ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION TECHNICAL _NSISTANCE PROJECT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE THE CARBONATE ROCKS IN THE COOSA VALLEY AREA, GEORGIA BY WILliAM H. McLEMORE VERNON J. HURST Geology Department University of Georgia in Cooperation with the Coosa Valley Area Planning and Development Commission, Rome, Georgia and the Economic Development Administration United States Department of Commerce Washington, D. C. March 1970 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION TECHNICAL _NSISTANCE PROJECT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE THE CARBONATE ROCKS IN THE COOSA VALLEY AREA, GEORGIA BY WILLIAM H. McLEMORE VERNON J. HURST Geology Department University of Georgia in Cooperation with the Coosa Valley Area Planning and Development Commission, Rome, Georgia and the Economic Development Administration United States Department of Commerce Washington, D. C. March 1970 SECOND PRINTING -1998 LIMESTONE a DOLOMITE QUARRY SITES Numben refer to 1it11 d11crlbed In teat. ?t- Quarry or Mine N X- Proepaot ~ ~-j BARTOW COUHTY I $of..ll PtU,.CI 2 1: W Plllft!., Oull'tf l &o,., Sout Pup.ct ...,,..,.,.. c - e....""ro-rr ll Cllflor~ IHo.,,. Ll1111 Ill HrMuUc SlaM c.., . c_.., ,..c;,_ ,OrMo.f.f.,...., 7 J H PHtr O..trrr I Chorlu ' .kttllt OWCH'tf I' Ont \lUthi il'tOIIDICI 10 StocUwldtlcryovillo MIMftt & Ml...ll:'-"'t 21 Holt Ouour 22 Orarovillo Pon~ut !;OoMPQIIJ (OMf""" ~ O..rr Ovaorr O..ry 1111. I No.2 No.3 a 4 CHATTOOOA COU"'TY nstoo.. .... ~...~,.,...,.., 1M IIIII w.....l ll Pro-t 25 llS lwlooucu.lto..n.. Lt.,nt p...., i M,,.O,,wotettrr 'Zr LIHII SoU Wou l011 11 PtOifiU .., COOJit a~..., llkPlttoutrp U,.I, , . u !OWblt P"dOICII Ollr N41 31 In"' Oata10llo Pa''"'' No I :!lllllaP~O...Nol 5:1 I I lt.,tr Pru t otl )4 liltrllu Cut Protp.tl"' 311 ICNio Ottellt l'tetp.ct l'kl l 0 AD E C 0 UN T Y !I Cltdlad CUJOfl l'r-"'1 37 s... tnun Iron II SIMI o.Mittlll !Ill foo Wo.ottai~ Ptotpt(l ~ totltr Gop Ptotpt1 400o,. La,.,.,. Ollorrr 41 Ntllt A Tuoo...,,., 42 'lloiiiGm Col6or OwOtlf FLOYD COUNTY 43 Wool Lonndtr Protptol 4411otlll Owonr 45 Public War~ Co11p Qwutr No I 415 Old Su.. ourlllt lieU OIMiror 47 Ltdbottu DrM o~ottr 41 " - Ptoi~ICI 4t Old H~lloc Aollroo Stotl n Qw.,rr ~Public Wor Co11p Qo,aotrr No. l,l,ll4 !5II1!: tto1 c~~t.. er... Plnton Prot,.tt "'""" !5H:1N"oo"o-..r.. ll"lo'."..'.'l'~' ,,..,.... &OROON COUNTY !5,..,. Lot C-l>foo-t 116 J 'll [oont Qoo"f 51' . - r t d a oo ~tt!rn C._1?.. \-=~Y~ u~ty ____ ... __ ..__..,_,.____ ______ __ ____ ______ Table 23 - Stratigra;o~'lic SrctiJn at eJ.r fJ~nt, .:: mil=> we.>t of Me;1lo, Ch?.ttooga Cou::.:; --- --~ -- -- --------- ---- - - ---- - - - - --- --------- Table 24 - Cl,e:nical Arr::..;:e~ .i .: :npvsir.cd L~n: ~sto:1e Sa:nples from Cedar Point, C}>attooga C>~=.-ry - -~ -- -- - - - --- - - - -- -- - -- - - ------ ------------------ Table 25 - Stra.tigc?.phic Se:c~i:.mty - ---- - - - - - - --------- --- - --- - ---------------- - - Table 27 - Str<'.t:gra~Jl:ti.c .>~:.Cor, ;;.t Loc8lity #37 ---~------- --------------------Table 28 Ana ly~es o: Lh::e~t, :12 .!'::eo:n ~he L'pp.e~ Qua..~y, Loca:ity #37 -----------Table 29 - Analyses::>:!: C-,rnposlt(! Sarr.plE~ ."rom LoC9.1.il:}' #38 -- -- - ---------------Table 30 - Analyses :>f Ch:c:!--.ar~-,a;ga Lin~eston,~ .~rom theW illi;;.::n Colder Quarry, Lo::ality #-4'2 -- ------- ---- - - - - ----- - - - - -- - - ---- -- - --- - -----------Table 31 - Stratigr.apl1ic Sec~Jon z.t t:w ~~ ::lt.octer i3rnr.he~s :;l1.2r!'Y, Loc2lity #47 -----Table 32 - Analyses of L1e Li!T:est,J"e at t~.e Ledbet:.er. Srothers Quarry, Lo::ality #47 - ---- - - - ------- ----- - - - - - - - -- --- ----- -- --- - ------------ Table 33 - Str.atigr<:?hlc SE.,~!lon a': t:'.E' J, 1/ll, Ev,.ns Quarry, Oakm:;n, Georgia ------ Table 34 - Analyses of the Li:'Y;E.st-:>:lf! in the ], W. Evans Qt:a.rry, Oakman, Georgia -Table 35 - Cambrian Fo~matio:,, in eajtern Cordon, Mm':}ay a:t1d Bartow Counties----- Table 36 - Stratigraphic Secti Qua,_:y #l, Walker County, Georgia----Table 38 - Analyses o::: Lir.cestones in t:N~ Yates Qua!T}' #1, W Il ,_,::: cor;:s :e2. :?ig'.lr~ 36 -- --- - ------- --- --- 79 82 82 83 85 90 91 91 93 101 102 111 111 114 132 135 135 138 140 141 143 143 145 149 158 -!.x- INTRODUCTION In June of 1966 the Geology Department, University of Georgia, contracted with the Coosa Valley Area Planning and Development Commission and the Economic Development Administration to conduct a partial survey of mineral resources within the Coosa Valley Area, Georgia. The survey was restricted to three classes of deposits: carbonates, sulphides, and talc. After two years of study, the findings have been assembled as three separate reports, one for each class of deposits. This report deals with the carbonates (Figure 1). The carbonate rocks comprise (1) the limestones, which are sedimentary rocks composed mainly of calcite (Caco 3), (2) the dolomites, which are sedimentary rocks consisting mainly of the mineral dolomite (Caco3 . MgC03), and (3) marbles, the metamorphosed equivalents of limestone or dolomite. Gradations from limestones to dolomites are common. Limestones and dolomites crop out in 10 counties of the Coosa Valley Area. This report is concerned with their distribution, thickness, quality, how these parameters vary from one formation to another and one area to another. Carbonate rocks have many industrial applications. They are used in the production of crushed and broken stone, dimension stone, and lime and refractory lime, which are basic starting materials for a variety of chemical and metallurgical industries. Crushed and broken stone is the general term for all stone whose shape is not specified, or specified only generally, as aggregate, railroad ballast, riprap and agricultural stone. Dimension stone is produced to specified dimensions. It includes building stone, monumental stone, curbing, and flagstone. Lime and refractory lime are produced by calcining limestone and dolomite at moderately high temperatures. Crushed and Broken Stone Crushed stone is a basic construction, chemical and metallurgical raw material, a major commodity in both tonnage and value. Its principal uses are roadstone and concrete. Additional large quantities are used in the production of cement, lime, furnace flux, agricultural stone, and a variety of chemical and industrial applications. Lesser quantities are used for riprap and railroad ballast. - 1- T E N N E s s _El__E__________ _ I I I I \HAR I I \ ALSON 0 BUCHANAN MARIETTA @ ATLANTA I I \ I I \ ~ CARBONATE-BEARING FORMATIONS FIGURE 1 - Counties of the Coosa Valley Area, northwest Georgia. The heavy line is the Cartersville Fault along which metamorphic and igneous rocks have been thrust northwestward over Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. - 2- Nearly three-fourths of all crushed stone production comes from limestones and dolomites like those which extensively underlie the Coosa ValleyArea. The growth of the crushed stone industry closely parallels growth in population and economy. The producing deposits are being depleted at a high rate, and new deposits will have to be opened. Deposits suitable for aggregate, roadstone and agricultural stone occur widely in 10 of the Coosa Valley Area counties. Large deposits with a composition suitable for the manufacture of portland cement are less common, but still occur at more than a score of localities. Definitions The term crushed and broken stone applies to irregular fragments of rock crushed or otherwise reduced in size after quarrying. Most crushed stone is used as aggregate in concrete. Riprap refer to massive, irregularly shaped chunks of rocks used in spillways at dams, fill in roadways, embankments, etc. Agricultural stone is finely ground limestone or dolomite used to reduce the acidity of soils and to supply calcium and magnesium to the soil. Fluxing stone is coarse crushed stone, usually 4-6 inches in diameter, used in iron blast furnaces and foundaries. Terrazzo consists of fine crushed stone, usually limestone or marble fragments a half to three-fourths inch in diameter, used with portland cement in making floors which are smoothed and polished after the cement has hardened. Mining and Milling Crushed stone may be produced from either open quarries or underground mines. A variety of quarrying or mining methods may be followed and a variety of types of equipment used. The main steps are stripping of overburden (if a quarry) or driving underground entries (if a mine), drilling holes for explosives, loosening the stone by blasting, loading it into trucks, cars or conveyor, and transporting it to the crusher. The extent of crushing, screening and cleaning varies with use. Primary crushing usually is accomplished by jaw or gyratory crushers; for less abrasive stone impact crushers may be used. Secondary crushing usually is done with gyratories, double-roll crushers, rod mills, or swing hammer mills. Finer grinding is accomplished by rod mill, ball mill, tube mill or roller mill. Classification operations utilize bar grizzlies, steel mesh and perforated plate for the coarser sizes, screens for smaller -3- sizes, and air separation for still smaller particles. Scrubbers may be used to remove adhering coatings; loose coatings are removed by water jets during screening. Dimension Stone The term dimension stone denotes a naturally occurring rock cut, sh?ped or selected for use in blocks, slabs, sheets or other construction units for exterior or interior parts of buildings, foundations, curbing, paving. flagging, bridges, revetments, or other architectural or engineering purposes (Mineral Facts and Problems. 1965, p. 876). Because of its strength, durability. and other properties. dimension stone was one of the most widely used construction materials up to the turn of the last century. With the advent of steel skeletal construction and the increasing use of concrete in the 1880's and 1890's, the demand for it began to decrease. Concrete was both cheaper and more convenient to use than dimension stone, was stone-like. and could be poured in place and cast or moulded into virtually any shape. Further decline in the use of dimension stone is attributable to the modern tendency to construct buildings with a shorter life expectancy than in earlier times. Relative to other building materials. then, dimension stone which is costly to mine, process. transport and install has been at a competitive disadvantage for many decades. In recent years, however. the cost difference between stone and concrete construction has diminished. The demand for many varieties of stone is rising. Stone's unique properties for ornamentation and protection against the weather are being recognized anew. Improvements are being affected in quarrying and finishing operations. Further lowering of the final costs of placing stone relative to the costs of concrete construction could cause a significant shift to stone for some types of structures. Architectural specifications for dimension stone deal primarily with workmanship and surface finish. Engineering specifications are concerned with strength and durability. Stone typically varies from quarry to quarry, even within the same quarry. The ability of the quarryman to furnish large tonnages of stone uniform in soundness, color and texture may be a critical factor in the development of a quarry. The purchaser generally selects stone from samples or brochures furnished by the producer. but he is apt to consider the reputation of the stone and the producer. Some handicaps may be anticipated for a new quarry until the stone's reputation, in particular its durability under a variety of environmental conditions. has been established. This handicap may be partly offset by special attractiveness or other properties of the stone, and may be further offset by tests. The National Bureau of Standards has devised tests to determine