand side of figure 7, if they exist jn nature at all, would correspond to areas in northern Georgia and southern North Carolina which arc not mapped in detail. 1f there are arcs in the structures to the north, then Hurst's 1955 Mineral Bluff Quadrangle occupies a location corresponding on figure 7 to the straight part of the line between arcs. Consequently he recorded a major period of folding followed by tightening of the folds, but no cross-folds (Hurst, 1955). LaForge and Phalen's map (19 I3) suggests the possibility of such arcs in northern Georgia, but the deformation plan presented here is intended primarily to explain structures in the Tate Quadrangle.
The same deformation plan can account for the geology along the Cartersville Thrust. The overriding rocks did not move uniformly to the northwest. Some segments moved further than others, some may have hardly moved at all. There was thrusting through most of the Cartersville district (Kesler, 1950, p. 33) and maybe even major thrustjng. But from what we know now it is possible that in the middle of the district tbe forward movement may not have been sufficient to completely disrupt the orginal stratigraphic relationships. The trend of the Cartersville Thrust as shown on the Tectonic Map of the United States (U.S. Geological Survey and A.A.P.G., 1962) should be examined to better visualize what the author has in mind.
Another Way to Look at the Problem
The substance of the preceding argument is this: that many of the rock units thought to lie west of the Cartersville Thrust (including fossiliferous rocks of known Cambrian age) are very similar, and perJ1aps equivalent to rock units of the Piedmont on the eastern side of the supposed thrust. So the posHion nnd very existence of the fault are in doubt.
The most extensive nearby work concerning the tectonic and stratigraphic relationships between Piedmont and Valley and Ridge rocks is that of King and his colleagues in Tennessee (Hamilton, 1961; Hadley and Goldsmith, 1963; King, 1964; Neuman and Nelson, 1965). King's (1964, p. 60) regional map shows the Chilhowee and Walden Creek Groups in the Cartersville district. This is, of course, an extrapolation based on reconnaissance work, and must be so considered . Specifically, King suspects that the pure quartzites are part of the Chilhowee Group, and the carbonates mapped by Kesler (1950) at the Cartersville Dam are part of the Walden Creek Group (personal communication, Dec., 1965) . The relationships between the Chilhowee, Walden Creek and Great Smoky Groups are obscured by complex faulting and jntertonguing, but the Chilhowee is probably largely younger than the Walden Creek which in turn is at least partly younger than the Great Smoky Group. The Wilhjte F ormation of the older literature on the Cartersville district js a typical lithology of the Walden Creek Group. Recalling that the Wilhite Formation is in part equivalent to the Hiwassee Formation of Bayley ( 1928) which he mapped under the
31