the resistance of stones to abrasion, fire, atmospheric acids, solubility in water, strength, density, toughness, porosity and elasticity (Kessler, 1919, 1927, 1940). The American Society for Testing and Materials Committee C-18, -4- Natural Building Stone, has developed specifications and testing procedures for a variety of dimension stones. Specifications for stone to be used in federal buildings are set forth in a pamphlet Stone Work issued by the General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, May 1955. Mining and Milling Quarry methods vary somewhat with rock type, quarry depth and intended use. The usual procedure for limestone and dolomite is to cut the stone from the quarry face with a channeling machine, undercut the stone at floor level and break the stone free by wedging. The freed mass is then cut into blocks of the desired size by drilling and wedging. A common mill block size is 10 x 4 x 4 feet. In the mill, the blocks are cut to size, shaped and finished according to specifications. The machines used for sawing, grinding, turning and finishing are similar to those used in wood working, but the saws and grinding wheels are set with diamond or silicon carbide. The lifting and moving of blocks is assisted by pneumatic hoists and conveyors. Potential for Dimension Stone Industry The extensive deposits of limestone and dolomite which underlie the Coosa Valley Area exhibit a variety of textures, structures, and colors which are valued in ornamental and building stones. In the western part of the area are massive, even-textured stones, crinoidal limestones, oolitic to mottled stones, with predominant colors ranging from white to dark gray. In the eastern part is a similar variety of texures and colors. In addition, there are black marbles attractively veined by white calcite. Few attempts have been made to develop a dimension stone industry in the Coosa Valley Area, though a sizeable industry has developed at Tate and Elberton. Limited prospecting has been conducted at a few localities, most notably on a black marble deposit in the vicinity of Ranger. Great expanses of limestone and dolomite, mantled by soil and vegetation, have not been considered as a potential source of dimension stone, though incidental exposures reveal that this potential exists. Lime and Refractory Lime The calcination of limestone and dolomite at moderately high temperatures (1800-3000F) releases carbon dioxide gas and yields a solid residue of quicklime, calcium oxide or calcium-magnesium oxide. The addition of water to quicklime causes rapid hydration of the calcium oxide to calcium hydroxide, or hydrated lime. - 5- Lime is a basic industrial chemical and the starting material for a wide variety of chemicals. It finds use also in the neutralization of industrial and agricultural wastes, in high temperature and dehydration processes, as a causticizing agent in the sulfate process of paper-making, in water softening and purification, and in the manufacture of petrochemicals and insecticides. Its former heavy use for mortar, plaster and disinfectant is now relatively minor. Refractory lime or dead-burned dolomite is a basic raw material for silicothermic plants producing magnesium metal. The use of sand-lime bricks which are superior to earlier bricks is expected to increase, and might generate an additional local market for lime. Lime and quicklime are perishable. Their production is closely adjusted to demand, and stocks are kept low. Long distance movement from the source is discouraged by relatively low unit value and the cost of transportation. High grade limestones and dolomites suitable for the production of lime, hydrated lime, and dead-burned dolomite occur widely in the Coosa Valley Area. - 6- PREVIOUS GEOLOGIC WORK The pioneer work of C. w. Hayes, U.S.G.S., was presented in a series of reports dating 1891 to 1902. Several of the reports were published (Hayes, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1902). His maps of the Cartersville, Dalton, and Tallapoosa quadrangles were not published, but were available to subsequent workers. The geology of the entire Paleozoic area was described by J.W. Spencer, State Geologist, in a Georgia Geological Survey report in 1893. Several other Georgia Geological Survey bulletins dealt with the area (McCallie, 1904, 1908; Maynard, 1912; Shearer, 1912; Smith,l931). The Butts report (1948) was a milestone. Other notable contributions include Kesler (1950) and Allen and Lester (1954). Other contributions are noted in the bibliography. FIELD WORK FOR THIS REPORT Dr. Sumner Long began field work on the carbonates in September of 1966 and worked the first quarter. Mr. Thomas J. Crawford mapped the carbonates in the Pine Log Creek area, and later studied the marble in Haralson County. Mr. William H. McLemore carried on field work full-time from January 1967 to September, 1968, and continued part-time to January 1969. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mr. Dwayne Copeland helped survey quarries and measure sections. Dr. James W. Smith provided much useful information about the Conasauga Group, especially adjacent to the Cartersville Fault. The field work of Mr. Thomas J. Crawford and Dr. Sumner Long is noted in the section above. Mrs. Vivian Todd, Mr. Matt Rice, Mrs. Martha Klett, and Mr. Harry McSween helped with the chemical analyses. Miss Susan Barnes, Mrs. Joann Slack and Mrs. Li-Jane Lee drafted the maps. CARBONATE ROCK RESOURCES OF THE COOSA VALLEY AREA Distribution Limestones and dolomites are extensive and widespread. They are most prominent in Bartow, southeastern Floyd and Polk Counties, but still are major rock types in Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Gordon, Murray, Walker and Whitfield counties. Limestones predominate generally in the northwestern part of the area in the younger Paleozoic formations while dolomites predominate to the east and south in the older Knox Group. Stratigraphically, the carbonates are mainly in the Cambrian Conasauga Formation, the Cambro-Ordovician Knox Group, the Ordovician Newala Limestone, The Ordovician Chickamauga Limestone, and the Mississippian Limestones (see Fig. 2). Most existing quarries are in the Conasauga Formation (Table 1). The high grade Mississippian limestones offer the greatest potential for future development. - 7- COLUMNAR SECTION OF PALEOZOIC ROCKS IN NORTHWEST GEORGIA SYSTUIS NAUES OF rOJIMATIONS AHD GROUP'S _. THICKNESS IN FUT 1--------1--=.-~~.,~..-.-,~-~.-.:-:.--.~-----\ ~~~ ~;-: -.~-;-~:i.~::~-.: 1&00 U l l l l . . lpplon Golconda formollon Horlttlll Sondllont Ga.,.r Formation .... o....iiWI Llrw..IOIII S t~ I.UII L IIPIU?OIIII fort PoJM Cheri 1410 o 1000 Sllwrlon Atd N'" MOin FOt iiiOIIOI'I S.Q~~OIC hl l f OUU IJt n ...... - 250 Ordo,.lclon ( olflhon loci ontr 1200 Ordowleion .... noo Group COiftblion Group T noo Rome Formation aooo // / / / I I 1000 Ovort1llt zooo FIGURE 2 - 8- Table 1. - Carbonate Quarries and Mines in the Cocsa Valley Area hy county and by formation Bartow _ ------ ---~'nty_ Mississippian active 0 Limestones inactive 0 Catoosa County 0 2 Chattooga Coun!}' 0 1 Dade CountJ:: 0 1 Floyd Gordon - Cmmty County 1 0 4 0 Murray C01m!}' 0 0 Polk County 0 0 Walker County 1 2 Whitfield Coun!}' 0 0 Total 2 10 Chickamauga Limestone - New ala Limestone active 0 inactive 0 ------ - active 0 inactive 0 - 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 - - ---- -- - -------- 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 - - - - -- - 0 0 0 0 5 1 ---- 0 3 0 8 - ---- 0 0 0 8 I - - \C Knox active 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 I Group inactive 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 ---- - - - ---- -- - ------ -- ---- - - - - -- - - -- - - ----- Conasauga active 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 Formation inactive 3 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 l 11 Total - -- - -- - active 3 0 0 inactive 5 4 4 -- - -- - -- - ---- - - 2 2 0 0 0 2 l 10 2 4 5 0 5 7 1 43 - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - --- .-- - - - -- Description of the Carbonate-rich Formations Conasauga Group Introduction - The term Conasauga was used by Hayes (1891) and Walcott (1891) to designate argillaceous shales containing numerous lenses and beds of limestone in Whitfield and Murray Counties. It superceded the terms Coosa and Flatwood Shales (Smith, 1890) and Knox Shales (Safford, 1869). Hayes considered the Conasauga to be Upper Cambrian in age. Butts (1946) regarded it as Middle Cambrian. Swingle (1959) reported the Maynardville Formation and Nolichunky Shale (upper Conasauga) to be late Cambrian, the Maryville Limestone, the Rogersville Shale, the Rutledge Formation, and the Pumpkin Valley Shale (lower Conasauga) to be middle Cambrian (see Figure 3). The Cambrian age of these rocks has never been seriously questioned, though generally they have been accorded the rank of a formation rather than a group. The Conasauga crops out extensively. All the important outcrops mentioned in the literature were reexamined. Approximately five weeks were spent mapping in detail a 105 square mile strip extending from Ramhurst in Murray County, through Gordon County, to White in Bartow County. Conasauga Outcrops and Physiography - The best exposures are east of Gaylor Ridge, Taylor Ridge, and Whiteoak Mountain. The largest outcrops are north and south of the Coosa River, in Floyd County, southwest of Rome. The outcrop belt on which LaFayette is located crosses the northwest part of the State from Graysville to Menlo. A shorter anticlinal belt lies along the Chattooga River, and plunges out north of Trion. East of a line drawn through Rome and Dalton, the outcrop of the Conasauga makes a complicated pattern of intercommunicating and disconnected belts controlled by structure. The limestones in the Conasauga Group weather more readily than the shales and tend to form valleys; the shales form low knobby hills. These features are especially well developed in eastern Gordon County near Fairmount. Description - It has not been possible to measure a complete geologic section in Georgia, but from outcrops in both Tennessee and Georgia the X-section of Figure 3 can be deduced. This section is consistent with the detailed mapping done in Bartow, Gordon and Murray Counties. Toward the northwest the total thickness of the Conasauga Group decreases. Toward the southeast, adjacent to the Cartersville Fault, the Conasauga rocks have been slightly metamorphosed. The shales have - 10 - CROSS-SECTION OF THE CONASAUGA GROUP IN GEORGIA KNOX GROUP Maynardville Formation limestone and dolomllt 250'- 350' Nolichucky Shale ln.llrbec2cUil 600' limu rone Maryville Limutone s ome lnllrbtddtd ahalt jn loWr part 650' Rogersville Shalt t.Dme ln11 r~ odde ~ 1000' eorbonote Rutledge Formation predominately dolomite 1000' Pumpkin Volley 30' Shalt ROME FORMATION LHL FIGURE 3 -11- transformed to phyllites which are greenish gray where fresh and pale buff where weathered. A well developed fissility generally dips to the southeast. The original bedding planes are marked by shaly and dolomitic laminae and by less conspicuous grain size differences. Pumpkin Valley Shale - The oldest unit is the Pumpkin Valley Shale, actually composed of interbedded shale and siltstone, having a maximum thickness in Georgia of about 30 feet. The name was first applied in Tennessee by John Rogers and D. F. Kent (1948) to a thickness of 360 feet of shale lying below the Rutledge Formation and formerly cons~dered to be a part of the Rome Formation. According to Rogers and Kent, the Pumpkin Valley Shale is more related both faunaly and lithologically to the Conasauga Group than to the Rome Formation, though the exact boundary between the Rome and Conasauga rocks generally is hard to delineate. The distinction between Rome and Conasauga rocks in Georgia has been based on several criteria: the presence