Great Smoky Group, it appears that King's suggestion further obscures the already confused relationship~ among these rocks. However, the results of our geologic mapping can be interpreted in a way to resolve the appare.nt difficulties, and this interpretation is given helow. First the reader should note the following features shown on the geologic map in this guidebook (outside of back cover) :
1. The NuntahaJa Formation pinches out Jarther to the north on the east side of the Murphy syncline, than on the west side.
2. Rocks of the Great Smoky Group appear farther south than those of the Nantahala Pormation on the east limb, but they thin or pinch out on both limbs.
3. The attitude of tl1e bedding is not para11c1 to the lithologic trends in the area west of the nose of the
Salem C hurch Anticline. This is also true in the hilly area sou th or the town of Cartersville as can be
seen by comparing th~ lithologic trends shown on Croft's ( I963) map with the structure symbols shown on Kesler's (1950) map. Apparently the difkrcnt lithologies interfinger.
4. Quartz sandstones are more prominent to the west, carbonaceous metashale to the east in the westernmost unlt shown on the map.
These meager facts with a few not indicated on the map may be developed into an hypothesis wh ich, though tenuous, will serve as a point of departure for discussions in the field. The hypothesis embraces the idea that the Late Precambrian and Early Cambrian sediments in northern Georgia can be divided into two very different areas of depositional environments and with separate sources. The Great Smoky Group was deposited rapidly in an actively subsiding basin and was supplied from high-standing land masses to the northeast and perhaps to the cast (King, 1964, p. 68-70). This basin extended from the present site of tlte Great Smoky Mountains southwestward to the vicinity of Cartersville. The basement gneisses, now partially cxpo~ed, (Corbin and Salem Church Granites) constituted a highland which terminated the basin, or at least interrupted it. We don't know if Great Smoky lithologies continue to the southwest of Cartersville, but they probably don't. This basin shoaled to the west and eventually terminated against a stable low-lying land mass. The nature of the sedimentary clebris derived from this land mass is in marked contrast with tltat which filled the Great Smoky basin. The Great Smoky rocks are poorly sorted texturally and compositionally. Many are graywackes and shales (Hurst, 1955b; Fairley, l965) and are typically eugcosynclinaJ except in being nearly devoid of volcanic components. The sediments from the stable land m<~ss are mostly cleanly washed with quartz sandstone prominent to the west near the old shore line and shales prominent to the east. Abundant carbonaceous phyllite indicat~s some of the shales accumulated in a r~ str.icted environment. Local fine-grained conglomerates constitut~.; an exception to the cleanly-washed material. The conglomerates contain many small fragments rich in potassium feldspar, and as suggested by Hayes (1900, p. 406) were probably derived from feldspathic gneisses which stood as islands above the l~vcl of the ocean. The Hiwassee rocks were an early deposit derived from a stable land mass, or craton. Tn part they underlie the western portion of the Great Smoky Group, but they also intertongue with it as indicated by the angle between the lithologic and structural trends on the northwest flank of the Salem Church Anticline. The Hiwassee material probably did not extend fat to the east as we don't :iind any complete counterpart of it on the eastern limb of the Murphy Syncl.inc. The Canton Formation, although of short extent, may be its equivalent. Deposition of the Great Smoky sediments was probably very rapid, but when completed th~.; sediments from the craton were still accumulating and may have covered the western portions of the Great Smoky Group. These late cratonic sediments west of the Salem Church Anticline include the Scolithus-bearing quartz sandstone of the Weisner Formation. Carbonates of the Great Valley were deposited on the quartz sandstones. On the cast limb of the anticline the Gr.eat Smoky Group is covered by the Nantahala f ormation although its stratigraphic relationship to the Weisner Formation is not known. The Nantahala Formation lies directly on the Hiwassee Formation where the Great Smoky was not deposited at the south end of the basin. That is why they come together and appear to be one formation.
32