of a few thin limestones and dolomites interbedded with the Conasauga shales; thin-bedded brown sandstones interbedded with the Rome shales; geomorphic expression - areas underlain by the Rome formation show more relief than the areas underlain by the Conasauga; and the occurrence of few fossil fragments in the Conasauga rocks. Rutledge Formation - Immediately overlying the Pumpkin Valley Shale is the Rutledge Formation. It attains a maximum thickness of about 1000 feet in Georgia. Good exposures can be seen in the Shinall Quarry at White, eastern Bartow County. It underlies a long valley extending from the Etowah River to the Bartow-Gordon County line. The Rutledge Formation is predominantly a gray, fine-grained, bedded dolomite, though there are a few thin beds of limestone. In eastern Bartow County the upper Rutledge appears to be less dolomitic than the lower Rutledge. The lower Rutledge contains some chert. The dolomite is pale to dark gray, fine-grained, crystalline, in some places silicious. Jasper can be found at most dolomite exposures. The limestone is bluish gray to black, generally fine-grained, shaly, and often banded with thin argillaceous laminae. Black medium- to coarsegrained oolitic zones were observed but could not be traced. The Rutledge Formation is a good source for crushed stone, agricultural lime, and "black marble". The Shinall Quarry at White provided over two million tons of crushed stone; some of it was pulverized and sold as agricultural lime. Brecciated zones in the black oolitic limestone cemented by white calcite could be quarried as "black marble". Rogersville Shale - Overlying the Rutledge Formation is the Rogersville Shale whose maximum thickness in Georgia is about 1000 feet. The shale is - 12 - dark green and fissile. A few beds of shaly siltstone are interbedded with the shale, as well as several limestones and dolomites. The most important of these carbonate units is the Craig Limestone member which has a thickness in Georgia in excess of one hundred feet. The shale is locally fossiliferous; trilobites can be collected at Fairview Church in northeastern Bartow County. The thickness of the Rogersville Shale in Lee Valley, Hawkins County, Tennessee is 227 feet, according to Rogers and Kent, 1948, who reported that the Craig Limestone member thins to the west and northwest. Field observations in Georgia indicate that the Craig Limestone member is thicker than in Tennessee, and that the entire Rogersville unit thins to the west and northwest, as in Tennessee. Rogersville Shales adjacent to the Cartersville Fault have been metamorphosed to phyllites and slates. Slaty cleavage rarely coincides with the original bedding. Slate which appears to be metamorphosed Rogersville Shale is quarried at Flexatile in northeastern Bartow. Maryville Limestone - Overlying the Rogersville Shale is the Maryville Limestone which in Georgia probably has a maximum thickness of 650 feet. The Maryville is a dolomitic limestone, with interbedded shale near its base. The dolomitic limestone is bluish gray to black, fine-grained, and crystalline. Thin parallel light brown laminae of dolomite less than a centimeter thick show the bedding planes. These laminae are not readily seen on fresh surfaces but weathering etches the resistant dolomite into relief. In some areas the limestone is oolitic, when the dolomitic laminae are absent. Occasional small crystals of pyrite are found in the limestone. Analyses of the Maryville in eastern Gordon County indicate an average MgO content of 3.6%. The shales near the base of the Maryville Limestone are olive in color and very similar to the Nolichunky and Rogersville shales. In eastern Gordon County and southeastern Murray County the Maryville Limestone near the Cartersville Fault has been slightly metamorphosed. Interbedded shales have been transformed to phyllite. The economic potential of the Maryville Limestone is attractive. Several quarries for crushed limestone and agricultural limestone already have been opened in this formation. Limestone for terrazzo chips was mined 1.2 miles southeast of Fairmount in eastern Gordon County. The Marquette Cement Company operates a quarry in Bartow County four miles east of Kingston for the production of portland cement. Nolichunky Shale - Overlying the Maryville Limestone is the Nolichunky Shale. This formatio~ is about 600 feet thick in Georgia. According to Swingle (1956), the Nolichunky Shale near Cleveland, Tennessee, has the following sequence of beds: (1) a lower zone of oolitic and massive limestone overlying the lower siltstone and shale sequence of the Conasauga; - 13 - (2) greenish clay shale with a few thin beds of siltstone; (3) massive to thinly bedded blue argillaceous limestones; (4) greenish yellow clay shale extending upward to the base of the Maynardville. The Nolichunky near Cleveland is less than 1000 feet thick. Maynardville Formation - The uppermost formation in the Conasauga is the Maynardville. In Georgia it has a maximum thickness of 350 feet and is composed of interbedded limestone and dolomite. The following section measured at an old quarry 1.5 miles northwest of Dawnville reveals the lithology of the upper Maynardville and the lower Knox. Unit No. 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Description of Units Bluish gray limestone Gray shale Gray shaly limestone Brown shilty shale Gray cherty limestone Gray crystalline limestone Gray cherty limestone Dark gray crystalline limestone Chert with some interbedded shale and limestone Tan shale Chert Concealed (Knox-Maynardville contact in this zone) Gray coarsely crystalline limestone Gray crystalline limestone Concealed Dark gray oolitic limestone Gray slightly argillo-arenaceous crystalline limestone Gray oolitic limestone Thickness Total Feet Thickness 2.00' 8.50' .58' .58' 1.00' 10.33' 2.09' 3.58' 10.58' 21.50 I 1.00' 16.00' 13.00' 12.00' 3.00 1 2;09' 6.58' 6.09' 120.50' 118.50' 110.00' 109.42' 108.84' 107.84' 97.51' 95.42' 91.84 I 81.26 I 59.76' 58.76' 42.76' 29.76' 17.76' 14.76' 12.67' 6.09' The Maynardville has good potential for economic development, but chert float from the adjacent Knox Group mantles most of the Maynardville near the surface, and conceals the optimum places to search for quarry sites. - 14 - Knox Group The term Knox "Group" was first used by Safford (1869) for rocks typically developed in Knox County, Tennessee. Ulrich (1911) proposed splitting the Knox into several formations and introduced the name Copper Ridge for certain beds of dolomite in the vicinity of the original type locality for the Knox. The term Chepultepec was proposed by Ulrich (1911) for a division of the Knox overlying the Copper Ridge. Butts in 1926 reported that the Chepultepec was unconformably overlain by the Longview Dolomite. Oder and Miller (1911) named the upper formations of the Knox Group the Kingsport Limestone and Mascot Dolomite. The Cambrian-Ordovician boundary presently is placed at the top of the Copper Ridge Dolomite. The Chepultepec, Longview, Kingsport, and Mascot Formations, therefore comprise the lower Ordovician (Beekmantown). The Knox Group in Georgia characteristically crops out as chert residuum and red clay soils derived from the weathering of the Knox rocks. Though the Knox Group underlies extensive areas in Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Polk, Walker, and Whitfield Counties, fresh rock exposures are uncommon, and the outcrop patterns have been mapped almost entirely from the distribution of chert. One of the most extensive exposures of fresh Knox is along Chickamauga Creek just southeast of Graysville. Other exposures are east of Trion and Summerville. Another good exposure is at the old Ladd Lime and Cement Company Quarry on Quarry Mountain, 2.6 miles southwest of Cartersville. Smaller exposures are along the Etowah River at the bridge 1.5 miles southeast of Euharlee, in a large bend of the river two miles west of Kingston. The paucity of unweathered outcrops in Georgia hinders the delineation of the formations that comprise the Knox. Reliance here is placed on the good lithologic descriptions of sections measured in Lee Valley, Hawkins County, Tennessee, by Rogers and Kent (1948). Bedrock exposures of the Copper Ridge Dolomite near Harmony Church 4.5 miles northwest of Dalton suggest that the general description of the Copper Ridge in Lee Valley is applicable here. Both the upper and lower boundaries at Lee Valley probably apply in Georgia. The base of the Copper Ridge is placed at the top of the light colored, chert-free Maynardville Formation. Sandstone at the base of the overlying Chepultepec Dolomite, which marks the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary, determines the top of the Copper Ridge. At Lee Valley the Copper Ridge is 925 feet thick. Upon weathering the Copper Ridge produces large quantities of chert. These chert masses tend to mask and conceal the underlying rocks. Above the Copper Ridge is the Chepultepec Dolomite, which in Lee Valley is 721 feet thick. The base of the Chepultepec Dolomite is marked by a 3-foot sandstone. Munyan reported sandstone in the Knox Group in the Dalton Quadrangle. Butts (1948) identified the Chepultepec in the city limits of Dalton, 1.5 miles northwest of Euharlee, on east Armuchee Creek five miles south of Subligna. The lithology of the Chepultepec Dolomite is similar - 15- to that of the Copper Ridge ~olomite. The rock is a gray to tan, finegrained, crystalline dolomite with massive and nodular chert. Chert appears to be less abundant than in the Copper Ridge. From present exposures the Longview Dolomite is not separable from the Chepultepec Dolomite in Georgia. In Lee Valley, Tennessee, the Longview is 264 feet thick. The formational name is taken from Longview, Shelby County, Alabama and is defined in Alabama as including the Lecanspira zone and excluding the overlying Ceratopea zone (Butts, 1926). Some gray to pink, cherty, crystalline limestone is interbedded with the gray, fine-grained crystalline dolomite. Upon weathering, the Longview is found to be exceedingly cherty and great quantities of massive chert residuum give rise to a series of low ridges or hills. Outcrops of unweathered rock are rare. The Kingsport Limestone overlies the Longview Dolomite, and in Lee Valley is 218 feet thick. The formation consists typically of bluish gray to brown limestone interbedded with and grading up into a gray, fine-grained, crystalline dolomite. Much less chert is produced from weathering of the Kingsport than from other formations in the Knox; because of this, the Kingsport Formation generally is at lower elevations than the surrounding Knox formations. The uppermost formation of the Knox Group is the Mascot Dolomite, which in Lee Valley is 510 feet thick. The rock is a light to dark gray, fine-grained, crystalline dolomite containing beds of nodules of chert. Some blue limestone is at the top of the formation. Butts (1948), Cressler (1963, 1964), and Allen (1953) did not mention the presence of the Kingsport Limestone or the Mascot Dolomite in their descriptions of Knox rocks in Georgia, probably because of the limited exposures and the difficulties of distinguishing the weathered formations. No reliable measurement of the thickness of the Knox in Georgia can be made from present exposures. It is 2638 feet thick in Lee Valley, Tennessee, Hayes estimated its thickness in the Rome Quadrangle as 4000 feet. Butts (1948) reported 3500 feet as a conservative estimate for Georgia. Allen (1953) reported a thickness of about 4500 feet at Graysville. If the Knox is 4500 feet thick in Georgia and 2638 feet thick in Lee Valley, then the Group thins to the north and west, similar to the Conasauga Group. Current use of the Knox Group is limited to crushed stone, and the use of the cherty residuum as fill. - 16- Newala Limestone This formation gets its name from Newala Station on the