In brief then, it appears tl1at the "Weisner-Wilhite-Hiwassee" coterie is in part older than the Great Smoky
Group, in part equivalent to it, and in part younger than it, and they intergrade and intertongue complexly. An
excellent example of intergrading of this general sort was pre:scnted by Salisbury (1961, p. 23). He found quartzites of possible Chilhowee affinity grading into subgraywaches typical of rocks he assigned to the Ocoee Group. He thought this meant that the quartzites did not belong to the Chilhowee Group. But from the above discussion it would seem reasonable to have rocks of one gro up grading into rocks of another group. The problem of whether any of the rocks in Salisbury's area correspond to the W a lden Creek Group in the Great Smoky Mountains still persists, however.
We must still consider the possibility that the f.ault exists between carbonates and a quartzite ncar the south end of the district. The Shady dolostone normally overlies the Chilhowee sandstones in Tennessee and elsewhere. However, quartz sandstones physica lly overlie the carbonates at many places in the district as at the quarries near the intersection of routes U.S. Route 41 and Ga. Route 293 and perhaps in quarries west of this intersection. Croft's
( 1965) map shows this as due to overturning of a large fold near and west of Allatoona dam. But the extensive area
over which the revenal can be intermittenly observed suggests the additional possibility of thrusting. This is especially interesting if. the quartzites belong to the Chilhowee Group and if tlle carbonates belong to the Shady F ormation (see Crort's 1963 map). Al the northwest end of Chilhowee Mountain the Chilhowee Group is thrust over the Shady Formation on the Great Smoky Thrust, the no rthern counterpart of the Cartersville Thrust. If the Cartersville Thrust does exist between the quartz sandstones and the carbonates, the stratigraphic succession may not be markedly disturbed. The sandstone-carbonate sequence may occur in an overturned anticline in places as suggested by Croft (1963), while the fold is broke n and slightly displaced in others. Tn any case, correlations between rocks of the Valley and Ridge and the Piedmont may yet be made when sufficient mapping has been done. H owever, the formational terminology used by Kesler (1950), Croft (1963) and all the earlier workers must be unified and brought up to date.
Comments by
A. S. Furcron
1 received your. letter of July 1 and the manuscript which you have written on the Cartersville Thrust at Cartersville, Georgia. I decided to take it home and read it but after reading the first couple of pages, 1 finished reading it at one sitting at my desk. It is interesting and provocative.
l do not feel qualified, however, to criticize articlcs upon the Cartersville Fault. This "Fault" has been in debate since it was announced, and I am sure that the debate will go on for a .long time.
There are many ways of writing a paper about a regional area in geology where certain interpretations are subject to question. Some writers attempt to prove other workers wrong; some attempt to prove some were right and 50rne wrong or that the above writers were both right and wrong, partly or locally but that m any other alternatives, some already suggested, may be re-combined with numerous observations made by others a nd the author, which will suggest an acceptable explanation. T hat approach generally stirs things up so thoroughly that it appears to make it desirahlc to close the books and make a new start on everything.
I have always regarded the Cartersville Fault as not a "Fault" solely in and by itself as representing one great structu ral move ment made at one time but as a series of imbricate thrusts where only the outcropping edge can be studied and that the thrusting movement may be greater and more complicated in some places than in others or that indeed, it might possibly be absent.
In the valley of Virginia, I l1ave seen well defined in a road cut, the Precambrian hypersthene granodiorite thrust directly over the thick Cambrian limestone series. l wouldn't know if this is a direct extension of the
Cartersville Fault but we dm.1bt it; however, 1 would regard it as thrusting in the same structural zone or geologic
locality as the Cartersville Fault.
Another trouble about the C artersville Fault problem is, that in general it has been like the blind men and the elephant, each man describing tl1c elephant from the particular portion which he was able to touch and feel. How far should we continue to follow the Cartersville Fault before we draw definite conclusions upon it? Also,
33