Southern Railroad west of Calera, Shelby County, Alabama (Butts, 1948). The Newala is well developed in Alabama and Georgia, but the term is not used in Tennessee (Munyan, 1951). Stratigraphically, the Hewala Limestone, which is Ordovician, overlies the Mascot Dolomite of the Knox Group and is in turn unconformably overlain by the Chickamauga Limestone, the Athens Shale, and possibly the Rockmart Slate. A continuous outcrop of Newala Limestone along both sides of Missionary Ridge is overlain by the Chickamauga Limestone; nine miles to the southeast, the Chickamauga overlies the Knox Group, and no Newala is found. This absence of Newala Limestone from some areas has been noted in Alabama and might indicate an unconformity of considerable magnitude. In Murray County, the Newala is overlain by the Ordovician Athens Shale; in Polk County, it is overlain by Rockmart Slate. The Rockmart Slate may be the metamorphic equivalent of the Athens Shale, though some workers (Butts, 1948) have regarded it as Mississippian in age. Munyan reported the Newala in Murray County to be 110 feet thick. Butts reported its thickness at Aragon as 250-300 feet. It is not known whether the differences in thickness are due to facies thinning or to subsequent erosion. The best exposures of the Newala are along Georgia Highway #341 from Chickamauga to Kensington, in the old Southern States Quarry one mile north of Rockmart and in the Rossville Crushed Stone Quarry #2 five miles north of Ringgold. The Newala crops out over a broad area that extends from Rockmart in Polk County through Aragon, Taylorsville, and Statesboro to Malbone which is four miles southwest of Cartersville. Also it crops out at Cedartown and Fish in Polk County, and at Springplace in Murray County. In all of the above areas, the Newala underlies an area of low, flat ground with very few exposures of limestone. The Newala consists principally of bluish-gray fine- to medium-grained crystalline limestone interbedded with pearl gray, fine-grained, crystalline dolomite. Some chert and argillaceous seams are found in the Newala, but are rare. Generally the lower Newala is dolomitic, while the upper Newala is mainly limestone. The Newala has been utilized economically for cement, crushed stone, and building stone. - 17 - Chickamauga Limestone The Chickamauga Limestone was named by Hayes (1391) for Chickamauga Creek in Hamilton County, Tennessee and for adjacent areas in Georgia. As originally defined, it consists of Middle and Upper Ordovician limestones unconformably overlying the Knox Group and extending up to the base of the Silurian Sequatchie Formation. The Newala Limestone was originally considered part of the Chickamauga Limestone but Lester and Allen (1957) report that a major unconformity separates the Newala from the Murfreesboro limestone. Because of ths unconformity the Newala should not be considered as part of the Chickamauga. It is restricted to the area west of Taylor Ridge, Gaylor Ridge and Whiteoak Mountain. Lithologic mapping of the Ordovician is extremely difficult in Georgia. The Chickamauga Limestone comprises several formations which have been separated and described in Tennessee. Butts (1948) was able to separate the Chickamauga into the Maysville Formation, the Stones River Group, and the Newala Limestone. According to Lester and Allen (1957) the Chickamauga strata represent two distinct lithologic environments. They designate the eastern strata as the near-shore facies and the remaining strata as the offshore facies. The field work for this report confirms their conclusion that the Ordovician rocks become more terrigenous toward the east. The Chickamauga Limestone includes all the limestones of their offshore facies above the Middle Ordovician major unconformity and below the Sequatchie Formation. The thickness varies from 1200 to 1900 feet (Lester and Allen, 1957). The Chickamauga consists of evenly bedded, bluish-gray to gray, fineto medium-grained limestone. Argillaceous laminae and bentonite searns are in the limestones, as well as some chert and dolomite (Table 2). The Chickamauga Limestone has been quarried for crushed stone and building stone. Mississippian System Because the Mississippian System includes most of the high grade limestones of the Coosa Valley Area it was examined in greater detail than the other stratigraphic units. Twenty-three weeks were spent in the field on this System. All roads and trails were walked out. The outcrops reported by Maynard (1912) were reexamined, as well as many additional large outcrops. All quarries were mapped. This work has provided a more accurate geologic map of the Mississippian System in Georgia than any previously available, and has filled in details of its stratigraphy. Figure 4 shows the distribution of the larger carbonate units. Physiography - The Mississippian rocks can be divided into two distinct facies. The western facies is part of the physiographic province known as the Appalachian or Cumberland Plateau; the eastern facies is part of the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province. - 18 - ) I CATOOSA L_ _l ~ .1 c; i_,_r' ! _ _i I , ' I ~ -~ (_/_~__ _ WHITFIELD GORDON -- -ru-:._.-------------x---- 1 J r' FLOYD BARTOW ,J FIGURE 4 - 19 - OUTCROP MAP OF MISSISSIPPIAN ROCKS N NORTHWEST GEORGIA r Western Facies Eastern Facies Rockmart Slates Table 2 - Generalized Stratigraphy of the Offshore Facies of the Ordovician System in Georgia System Silurian Silurian ~ t-1 C,) t-1 :> 0 ~ ~ Forma t~on Thickness Litholo gy Red Mountain formation 1000 Sandstone, shale, and some thin limestone Sequatchie 250 (?) Calcareous shale and silt- formation stone interbedded with crystalline limestone small unconformitY ---------4---------------------------- Maysville 150 Blue crystalline limestone formation 1 with shaly laminae ~------------- unconformity ________-4--------------------------- Trenton 440 (?) Thin-bedded, bluish-gray limestone fine-to coarse-grained crystalline limestone with argillaceous zones and laminae Moccasin rQ::) limestone .0u Ul Lowville ~ limestone H ~ 15 50 (?) Gray to brown fine-grained argillaceous limestone Dark gray fine-grained limestone with argilla- ceous laminae and chert unconformity (?) Lebanon limestone 0 Lenoir 1-1 c.!> limestone 1-1 Mosheim ~ t'tS ..... bO ;::l limestone e p:: t'tS Murfreesboro limestone Ul t'tS rQ:: )~ u f: ..c~:: tiJC,) 55 (?) 100 (?) 20 350 (?) Gray fine-grained crystalline limestone with shaly laminae Gray to tan fine-grained argillaceous limestone Gray medium-grained crystalline Dark gray fine-grained crystalline limestone with shaly laminae and chert major unconformity Newala limestone or Knox Group 200 (?) Pearl gray dolomite - 20- The Rockmart slates in Polk and Bartow Counties may represent a third facies, but they are not considered further in this report because they lack carbonate. The Appalachian Plateau in Georgia is restricted to the Lookout Mountain and Sand Mountain area. Generally the anticlines are valleys and the synclines are mountains. The Appalachian Valley, or Valley and Ridge Province, is a complex of high ridges - White Oak Mountain, Taylor Ridge, Gaylor Ridge, Simms Mountain, Johns Mountain, Horn Mountain, Lavender Mountain, Turkey Mountain, Rocky Face Mountain, and Horseleg Mountain. These have been designated the Armuchee Ridges. They are held up by the highly resistant Silurian Red Mountain Formation, the Devonian Armuchee Chert, and the Mississippian Ft. Payne Chert. Description - The Mississippian System, excluding the Rockmart slates, is composed of two diverse facies of equivalent age. The Fort Payne Chert, the second-oldest Mississippian unit, is common to both. Above the Fort Payne Chert, the western facies is composed of limestone and chert except for the Pennington Shale at the very top. The eastern facies is predominantly a shale, with interbedded limestone and sandstone. This shale and associated limestone and sandstone has been called the Floyd Shale. From published information and from the addition of measured partial sections three idealized geologic sections through the Mississippian have been constructed (Figure 5). Maury Shale - At several locations in Georgia, gray to green shale immediately (unconformably?) overlies the black Chattanooga Shale. It has been called the Maury Shale and is considered to be of Mississippian age. The Maury Shale is only 7-8 feet thick. It is glauconitic, pyritic, and contains phosphatic nodules, but generally is hard to differentiate from the Chattanooga Shale. Little is known about its lateral variations. Fort Payne Chert - In Georgia, the Fort Payne Chert is composed of stratified chert or cherty limestone interbedded with dark calcareous shale and tan quartzose sandstone. The Fort Payne Chert immediately overlies the Maury Shale. The chert is dense, brittle, gray, and evenly bedded. The individual layers are generally six inches to one foot thick but may be thicker or thinner. The upper part of the Fort Payne Chert appears to be more calcareous than the lower part. In the western facies the exact contact between the Fort Payne and the overlying St. Louis Limestone is very difficult to determine. The Fort Payne Chert probably grades into the St. Louis Limestone, although Butts (1948) reported a hiatus between them. A dense gray calcareous shale known as the Lavender Shale is interbedded with the Fort Payne in the eastern facies. The Lavender Shale is thicker in Floyd and Chattooga Counties than in Catoosa County. In Floyd County tan quartzose sandstone is interbedded with Fort Payne Chert. - 21 - "'1 C) N N :c;:e: t%1 til I A 0 ------Z4milu 1600' - 1<00' 1300' 1200' ,..,.. l---1000' ~~ .... - """' Pottsville Formation &1!1!. OF PE,..SYLVANIAN Bangor Limestme Ha.rtaoll Sand5tcu'll and ~conda ForrntJkm Gasper Formation and Ste. Genevieve Limestone Fort Payne Chert includes Maury Shale 1. .. ~ Of. lltHI:II:IIiiLP"U,M o 0 2 34.~mi11D 0 3 A' li~1 Pottsville Formation BASE OF ~UI.t.!IIV.~ l{:~tEi-----===~-----P-en-nin-gt-on-Sh-ale ------- Bangor Limestone Hr;uf5eHa Sonds)gne and I ~Th ,..llfFa-'f Golconda Formation ~ IN hl!l*l'l_,~,.. Fort Payne Chert includes Maury Shale 8AU. !1' ~r.&IIM=Jl'PI.&III Chattanooga S~l~-; GEOLOGIC CROSS SECTION A-A' MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM LITHOLOGIC UNITS bill Sandstone ~Shalo e:2:ll limestone ~Limestonewilhchert f 9 Chort ..., -Biod:Shale The Fort Payne is very fossiliferous and contains abundant crinoid stems up to one inch in diameter and several large forms of the genus Spirifer. The upper part of the formation is generally deeply weathered and forms a characteristic reddish soil containing blocky, fossiliferous fragments of chert. Borrow pits for chert are common in this formation. In the western facies the Fort Payne tends to form narrow ridges because of its resistance to weathering. This is most pronounced at Shinbone Ridge in Chattooga and Walker Counties and Roland Ridge in Walker County. In the eastern facies the Fort Payne along with the Silurian Red Mountain Formation forms the Armuchee Ridges. The Fort Payne is 157 feet thick in Dade County, 150 feet thick in Chattooga County, and 390 feet thick in Catoosa County. Field observations show that the southern and eastern portions of the Fort Payne Chert contain more terrigenous material than the northwestern portions, an indication that the source area for the sediments was to the southeast. St. Louis Limestone and Shale - In the western facies the St. Louis is a gray to bluish gray, thickly bedded, fine-grained cherty limestone. The upper part of the formation contains some light gray dolomite. A few thin shale stringers (less than 2" thick) are in the lower part of the formation. In the eastern facies the St. Louis shales out. Immediately overlying the Fort Payne in Chattooga and Floyd Counties is a yellow brown or gray calcareous shale, previously referred to as the Floyd Shale. The St. Louis Limestone is well exposed in the old Southern Iron and Steel Quarries in Dade County and at Yates Quarry in Walker County. The contact between the Fort Payne Chert and the St. Louis Limestone can be seen on Georgia Highway #143, 1.3 miles southeast of Trenton, where the contact appears to be transitional. The contact between the St. Louis Limestone and overlying Ste. Genevieve Limestone is exposed at Yates Quarry #1. The St. Louis is marked in Georgia by two species of massive corals, lithostrotionella caslelnaui and lithostrotion proliferum. These are easily found in the western facies in Dade and Walker Counties. They also have been noted in the eastern facies at the head of Cherokee Branch and west of Cherokee Ridge four miles northeast of Ringgold. Because of its high chert content, the St. Louis Limestone generally is a poor quality stone useable only for road aggregate. Ste. Genevieve Limestone and Gasper Formation - Above the St. Louis is the Ste. Genevieve Limestone, which is easily distinguished from the St. Louis by its oolitic and noncherty character. Butts (1948) says, "It can be affirmed with certainty that the St. Louis is everywhere non-oolitic with perhaps rare and local exemptions." The Ste. Genevieve is a bluish gray, - 23 - medium-grained, noncherty, crystalline limestone with oolites. The Ste. Genevieve in contrast with the St. Louis is nearly pure calcium carbonate. The contact between the St. Louis and the Ste. Genevieve is well exposed in Yates Quarry til in Walker County. The Ste. Genevieve is identified by the presence of its guide fossil, Platycrinus penicillus. The Ste. Genevieve is overlain by another limestone, the Gasper Formation, of similar lithologic character. The Ste. Genevieve and Gasper cannot be differentiated in Georgia except by paleontology. The Gasper like the Ste. Genevieve is a bluish gray, medium-grained, noncherty, crystalline limestone with oolites. Its principle guide fossils are Talarocrinus, a genus of crinoids, and the Campophyllum gasperense. The Ste. Genevieve and Gasper limestones are exposed in the Patten Rock Products Quarry 2.5 miles west of LaFayette. This quarry along with the Ledbetter Brothers Quarry at Rome are the only quarries presently being operated in the Mississippian limestones. The thickness of the Ste. Genevieve and Gasper formations is approximately 400 feet in Dade County (Croft, 1964) and 200 feet in Catoosa County (Allen, 1953). Limestone tentatively identified as Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is interbedded with shale in the eastern facies. This limestone crops out on the western flank of Cherokee Ridge in Catoosa County, forms a long narrow band that extends from one mile north of Silver Hill to one mile northeast of Subligna in Chattooga County; a similar band extends from Huffacker Station to the Old Public Work Camp Quarry til in Floyd County. The Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is well exposed in the Ledbetter Brothers Quarry at Rome, where the quarry manager reports that core drilling indicated a 11 considerable thickness" of limestone. A section measured in this quarry showed 132.3 feet of limestone. Of the 120 limestone quarries being operated in Tennessee in 1960, twenty-seven were in the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones; of these twenty-seven, ten were underground (Hershy and Maker, 1963). The Ste. Genevieve-Gasper in Tennessee contains more quarries and mines than any other formation. With the possible exception of Upper Newala Limestone, the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper has the highest grade limestone. Chert and dolomite do occur, but both are rare. Argillaceous zones are uncommon. The Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is thicker and better exposed than the Newala Limestone, and offers the greatest economic potential of any limestone in northwest Georgia. Golconda Formation and Hartselle Sandstone - In Dade County above the Gasper Formation is about 20 feet of shale interbedded with thin platy limestones. This sequence of rocks is called the Golconda Formation. Overlying the Golconda Formation is the Hartselle Sandstone. The Hartselle Sandstone is a tan medium-grained orthoquartzite; at the northern end of Lookout Mountain it is about 5 to 10 feet thick. - 24- In the eastern facies the Golconda and Hartselle thicken considerably. In Catoosa County the Golconda shales can be seen at the Fax Campbell Quarry. The Hartselle Sandstone forms the resistant capping to Cherokee Ridge. The combined thickness of the Golconda Formation and the Hartselle Sandstone in Catoosa County is at least 350 feet (Allen, 1953). In Chattooga and Floyd Counties, the Golconda thickens considerably from Catoosa County and in other reports is called the Floyd Shale. Sandstone which is considered to be equivalent to the Hartselle because of its similar stratigraphic position can be traced for several miles in both Chattooga and Floyd Counties. In Chattooga County, the sandstone crops out 0.6 miles west of Tidings; in Floyd County, it forms a ridge partially encircling Rocky Mountain in Big Texas Valley. The latter was mapped by Hayes in 1902 as the Oxmoor Sandstone. Bangor Limestone (restricted) - Above the Hartselle Sandstone is the Bangor Limestone. It consists of thick-bedded, medium-grained, crystalline limestones with oBlites. They are interbedded with dark gray calcareous shales, and the entire sequence is approximately 500 feet thick. The partial section in Table 3 was measured in the Bangor on Interstate Highway #24 two miles west of Hooker in Dade County. Examination of cores drilled 1.4 miles north of Chelsea indicate that the upper part of the Bangor contains more shale than the lower. Shale over 5 feet thick was encountered 176 feet below the Pennington-Bangor contact. Shale is rarely observed in outcrop. Black blocky chert nodules occur commonly throughout the limestone (Croft, 1964). Limestone identified as Bangor crops out on Sand Mountain in Catoosa County. Some shales are interbedded, but no shales are seen at the Fry Quarry on the southwestern flank of the mountain. Southward in Chattooga and Floyd Counties the Bangor shales thicken. Limestones which appear to be equivalent to the Bangor in Catoosa County crop out on the western slope of Little Sand Mountain in Chattooga County and on the lower slopes of Rocky Mountain in Floyd County. Because of the abundance of shale, especially in the upper part, and chert nodules, the economic potential of the Bangor is limited. A very large outcrop of upper Bangor Limestone is two miles northwest of Morgenville in Dade County; it appears to be a good quarry prospect, but probably is less good than it appears because the upper Bangor in this area usually is too shaly. Pennington Shale - Above the Bangor Limestone and extending up to the basal Pennsylvanian ("Lookout 11 ) Sandstone is the Pennington Shale. The Pennington is predominantly shale, but includes minor thin sandstones and limestones. The Pennington is further distinguished by the presence of marine fossils which are rare in the overlying Pennsylvanian rocks. - 25- TABLE 3 - Bangor Limestone- Partial Section Measured on Interstate #24 two miles west of Hooker, Dade County Unit # DESCRIPTION Thickness Total Thickness 30 Bluish gray crystalline limestone 8. 00' 216. 46' 29 Knotty tan siltstone 28 Knotty gray shale 4. SO' s. 67' 208. 46' 203. 96' 27 Bluish gray crystalline limestone 5.001 198. 29' 26 Gray calcareous shale which grades upward into a shaly limestone 11. 00 1 (est) 193.291 25 Gray crystalline limestone with black chert in lower part B. 00 1 (est) 182.291 24 Concealed 57.951 174.291 23 Interbedded bluish gray crystalline limestone and green shale 15. 001 (est) 116. 341 22 Light gray highly argillaceous limestone 5.33' 101.341 21 Blue crystalline limestone with oolites 14.001 96.011 20 Bluish gray crystalline limestone with dolomite 7. 501 82.011 19 Gray oolitic limestone 3.001 74.51 1 18 Brown shale .091 71.511 17 Bluish gray slightly argillaceous limestone 2. 751 71. 42 1 16 Gray calcareous shale 3. 75 1 68. 67' 15 Light gray argillaceous limestone . 331 64.921 14 Gray knotty shale 6. SO' 64.591 13 Bluish gray oolitic limestone 14.001 58.09' 12 Dark gray shale 4. 331 44.091 11 Bluish gray oolitic limestone 14. 171 39.761 10 Dark gray shale 3. 251 25.591 9 Bluish gray crystalline limestone 2.001 22.341 8 Bluish gray crystalline limestone with black chert 2. 171 20.341 7 Black chert . 251 18. 171 6 Light gray dolomite with black chert 3. 751 17. 92 1 5 Black chert . 251 14. 17' 4 Light gray dolomite with black chert in lower part 2. 251 13. 92 1 3 Black chert . 581 11. 67' 2 Gray slightly argillaceous limestone with black chert 6.09' 11.091 1 Concealed 5.00' 5.001 - 26- In the western facies the Pennington is 100 to 200 feet thick. In the eastern facies the Pennington has been called Floyd Shale, but can now be identified and separated as a distinct formation. The Floyd Shale - Rocks of the eastern facies of the Mississippian System crop out in a broad belt east of White Oak Mountain and Taylor Ridge, and in the past those rocks above the Fort Payne Chert and below the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation have been called the Floyd Shale. The thickness of the Floyd Shale is difficult to determine because much of the formation is poorly exposed, and the dip of the strata is uncertain. Hayes (1902) estimated the thickness to be 1,200 feet. Butts (1948) reported the thickness to be at least 1,500 feet. By detailed mapping it is possible to correlate the shale, limestone, and sandstone units in the eastern facies with equivalent rock units in the western facies. Thus the uppermost beds in the Floyd Shale are equivalent to the Pennington Shale. - 27- CARBONATE ROCK RESOURCES OF BARTOW COUNTY Introduction Limestones and dolomites underlie nearly all of the western half of Bartow County and part of the eastern half (Figure 6). Dolomites predominate in the Knox Group and Shady Dolomite. Dolomites are interbedded with limestones in the Newala Limestone. The higher grade limestones are most frequently encountered in the Conasauga Group, where they are interlensed with shale. Conasauga Group The Conasauga Group of Middle to Late Cambrian age crops out over a quarter of the county. Croft (1963) estimated its thickness to be at least 4,000 feet, and distinguished three major formations. The lower formation consists of gray bedded dolomite and a few beds of limestone, apparently equivalent to the Rutledge Formation. A good exposure is at the Shinall Quarry, at White. The carbonates of this belt mostly underlie a broad strike valley, which extends from the Etowah River to Flexatile, with the shaly portions of the formation forming low hills. The middle formation mentioned by Croft appears to be the Rogersville Shale. In fresh exposures the shale is dark green; on weathering it becomes reddish-orange. Croft described the upper formation as interbedded gray limestone and shale. This unit probably comprises three formations, the Maryville Limestone, the Nolichucky Shale, and the Maynardville Formation. The westernmost belt of Conasauga rocks extends southward from Gordon County, through Adairsville, to about one mile south of Halls. Patches occur at Kingston and south of Snow Spring Mountain. Knox Group Deeply weathered chert residuum of the Knox Group covers most of the western part of the county and comprises about 30 percent of the total exposures in Bartow County. Fresh Knox rocks are observable only in quarries and along streams. The best exposure is at the old Ladd Lime and Cement Company quarry 2.6 miles southwest of Cartersville. The Knox consists of thinly to thickly bedded cherty dolomite and cherty limestone which upon weathering yields a thick residuum of cherty nodules and boulders in a reddish brown soil. The thickness of the Knox Group in Bartow County is estimated to be about 4,500 feet. - 28- "%j C) N c::: I.D i!l 0\ PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTION OF CARBONATE -BEARING FORMATIONS BARTOW COUNTY GEORGIA 1969 N I EXPLANATION !till] Newala UtNIo.,~ ln,6l'bd'.d. d lfm11'tone and dolomif C ] Kn01. Group. Malnly do\omUt. - eon.. .,. Gn.up. Llm..tonel and haln. The better known Um11ton1 areal art maril:ed by crollhcrtehlne. - Sllady Dolomilo. "- Newala Limestone Most exposures of Newala Limestone are restricted to stream bottoms in the extreme southwestern part of the county. The thickness of the unit is probably about the same as in Polk County (250'-300'). The Newala overlies the Knox Group and in turn is unconformably overlain by the Rockmart Slates. The Newala is a pearl-gray, fine-grained, crystalline dolomite interbedded with bluish-gray, fine- to medium-grained limestone. The upper Newala appears to be less dolomitic than the lower part. Although exposures are limited, detailed geologic mapping coupled with drilling probably could locate several potential quarry sites in this formation. Description of Individual Properties Sophia Prospect, Locality #1 The location is 3.6 miles west of White and the L & N Railroad, immediately east of the South Fork of Two Run Creek, on a paved county road. A bluish gray, fine-grained dolomite crops out, overlain by shale. A stratigraphic thickness of about 30 feet is exposed. A composite sample analyzes: CaO - 30.8 MgO - 19.7 AFSeil022oo233 - 1. 