should we continue to call it the Cartersville Fault, if it actually does not extend for a great distance, because it is not very close to Cartersville. As you can sec, I am merely rambling along with ideas that come to mind and adding nothing particular to the problem. H ow far may we trace the Nantahala and in how many different directions and where does structure enter into that problem? How do we know that the black slate, ~o prominent south of' the fault line in Polk County south of Cedartown, is not Nantahala? There is much of it there and l have not heard of anyone suggesting that possibility before.
On the Ellijay and Murphy Folios, the Nantahala is a regular well behaved formation of black slate between the Murphy Series and the ''Great Smoky Formation" on the west side, and the Carolina Gneiss on the cast side but when you go further north and begin to examine this Formation on the Nantahala F<.llio, a great many questions arise about it. For example, on the EIHjay Folio, from the Cartersville Fault eastward to the Murphy Syncline jn rocks which have been mapped as both Great Smoky and Ocoee, there arc repeated .large deposits of black s late. They arc folded and not too much has happened to them but there is progre~sive mctamorphiRln. in the "Great Smoky" eastward from the Cartersville Fault from small biotite porphyroblasts through garnet, g<trnet-hornblende-quart7. nodules or lenses of the pseudodiorite type to staurolite by the time you reach the Murphy Series.
On the other side of the Murphy Series, the Nantahala appears locally but there the rocks begin to be graniti7.cd. Granite intrusions appear and .hornblende gneisses and schists of various types. They are called Carolina Gneiss, but LaForge had to put a layer of Great Smoky on the cast side of the Murphy Series in order to carry out Keith's principle. Now with black slates or shales in the known Paleozoic, they do not seem to be a reliable rock type to depend upon for correlation.
Due to the nature of the Cartersville Fault problem, I think it is one which young men should undertake and ali of you have my best wishes and hopes that as much may come out of the field conference as possible. Perhaps as the studies are carried further and as more observations are tabulated, more and more geologists will agree upon the nature of this .feature. At present, the Cartersville "Fault" is very much like "01' Man R iver", he just keeps rolling along.
COMMENTS
OF
J. B. Hadley
lt was most interesting to get your letter and the enclose-d discussion of the intriguing geological problems of the Cartersville. area. lt prompted me to review some ol' the ideas put forward on the rocks of t he Ocoee Scric~ and the "Murphy Group" and their various relationships.
Tn the first place, I very much agree that the older terminology of Keith, Hayes, LaForge, Bayley, and others needs to be clarified. ror examph:, in rt:<.:cnl work I've learned that the Hiwassee Slate as originally described by Keith in the Asheville Folio is approximately equivalen t to the Wilhite Formation as redefined hy Hamilton in the Jones Cove-Richardson Cove area ( Knoxville Folio). It underlies the Sandsuck Shale and overlies the Snowbird Group, except that other formations of the Walden Creek Group may intervene below the Hiwassec-Wilhite in the Asheville Quadrangle, as they do in the Knoxville Quadrangie. The rocks shown by Keith in the Asheville F olio as Hiwassee overlying the basement beneath the Great Smoky conglomerate are, according to our mapping and reconnnissance, purL of the Snowbird Group in some places or a dark schist unit in the Great Smoky Group in others. Thus, the Wilhite and Hiwassee as originally described by Keith are not only equivalent, they arc d.ifferent names applied lo Lhe sume unit, one fairly high in the Ocoee sequenc~.
34

Hayes' description of the rocks he called Wilhite in the Cleveland Folio certainly sounds like the type Wilhite in the Knoxville Folio, but how good is Bayley's statement that this unit can be traced to the East margin of the CartersviJic district where it " joins the belt of HiwalSsee Slate as mapped in the Tate Quadrangle" (i.e., the schist bordering the Salem Church Granite)? According to Salisbury the "fine grained Ocoee" rocks arc cut off hy the Great Smoky (or Blue Ridge border fault) in the Cohutta Quadrangle. Where do they reappear to the south, and with what relations to the "coarse grained Ocoee?"
Even more critical for the Cartersville problem is the status of the Weisne r Formation, as you are careful to
emphasize. Kesler's description of the formation as consisting largely of metashalc with abundant quartzite and carbonate beds certainly doesn't sound like any Chilhowee rocks that I know of. 1 agreed with Phil King that the "Weisner" we saw with Kesler below Allatoona Dam looked more like Ocoee- or Wilhite since that is the one formation in the Ocoee Series that h; noteworthy for its carbonate beds. If it is Wilhite, it lies beneath the Chilhowee and is probably not P aleozoic.
It is true that the stratigraphic relations between the lower Chilhowee and the upper Ocoee are not as dearly revealed as one would like. This is because the areas in which the Chilhowee overlies fairly complete sections of
upper Ocoee without intervening major faults have not yet been studied in detail. The hest of these are in the Del
Rio-Hot Springs area cast of Newport, Tennessee. Work in these areas so far, however, docs not indicate any intertonguing between the two groups.
Similarly Kesler's handling of the stratigraphic relations of the Shady and Rome Formations is open to question. 1 doubt that the ehloritic schists and banded amphibolite mapped as Rome in the eastern part of the Cartersvme district arc metamorphic equivalents of the dolomite and shale in the western part. The metamorphic change is too abrupt. Moreover all the limestone in the so called Weisner is in the eastern part and all the Shady on which the recognition of the Weisner so largely depends is in the western part. If these notions are correct, the Weisner of. Kesler's Map does include two different units much as Hayes indicated in 1901.
In view of the deep weathering everywhere in the Cartersville area and the difficulty of tracing subtle things like metamorphic rank in deeply weathered rocks - which are in a sense de-metamorphosed - 1 am not surprised at the varied interpretations that have resulted.
1 can't agree with the statement (p. 33, this book) that the qunrtzite-subgraywacke beds described by Salisbury arc a good example of intergrading or intertonguing between stratigraphic units. What Salisbury describes is a lateral change from better sorted to less well sorted quartz sandstone in individual beds. To call the first quartzite and the sec011d subgraywacke seems to greatly overemphasize the real differences. Also it seems risky to put much reliance on tbe reported relations ol' units so poorly defined as the Weisner, Wilhite, and Hiwassee in the Cartersville area. By this T don't mean to say that major units of the Ocoee Series don't intertongue; jn fact
the sedimentary picture you suggest on ( p. 32, this book) seems reasonable and is similar to that developed by Neuman for the Sm.okies area. T am sure we are all looking forward to the day when these relations are worked out
in the field and documented in reports.
COMMENTS
by
John Rodgers
I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to commenting on tl1e article before tbis, but I really have very little to criticize, I suppose because it fits in neatly with my own prejudices. For me, the Murphy Syncline section above
+ the Great Smoky equals roughly Walden Creek Chilhowee +Shady (and Rome?), and it is not too surprising
therefore that where the Great Smoky peters out, the Murphy and the Valley sequences come together with no obvious major displacement between. l forget who suggested it, but 1 have liked the suggestion that the "Cartersville" Thrust Fault may simply grade into a zone of distributed movement instead of a major clean break where
35