8 0.1 1. 3 C02 - 45.7 100.0 This dolomite is within the Rome Formation, and the available stone appears to be quite limited. M. E. Painter Quarry, Locality #2 The quarry is 2.6 miles east of Adairsville on Georgia Highway 140. The L & N Railroad is 2.8 miles to the west. This is the old Folsom prospect mentioned by Maynard (1912, p. 269). The quarry is in the uppermost rocks of the Conasauga Group (Maynardville Formation) in fine- to medium-grained dolomite. The working face is about 40 feet high. Sample 309 is a composite collected near the base of - 30- the quarry; sample 310 is a composite from the upper part of the quarry face: Sample 309 Sample 310 CaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe co 2o3 2 28.3 19.9 4.9 2.2 0.8 43.8 100.0 29.1 20.5 3.1 1.4 0.8 45.1 100.0 The M. E. Painter quarry was operated by Southeastern Contractors of Gainesville, Ga., in 1965-66 to produce crushed stone for Interstate Highway #75. Reserves appear to be large. Overburden is negligible. The stone can be used for road metal, aggregate and agricultural stone. Gum Spring Prospect, Locality #3 The prospect is in northern Bartow County, about 3 miles west of Bolivar, on the west side of Pine Log Creek. The nearest paved road is Georgia Highway 140, which is 1.6 miles to the south. The nearest railroad is the L & N, which runs through Bolivar. Dark blue, fine-grained limestone crops out extensively. A composite sample analyzes: CaO - 51.8 MgO 2.2 Si02 1.6 Al2o3 - 1. 2 Fe203 - 0.1 C02 - 43.0 99.9 The limestone belongs to the upper Conasauga Group. Reserves are estimated as high. Marquette Cement Company Quarry, Locality #4 The quarry is 3.5 miles east of Kingston, 0.25 miles south of Georgia Highway 20, and 0.4 miles north of the L & N Railroad. The quarry was picked as a potential site in 1955 by Vernon J. Hurst, explored by diamond drilling by the Marquette Cement Company late in 1955, and opened by them in 1956. The Conasauga limestone produced at the quarry is mostly gray, finegrained and cut by occasional white calcite veinlets. A composite sample - 31 - from the working face in 1968 analysed: CaO - 50.6 MgO 2.8 Si02 2.2 Al203 1.1 Fe203 0.4 C02 42.8 99.9 The limestone is crushed to minus 2 inches, then trucked 28 miles to the Portland Cement plant in Rockmart. Reserves are large. Clifford Lime and Stone Company Quarry, Locality #5 The quarry is 3.7 miles north of Kingston, 0.2 miles west of the L & N Railroad in the Knox Group. It was operated by the Clifford Lime and Stone Company prior to World War I, primarily for the production of burnt lime, and now is owned by General Abrasives Company, Inc., of Niagara Falls, N.Y. Known reserves are about 200,000 tons, though a much greater tonnage doubtlessly could be developed. A composite sample of pearl gray, fine-grained dolomite from the quarry analyses: CaO - 27.8 MgO - 21.3 SiOz 4.4 Al Fe 22oo33 - 1.0 0.5 COz - 45.0 100.0 Howard Hydraulic Cement Company Mine, Locality #6 The mine is 1.7 miles north of Kingston on the L & N Railroad, in the Knox Group. From 1880 to 1917 the Howard Hydraulic Cement Company selectively mined dolomite strata for the production of burnt lime. The dolomite was blasted, hand loaded and conveyed in small cars down an incline to kilns (Maynard, 1912, pp. 273-275). A quarry was opened at the mine in 1926 to provide stone for Georgia Highway 20. The present owner is Mr. Clifford E. Johnson. A composite sample of blue, fine-grained limestone from this site analyse~ - 32- CaO MgO Si02 A12o3 Fe203 C02 51.2 2.8 1.8 0.8 0.2 43.2 100.0 The limestone is interbedded with dolomite. J. H. Perry Quarry, Locality #7 The quarry is 6.5 miles southeast of Adairsville and 5.5 miles northwest of White, in limestones of the Conasauga Group. The landowner is Mr. J. Howell Perry of Cartersville, Georgia. The quarry was opened in 1960 by the Stockbridge Stone Company and has been worked intermittently since then. Present exposures are insufficient for an estimate of reserves. Charles F. Jarrett Quarry, Locality #8 Bluish gray, fine-grained dolomite in the Conasauga Group 3.5 miles south of Adairsville on old U.S. Highway #41 was quarried by Lambert Brothers in 1927-28 and again in 1947-48 for crushed stone. The overburden is less than 5 feet at the quarry. A composite sample analyses: CaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe203 C02 30.2 21.0 1.2 0.6 0.3 46.6 99.9 The quarry can be reopened as needed.for crushed stone. David Vaughn Prospect, Locality #9 The prospect is 6.5 miles northeast of White and 0.8 miles east of the L & N Railroad. No fresh rock crops out, but the prospect is probably with- in the Conasauga Group. The Lehigh Portland Cement Company optioned the property from Mr. Vaughn and core drilled it in 1960-61. Earlier in 1925, the Tennessee Copper Company is reported to have dug several prospect pits. The fact that a cement producer explored the property implies the presence of limestone, but their cores are not available for examination. - 33 - Stockbridge Stone Company Quarry (Shinall Quarry), Locality #10 The quarry is one mile north of White, adjacent to both a paved road and the L & N Railroad, on the property of Mr. Rob Shinall. The Stockbridge Stone Company opened the quarry in 1947. The present opening is 850 feet long, up to 660 feet wide, and filled with water. Altogether about 2,000,000 tons of stone have been produced. Most of it was used at Altoona Dam; some has been sold as agricultural stone. Sample 307 is a composite of gray, fine-grained dolomite from the west side of the quarry; sample 308 is a composite of gray, fine-grained dolomite containing white calcite veinlets from the east side. Sample 307 Sample 308 GaO MgO AFcSoeil0222oo233 30.1 21.4 0.6 0.4 0.5 46.9 99.9 30.4 21.2 0.9 0.7 0.5 47.0 100.7 Ladd Lime and Cement Company Quarry, Locality #11 The quarry is located on the Seaboard Airline Railroad 2.6 miles southwest of Cartersville, on the east slope of Quarry Mountain (Figure 7). The quarry first was opened about 1867. The Ladd Lime and Cement Company ceased operations about 1958. The principal product was burnt lime; lesser amounts of stone were used as fluxing stone, furnace linings, for glass manufacture, ballast and aggregate. Since 1965 some crushed stone has been produced. The principal quarry is an open cut about 40 feet above the valley level, in the Knox Group. Carbonate, principally fine- to medium-grained dolomite, is exposed vertically for a distance of more than 300 feet. The horizontal extent of the exposure along the east side of the mountain is about 1,000 feet. A good description has been published by Maynard (1912, pp. 271-273). A composite sample from the quarry analyses: GaO . MgO Si02 Al203 Fe203 C02 29.9 22.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 47.7 100.7 Millions of tons of dolomite still could be produced from this site. - 34- GEOLOGIC MAP QUARRY MOUNTAIN AREA BARTOW COUNTY, GEORGIA N _ __ __ 0....____ ___2. MILES r ~' ~~'~~'~ Knox Group ~ Conasauga Formation ~o ~ u Shady Dolomite c Weisner Formation j[[.::: ~ ~ Crystalline Rocks FIGURE 7 - 35- CARBONATE ROCK RESOURCES OF CATOOSA COUNTY Introduction About half of Catoosa County is underlain by limestones and dolomites (Figure 8). Low-magnesia, low-silica limestones are interbedded with dolomites in the Knox Group, Newala Limestone, and Chickamauga Limestone, but are most abundant in the Mississippian System. Dolomites predominate in the Knox Group. Conasauga Group The Conasauga Group of Middle to Late Cambrian age underlies Peavine Valley on the west side of the county and the narrow valley just east of Smith Chapel on the east side of the county. Exposures are good in Peavine Valley. In the belt east of Smith Chapel exposures are poorer, and the Conasauga rocks are tightly folded. The principal rock types are clayey and silty limestone, calcareous siltstone and shale. The upper 300 feet consists of massively bedded, gray limestone probably equivalent to the Maynardville Formation. No other formations within the Conasauga could be differentiated. In Peavine Valley the Conasauga forms an asymmetric anticline which is steeper on the western limb. Faulting might have removed part of the Conasauga on the west limb, because there the upper limestone could not be located, even though large outcrops abound across the valley on the east limb. Knox Group The largest exposures in Catoosa County are on Peavine Ridge, which is more than two miles wide, and on Boynton Ridge, about half a mile wide. The Knox also is exposed just north of Salem Church, along a NE-SW trending ridge that passes near Lee's Chapel, and along the eastern border of the county. In the northwest corner of the county a small strip of Knox extending into Wood Station Valley from Waler County, Tennessee, forms the eastern slope of Missionary Ridge. The Knox exposures characteristically consist of chert residuum and clays derived from the weathering of carbonates and cherty carbonates, but there are excellent outcrops of fresh rock, and almost the entire section is exposed. Allen (1953) measured the thickness as 4,340 feet. The Knox Group was actively quarried around World War I for dolomite. Newala Limestone The Newala Limestone is exposed in three, thin, NE-SW trending belts. The eastern belt is west of and parallel to Taylor Ridge and Whiteoak - 36- '"rl C) w " ~ 00 PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTION OF CARBONATE- BEARING CATOOSA COUNTY, GEORGIA 0 I 1969 2 MILES FORMATIONS N ~ EXPLANATION B Mississippian System limLo .., /i / EXPLANATION ~ Mississippian Systm lilllliill Chick~mOUQO Limestone -E2il Newala Limettone D Kno Group Conasauga Limeatone -....... Fault PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTION OF CARBONATE- BEARING CHATTOOGA COUNTY GEORGIA 0 I 2 MILES 1969 FORMATIONS N I Chickamauga Limestone The Middle to Upper Ordovician rocks in Chattooga County are mainly offshore facies, but nearshore facies become increasingly prominent toward the east. The offshore facies are mapped as the Chickamauga Limestone. It crops out in three main belts. The western belt extends NE-SW through Menlo. The middle belt runs NE-SW through Berryton. The eastern belt is along the western slope of Taylor Ridge, Simms Mountain, and Gaylor Ridge. Along the lower western slope of John's Mountain, in the extreme eastern part of the county, are equivalent nearshore sediments. The Chickamauga Limestone is dolomitic at the base, but consists mainly of evenly bedded, gray to blue limestones ranging from flaggy to thick-bedded and containing interbedded calcareous siltstones and claystones. The nearshore facies consists of red calcareous siltstones and claystones with some dolomite in the lower part. Outcrops of the Chickamauga are common along Georgia Highway #48 between Summerville and Menlo and at Marble Products Quarry #1. Thickness of the formation in Chattooga County is about 1,500 feet. Mississippian System The western facies of the Mississippian System crops out on the slopes of Lookout Mountain below the rimrocks and in the valley to the east. The eastern facies crops out in a broad belt between Taylor Ridge and Little Sand Mountain. Lookout Mountain is a gentle synclinal structure. The Mississippian rocks on the eastern slope of the mountain dip westward into the mountain. The area between Taylor Ridge and Little Sand Mountain is a broad north-south trending basin. East of Little Sand Mountain this basin has been cut by a major thrust fault with a minimal displacement of 3,000 feet. The Fort Payne Chert, which is about 150 feet thick, crops out widely. It forms Shinbone Ridge, and crops out on the east side of Taylor Ridge, the north side of Simms Ridge, and the west side of Dick Ridge. The western facies of the St. Louis Limestone, about 100 feet thick, mostly is concealed by the alluvium in Shinbone Valley; the eastern facies has shaled out and thickened to about 250 feet. Exposures of the western facies of the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper, on Lookout Mountain and in Shinbone Valley are limited. In the eastern facies, a long narrow band of limestone, which appears to be equivalent to the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper, extends from a mile north of Silver Hill to a mile northeast of Subligna. In the western facies the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is 300400 feet thick, and in the eastern facies about 200 feet thick. - 61- The Golconda Formation and Hartselle Sandstone were not found on Lookout Mountain, in Chattooga County. In the eastern facies these two lithologic units can be differentiated in some areas. Sandstone probably equivalent to the Hartselle Sandstone crops out 0.6 miles west of Tidings. All shale occurring between the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones and the sandstone above is considered equivalent to the Golconda Formation. The combined thickness of the Golconda and Hartselle in the eastern facies is estimated at 500 feet. The Bangor Limestone crops out on the slopes of Lookout Mountain and Little Sand Mountain. A good exposure is at Blowing Spring 0. 9 miles northeast of Chelsea. At Cedar Point 1.9 miles north of Menlo, it forms cliffs over 60 feet high. Core drillin has shown that the upper Bangor of Chattooga County is interbedded with shale. The Pennington Shale crops out below the rimrocks of Lookout Mountain and is approximately 200 feet thick. On Little Sand Mountain, shale thought to be equivalent to the Pennington Shale and estimated to be 200 feet thick crops out above the Bangor Limestone. The eastern facies of all Mississippian rocks in Chattooga County have been referred to in the past as the Floyd Shale. This work has shown that all of the units known and named in the western facies can be differentiated in the eastern facies, so formational names that are more specific than "Floyd Shale" can be used throughout the county. Description of Individual Properties Ste. Genevieve-Gasper Prospects, Locality #23 Figure 15 shows a belt of Ste. Genevieve-Gasper Limestone extending from a mile north of Silver Hill to a mile northeast of Subligna. On this belt five good prospects for limestone quarries have been located. Locality #23-1 is on the southeast side of the old town of Shackleton. Locality #23-2 is a quarter mile east of Gore, on U.S. Highway 27. Locality #23-3 is two miles northeast of Gore along a paved county road. Locality #23-4 is three miles northeast of Gore along a paved county road. Locality #23-5 is a half mile northeast of Subligna. The limestone at these prospects is similar to that being quarried by Ledbetter Brothers in Floyd County, but probably would yield a slightly higher quality stone. The two analyses below show that the stone is generally low in magnesia and variable in silica. Sample 143 is a composite from Locality #23-2. Sample 145 is a composite from Locality #23-5. GaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe203 C02 Total Sample 143 54.1 0.4 1.8 0.2 0.6 42.8 99.9 Sample 145 50.5 0.6 5.7 1.9 0.9 40.2 99.8 - 62- - --------- ---- ' \ ' ' \ I ' \ ' ' \ I _WA!-K~B._- \ ' I \ I I I I I I I I I ~/1 ' I I \ STE. GENEVIEVE-GASPER OUTCROP/ ..., C) 0\ c:: I (1.> ~ .... I \ 4 (JJ ~\ co'. 4\ _.l, 41 I I \ I I \ I I \ I I \ I I I I I I I I I I / /' ,/' / / _/ , I J I ---~ /' OUTCROP PATTERN .,.,.......-.,.,.," /~~-i.,i OF STE. GENEVIEVE-GASPER 1<:5:5 LIMESTONES /., N , \<::;;) /6' /._'-~ CHATTOOGA COUNTY X-prospects / I I / \ I / I ( \ 0 2 4 6 miles 1968 I I '-------- --- Bald Mountain Prospect, Locality #24 About 2.5 miles west of Summerville and a half mile north of Georgia Highway #48 is Bald Mountain, an elongate hill composed of interbedded limestone and shale of the Chickamauga Limestone formation. Bluish, finegrained limestone crops out abundantly at the top. A composite sample analyses: CaO -50.9 MgO - 0.4 Si02 - 5.0 Al203- 2.2 Fe203- 1.1 C02 -40.3 Total 99~9 Buckels Limestone Quarry, Locality #25 In 1909 Mr. William Buckels opened a small quarry on an outcrop of Conasauga Limestone, constructed a kiln, and produced lime about 1.5 miles southeast of Chelsea, in the valley. The opening is 15' x 40' and about 10 feet deep. The site is on the Soars Estate, now owned by Rome-Kraft. A composite sample from the quarry analyses: CaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe 2o3 C02 Total 50.9 3.5 0.9 0.4 0.5 43.7 99.9 which is nearly the same as an analysis of the stone reported by Maynard (1912, p. 182). The limestone is gray, fine-grained, and fairly uniform in lithologic character over the whole exposure. William Penn Prospect, Locality #26 Maynard (1912, p. 183) reported an exposure of gray, fine-grained, Conasauga Limestone 2.5 miles southeast of Trion on land then owned by Mr. William H. Penn. He described the limestone as extending from the valley floor to a vertical height of more than 100 feet. Though a band of Conasauga limestone passes through the approximate site, the exact outcrop described by Maynard could not be relocated. The analysis given by Maynard shows a limestone low in magnesia and containing 5.7 percent silica. -M- Little Sand Mountain Prospects, Locality #27 Several Bangor Limestone prospects on Little Sand Mountain were described by Maynard (1912, pp. 191-195): (1) on the south slope of Little Sand Mountain, just north of the Rome-Summerville road; (2) three-fourths mile northwest of Tidings; (3) 1.5 miles north of Kartah, on the west side of Little Sand Mountain; (4) two miles northeast of Kartah; (5) a quarter mile east of Armuchee Creek between Farmersville and Pleasant Grove Church. At many other places on Little Sand Mountain the Bangor Limestone crops out. Everywhere it is closely associated and interbedded with shale. In Chattooga County the eastern facies of the Bangor contains a notably higher proportion of shale than in Catoosa County. Thick sections of limestone free of shale are therefore less frequent, though they do exist, as at (5) above. Several analyses published by Maynard show that the Bangor Limestone in the Little Sand Mountain area is generally low in magnesia and variable in silica content. Small to moderate sized quarries might be opened at several places. Cooper Prospect, Locality #28 Introduction - The Cooper Prospect is 1.5 miles north of Chelsea in northwestern Chattooga County, on the steep east slope of Lookout Mountain, along the west side of Shinbone Valley. The property is owned by Ernest Cooper and C. D. Cooper of Menlo, Georgia. To the southeast 0.8 miles is the T.A.G. Railroad. Eight core holes have been drilled to assist the evaluation of limestone on the property. They range in depth from 103 to 464 feet, and penetrate interbedded Mississippian shales and limestones of the Pennington Shale and Bangor Limestone. These strata and the overlying Pennsylvanian Sandstone dip gently northwestward toward the south plunging axis of the Pigeon Mountain Syncline. The east side of Shinbone Valley contains a thrust fault which has moved Cambro-Ordovician Knox northwestward over the younger Ordovician Chickamauga Limestone. The high angle dips associated with this thrust do not appear to affect the Mississippian strata within the cored area. The core holes were drilled between 7/20/65 and 11/19/66 by the Collins Drilling Company under contract with Mr. John Campbell of Clearwater, Florida. The first 4 holes were drilled in 1965 while Mr. Campbell represented a Michigan individual who later curtailed this activity because of ill health. The last 4 holes were drilled in 1966 for Colonial Chemical Corporation of Dalton, Georgia, in an attempt to evaluate the extent and quality of a 40-foot thick limestone bed encountered in the upper portion of core hole #4. The cores from holes #1 to #3 have not been examined by us, nor have the limestones cut by these holes been further investigated by the subsequent drilling. Core holes #4 to #8 are of primary interest in this report. Cores 4 and 5 were examined by Mr. Thomas J. Crawford who recommended the locations for holes #5 through #8. Cores 6, 7, and 8 were examined by Dr. Sumner Long who correlated the logs and wrote this report. - 65 - Procedure - The whole cores were washed off and carefully examined in the field with a hand lens. Carbonates were tested with dilute hydrochloric acid. Detailed descriptions were made of each major lithologic unit (Table 21). Promising limestone intervals were slabbed, and continuous \ core samples taken by Mr. Campbell to Law and Company in Atlanta for chemical analysis. Their procedure was to crush about half of the total sample, put it in a shaker and then take several random cuts in large test tubes for analysis. This method was followed for cores 6, 7 and 8, but in core #5 Law and Company analyzed only random individual core chips from the samples provided. Core samples from hole #4 were tested by Commercial Testing and Engineering Company of Chicago, Illinois, whose procedure is unknown. Interpretation - The stratigraphic section penetrated by these core holes consists essentially of a uniform, laterally persistent sequence of dark gray shales, minor interbedded light gray siltstones and gray limestones, the latter of which are increasingly prominent in the lower portion of the cores (Figure 16). Shales are the dominant lithology and are mostly grayblack, carbonaceous, silty, variably calcareous, commonly pyritic and often fossiliferous. Light gray calcareous siltstones and very fine sandstones and layers of fossil fragments commonly are interbedded or interlaminated with these shales. The thin siltstone laminae often are irregular and highly contorted by the activities of bottom-dwelling organisms. The proportion of limestone increases downward: in the section. Thirty feet above the main limestone unit being explored by this drilling limestones become the dominant rock type. They are gray, dense to coarsely crystalline and fossiliferous, with variable amounts of interbedded shale, oolites, pellets, quartz grains, and crinoid brachiopod and bryzoan fragments. The objective limestone, transected by core holes #4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, is a laterally continuous unit 39-43 feet thick. Its average thickness is 40 feet. It consists of brownish gray, dense to coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous, commonly oolitic and pelletal clastic limestone. This limestone is easily recognized in the cores, and its position in the section can be positively documented. A sequence of distinctive interbedded red to maroon shales 140' to 180' above the top of the objective limestone aids correlation between cores #5, 6, 7 and 8. Core #4 is too low structurally to penetrate this interval. Another horizon which aids correlation is an unusual sequence of interbedded limestones and green shales which appear 0-5' above the top of the objective limestone in cores 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Another distinctive unit is a red to maroon shale 11-16 feet below the objective limestone in cores #4, 7 and 8. These key beds coupled with the uniformity in lithology and thickness of the objective limestone leave no doubt that the limestone is laterally continuous and not interrupted by a major fault. The strike of the limestone is approximately N43E and the dip 8-9 degrees northwest. From this calculated altitude the top of the objective limestone in hole #8 was expected 19' higher than the depth at which it was actually encountered. This difference between the expected and the actual elevation in hole #8 is probably not significant inasmuch as the beds are - 66- 'Tt () c: ~ ~ .... 