it enters the belt of moderate metamorphism as it does in the Cartersville recess; the total forward thrust of the rocks in the southeast corner of the Cartersville district may be considerable, but may not have taken place on a single plane as the forward thrust northeast or southwest did (which was probably greater in any case, as witnessed by the recess itself) .
Phil King and 1 and others visited wjtb Furcron one summer and with Kesler the next in north Georgia; you can imagine how different were the pictures with which we were presented. Kesler's evidence in the core of the Cartersville area was impressive, for he knows every outcrop and pit there; however, his stratigraphic terminology seemed wrong to me, as he calls Shady-Rome and the Rome- Conasauga.
Your solution to the problem makes a lot of sense; sure, as you say, there will be further adjustments as new data comes in, but 1 suspect it will have the same main outlines.
36

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bayley, W. S., 1928, Geology of the Tate Quadrangle, Georgia: Georgia Geological Survey Bull. No. 43.
Butts, Clwrles, 1946, Geologic Map of Northwest Georgia: Georgia G eological Survey and Tennessee Valley Authority.
Clarke, 0. M., and Carrington, T. J., 1964, Hillabee Chlorite Schist in Guidebook, 2nd Annual Field Trip, Alabama Geological Society.
Coogan, Richard, and Bryan, Jack H. , 1963, Jnterpreta~ion of Core Borings A cross the Ocoee-Conasauga Contact at Carters Dam Site, Murray County, Georgia: Georgia Mineral Newsletter, V ol. XV, Nos. 3-4, p. 47-56.
Crickma.y, Geoffrey W., 1932, The Ore Deposits of the Cartersville District, Georgia: XVI International Geological Congress, Guidebook 2, Excursion A-2, p. 126-139.
, 1936, Status of the Talladega Series in Southern Appalachian Stratigraphy: Geol. Soc. A.mer. Bull., vol. 47, p. 1371-1392.
Croft, M. G., 1963, Geology and Ground-Water R esources of Bartow County, Georgia: U.S . Geol. Survey WaterSupply Paper 1619-FF.
Fairtey, W. M ., 1965, :the Murphy Syncline in the Tate Quadrangle, Georgia: Georgia Geological Survey Bull. No. 75.
Furcron, A. S. anti Teague, K. H., 1947, Talc Deposits of Murray County, Georgia: Georgia Geological Survey Bull. No. 53.
Hadley, Jarvis B., and Goldsmith, Richard, 1963, Geology of the liastern Great Smoky M ountains, North Carolina and Tennessee: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 349-B.
Hamilton, Warren, 1961, Geology of the Richardson Cove and Iones Cove Quadrangles, Tennessee: U.S. Geol.
Survey Prof. 'Paper 349-A.
Hayes, C. W., 1891 , The Overthrust Faults of the Southern Appalachians: Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., vol. 2, p. 141 154.
, 1900, Geological R elations of the Iron-Ore.\ in the Cartersville District, Georgia: A .I.M.E. Trans., val. 30, p. 403-419.
Hull, J. P. D. LaForge, Lawrence, and Crane, W. R., 1919, Report on the Manganese Deposits of Georgia: Georgia Geological Survey Bull. No. 35.
Hurst, V. J., 1952, Geology of the Kennesaw Mountain-Sweat Mountain Area, Cohh County, Georgia: Masters Thesis, Emory Univer.1ity.
1955a, new Evidence of Volcanism in Georgia: Rull. of Georgia. Academy of Science, vol. 13, No. 2, p. 57.
__ _____ 1955b, Stratigraphy, Structure and Mineral Resources of the Mineral Bluff Quadrangle, Georgia: Georgia Geological Survey Bull. No. 63.
and Schlee, J. S., 7962, Field Excursion, Ocoee M etasediments, North Central Georgia Southeast T ennessee: Guidebook Number 3, Georgia Geological Survey.
37

Kesler, T. L., 1950, Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Cartersville District, Georgia: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof.
Paper 224. King, Philip B., Hadley, Jarvis B., Neuman, R obert B., and Hamilton, Warren, 1958, Stratigraphy of Ocoee Series,
Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee and N orth Carolina: Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., vol. 69, p. 947-966. King, Philip B., 1964, Geology of the Central Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof.
Paper 349-C. LaForge, L ., and Phalen, W. C., 1913, U. S. Geol. Survey Atlas, Ellijay Folio: No. 187. Neuman, Robert B ., and Nelson, Willis H., 1965, Geology of the Western. Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee:
V. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 349-D. Salisbury, J. W., 1961, Geology and Min eral Resources of the Northwest Quarter of the Cohu tta Mountain
Quad rangle: Georgia Geological Survey Bull. No. 71. Smith, J. W., 1957, Graded Bedding, A Clue to the Existence of the Cartersville Fault: Georgia Mineral News-
letter, vol. X, No.2, p. 53-55. ., 1959, Geology of an A rea along the Carter~ville Fault near Fairmount, Georgia: Masters
Thesis, Emory University. Tuttle, 0. F. and N. L. Bowen, 1958, Origin of Granite, Geol. Soc. A m. Mem. 74. Watson, T. L., 1904, Geological Relations oj the Manganese Ore D eposits of Georgia: A .I.M.E. T rans., vol. 34,
p. 643-666.
38

-~~ Cfl~HITE.
/I.HO OHEI81 A.MP...I80L1Tl
8CH18T
\00 Oootoar ID.I>enal rt. do.tum,meu tea-leTel
OEOLOOt CAL MAP OF THE CARTERSVt\.I.E Oti!TRICT, GEORGIA.
Map of Hayes 1900

0

Boliv
"?

ar

White
0

o Car teravllle
.. ::::

,- -- ,r

Sketch Map of the Geology l)etween

Tate and Cartersville, Georgia

Scale in miles

5

0

5

HF3H

I

7 - 'nT..:'""';.; ;"' A
~ Murphy Marble.

l EGENO

~ ~

Brasstown

and

Andrews

Formations.

omo Nontahala Formation.

c=J Great Smoky Group .

~ Canton Formation.
m3IH Gneiss. (Corbin and Salem Church Granites)

~ Orthoquartzites (largely to the west) and
metashales (largely to the east). MetaahoJes in places carbonaceous. Carbonate lenses widespread, especially in the metashale$. Parts of the sequence are of questionable, and probably variable, stratigraphic position.

Compled from Fairley, \965

a unpublished data; Kesler, 1950; r- Strike and dip of beda_

a La For;e, unpublished; Smith, 1957.

~ Carternille thrust.
+ Murphy Syncline.

~

+ Salem Church Anticline.

~~ ~
!