0\ A COft ~ -tl ""' 1413 ... MCOftft SW- NE CoN Hole ? " 1]6 3 CROSS-SECTION Cot. Hall ~ ..... 1103 .CCW Molt ~ 6 ...... 1264 A' Cor Hoa. ~ ...... 1265 ~ 8t ~ \M ... }~ .u ~ I I LAND PLAT I o/_ I 0 -,- I I ~~-~ y:~' I . .~.Lo - ~ _,,, ---::+- - I I to.t.. l .. ,,., ~ IOTA. l I I I I I ..,_1 _ Lat~ oc"~~ I I I ., Q Cwt: Ha t I I I I 0 Cora Hole "2 t-. ..-Ij- - - - - -+I ___ Co"""' 0 ~ -,_,..~ 1.7..0 Clltoo. - -- -~"'" Lott55 Hortzontal Scale 1" 400' O,IIMI" LEGEND ~"' l o l < t>ollto ~ Lomute~o c::::J Sandol~ftl m Col~~~':uo .. ..... t "'-""dbl.n. f , .. ......~~...." .Htoio , ca,:;,";.~gj'' uguh 8 t>lack .Ill Jl rJ ' '~ ~.... f VIVt illtt t3o'E GEOLOGIC CROSS-SECTION AND LAND PLAT COOPER PROPERTY CHATOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA GeoiOQtSI &,imner Lom~ D"'"'!mbe 20, 1966 TABLE 21 - Lithologic Logs of cores from the Cooper Properties in Northwestern Chattooga County, Georgia. Drilling by R. N. Collins, Turtletown, Tennessee, 1966. For locations of the holes, see Figure 16. CORE HOLE# 4 Drill collar elevation 1173' Depth FROM TO 0'0" 55' 1" 55 1 1" 5718" 57'8" 63'0" 63'0" 66'3" Thickness 55' 1" 2'7" 5 14 " 3'3" 66 13 11 70'5" 4 12 11 70'5" 112 1611 42'1" Interval Sampled For Analysis 112 1 6 11 113 1 1111 113'11" 1251 111 115 11 11'2" 125'1" 128'9" 3'8" 128'9" 131'7" 2'4" No recovery DESCRIPTION Limestone, gray, very fossiliferous, with abundant thin irregular shale laminae Limestone, light-gray, dense (4'3" cavity), Limestone, light-gray, medium-crystalline, fossil hash, with infrequent thin shale laminae. Shale, greenish-gray; and limestone, light-gray, fine- to medium-crystalline, fossiliferous; in irregular laminae 1/ 8" - 2" thick. Limestone, brownish-gray, medium- to coarsely-crystalline; abundant fossil fragments. Thin shale laminae in upper 3'6" Limestone, as above, with scarce thin shale laminae. Limestone, gray, fine-grained, very shaly; thin zones are coarsely crystalline and fossiliferous. Increase in shale in lower portion. Shale, red and green mottled, with irregular calcareous masses throughout. Limestone, green and light-gray, shaly, fossiliferous; irregularly bedded and mottled, CORE HOLE# 5 Drill collar elevation 1265 1 0'011 20 10 11 20'0" 22'4" 20'0" 214 11 22 14" 40'011 42'4" 45'0" 46'0" 52 10 11 55 10 11 5610 11 62'0" 68'4" 40'0" 42'4" 45'0" 46'0" 52'0" 55'0" 56'0" 62 10 11 68'4" 79'4" 17'8" 2 14 11 2'8" 1'0" 6 10 11 3 10 11 110" 6'0" 6 14 11 11'0" No recovery. Shale, gray; and siltstone, white; interlaminated. Laminae are irregular, pinch and swell. Sparsely fossiliferous. Shale, dark-gray. Shale and siltstone, as from 20'0" - 22'4". Same as above; siltstone laminae slightly calcareous. Limestone, gray, shaly, very fossiliferous. Shale, greenish, silty, slightly calcareous. Red color from 47'3"-51'7" due to oxidation of iron along water-bearing fracture zone. Limestone, gray and greenish mottled; shaly and silty; very fossiliferous. Shale and silty limestone, greenish, fossiliferous. Shale, red and green, evenly laminated; slightly calcareous. Siltstone, very fine-grained sandstone, and shale, white and gray, unevenly interlaminated; calcareous; slightly fossiliferous. Shale, greenish-gray and red banded, with thin irregular silty stringers. - 68- Depth FROM 79'4" TO 81. 911 Thickness 2 1 5 11 81'9' 12613 11 44'6" 126 1311 1281 911 128'9" 142 10 11 2'6" 13'3" 142 10 11 176'8" 1 7 6 1 8 11 193 1 811 3 4 18 11 17'0" 193'8" 2 1 0 1 4 11 1 6 1 8 11 210'4" 212'4" 212 14 11 216'3" 216'3" 217'3" 217'3" 220' 1111 220 1 1111 222'7" 222'7" 262 1211 Interval Sampled For Analysis 262'2" 262 13 11 262'3" 264 10 11 26410 11 264 1 611 264 1 611 2641 1011 264' 10" 2 6 9 1 8 11 2'0" 3'11" 1'0" 3'8" 1'8" 39'7" 0 1 111 11 911 0'6" 0 14" 41 1011 269'8" 273'3" 3'7" DESCRIPTION Shale, gray, with irregular laminae of greenish calcareous silt; fossiliferous. Shale, gray, with very irregular laminae (knots, "eyes", etc. ) of quartz silt and fine calcareous sand; fossiliferous and calcareous. Fractured zone from 85'4" to 86'0" contains calcite and minor pyrite. Siltstone laminae becoming increasingly abundant at 1191011 Siltstone, light-gray, with thin irregular laminae of shale, calcareous. Shale, dark-gray, slightly calcareous. Calcareous fossiliferous zones at: 1331 1011 133 1 1111 135 1911 138 1811 1 3 91 2 11 1 3 918 11 140'0" 141 12 11 Pyrite, modified cubes, coats fracture at 14910 11 Shale, dark-gray, slightly calcareous, with minor silt laminae. Fractures from 16710 11 to 170'3" are filled with calcite. Shale, as above, with calcareous fossiliferous zones at: 177'2" --- 177'7" 178'6" --- 1801411 182' 811 --- 1851 1011 187'3" --- 187'7" Calcite filled fractures at 190'2" - 191'0" Limestone, light-gray, very fossiliferous, with abundant interlaminae of dark-gray shale. Shale, olive-gray, non-calcareous. Limestone, brownish-gray, dense, coarsely crystalline, very fossiliferous. Shale, green; and limestone, gray, fine-grained; in irregular mosaic. Limestone, brownish-gray, dense, coarsely crystalline, very fossiliferous. Shale and limestone, same as 216'3" - 217'3" Limestone, brownish-gray, medium- to coarsely-crystalline, with abundant fossil fragments; oolitic in particular. A 3-foot zone from 256' to 259' is composed almost entirely of oolites. Pyrite is present in negligible amounts . Shale, dark-gray, calcareous. Limestone, dark-brownish-gray, fine- to coarsely-crystalline, fossiliferous. Shale, dark-gray, calcareous, sparsely fossiliferous. Limestone, c;lark-gray, very fossiliferous. Limestone, brownish-gray, dense, very fine-grained, with occasional shale-film partings. Irregular laminae of green shale in lower 2". Limestone, brownish-gray, medium-crystalline fossiliferous. T. D. 273'3" - 69- FROM 0. 0' 31. 8' 35. 8' 37. 8' 38. 4' 39. 2' 43. 91 48. 5' 49. 0' 49. 6' 51. 5' 67. 7' 68. 8' 69. 5' 70. 8' 80. 5' 95. 8' 99. 6' 102. 0' 105. 11 113. 2' 121. 0' 127. 8' CORE HOLE# 6 Drill collar elevation 12641 TO 31. 81 35. 81 37. 8' Thickness 31. 81 4. 0 1 2. 0' 38. 4' 39.21 43. 91 0 . 6' 0. 81 4. 7' 48.51 49.01 49. 6' 51. 51 67 . 71 4. 6' 0. 5' 0. 6' 1. 9' 16. 21 68.81 69.5 1 1. 1' 0. 71 70.81 80.51 95.81 99.61 102.01 105. 1' 1. 3' 9. 7 1 15. 3 1 3. 81 2. 4 1 3. 1' 113. 2' 8. 1' 121. 0' 7. 8' 127. 8' 6. 8' 163. 7' 35.71 DESCRIPTION No recovery Shale, dark-gray, with thin irregular silt laminae, very slightly calcareous. Limestone, dark-gray, very fossiliferous, very shaly. Shale, olive-green, calcareous. Same, maroon. Shale, green, very silty, with small calcareous nodules irregularly distributed, fossiliferous. Becomes increasingly calcareous and silty in lower part. Shale, maroon and gray, laminated, silty, with small calcareous nodules, very fossiliferous. Siltstone, greenish-gray, with thin shale laminae, slightly calcareous. Limestone, light-gray, sandy, fossil fragments abundant. Siltstone, light-gray, and shale, greenish-gray, irregularly laminated, only slightly calcareous. Shale, dark-gray and siltstone, light-gray, interlaminated, silt layers very calcareous. Maroon shale streaks (2. 8') from 57. 2' - 60. 0 1 Limestone streaks: 61. 9' -- 62. 3' 62. 9' -- 63. 1' 63. 71 -- 63. 9' 64. 8' -- 64. 91 Shale, maroon, slightly calcareous. Shale, greenish-gray and maroon, slightly calcareous , thin fossil zone at bottom. Limestone, light-gray, with thin dark-gray shale streaks, very fossiliferous. Limestone, dark-gray, very argillaceous, with thin laminae of dark-gray shale; very fossiliferous and slightly pyritic. Siltstone, light-gray, and shale, dark-gray, interlaminated in about equal proportions. Fossiliferous, slightly calcareous. Shale, dark-gray, with thin light-gray silt laminae, slightly calcareous. Siltstone, light-gray, and shale, dark-gray; calcareous. Laminae are very irregular and lumpy. Shale, dark-gray, with thin interlaminae of light-gray siltstone, very slightly calcareous. Same as 99. 6 1 - 102. 0 1, but very slightly calcareous. Shale , as from 102. 0' - 105. 1' . Limestone, dark-gray, fossiliferous, very argillaceous, with interlaminae of dark-gray shale. Slightly pyritic. Shale, dark-gray, pyritic; very fine pyrite forms discreet laminae and thin lenses. - 70- Depth FROM TO 163. 7' 167. 1' 167. 1' 173. 0' 173. 0' 182. 4' 182. 4' 192. 1' 192. 1' 198.61 198. 6' 201.41 201.4' 207. 8' 207. 8' 208. 9' 209. 2' 209. 6' 210. 3' 210. 4' 211.2' 208.91 209. 2' 209. 6' 210. 3' 210. 4' 211.2' 212. 0' 212. 0' 214. 1' 214. 11 215. 1' 215. 1' 253. 8' Interval Sampled For Analysis 253. 8' 255. 3' 255. 3' 258.3 1 258. 3' 259. 3' 262. 0' 259. 3' 262. 0' 263.51 Thickness DESCRIPTION 3. 4' Limestone, light-gray, primarily fossil fragments, argillaceous, pyritic, with laminae of dark-gray shale. 5. 9' Shale, dark-gray, and limestone, interlaminated, pyritic. 9. 4' Shale, dark-gray, calcareous; limestone streaks at: 174. 4' 177. 7' 178. 4' 180. 0' 181. 31 9. 7' Limestone, light- to dark-gray, very fossiliferous, slightly pyritic, with black shale laminae. 6. 5 1 Limestone, light- to dark-gray, fine- to medium-crystalline, very fossiliferous; very slightly pyritic; very minor black shale laminae. Calcite-filled fractures, high-angle. 2. 8' Shale, medium- to dark-gray, very slightly calcareous; slightly pyritic. 6. 4' 1. 1' 0. 3' 0.41 0. 7' 0. 1' 0. 8' 0. 8' 2. 1' 1. 0' 38. 7' Limestone, light- to medium-gray, very fine- to fine-grained, very slightly fossiliferous, with scattered green shale laminae. Shale, green; and limestone, gray, fine-grained, in irregular mosaic. Limestone, light-gray, with bands of greenish-gray calcareous shale. Shale, green, calcareous, with minor limestone streaks. Limestone, light-gray, fine-grained, slightly fossiliferous, with thin gray shale streaks. Limestone, light-gray, and green shale, mosaic. Limestone, light-gray, fine-grained. Limestone, light-gray, fine-grained, with interbedded green shale in irregular mosaic pattern. Limestone, light-gray, fine- to medium-grained, with dark-gray shale laminae. Limestone, light-gray, fine- to medium-grained, slightly fossiliferous, slightly pyritic. Limestone, brownish-gray' fine- to coarse-crystalline, clean, oolitic, pelletal, uniform. Slightly fossiliferous; coarse-grained zone from 239. 0' to 243. 1' 1. 5' Limestone, gray, fine- to coarsely-crystalline; fossiliferous, with gray fossiliferous shale streaks. 3. 0' Limestone, medium- to light-gray, fine- to medium-crystalline, fossiliferous, with scattered interlaminae of dark-gray, fossiliferous calcareous shale. 1. 0' Shale, dark-gray, calcareous, with some light-gray limestone streaks. 2. 7' Limestone, medium-gray, very finely crystalline, uniform; scattered fractures with brown-gray shale breaks. 1. 5' Limestone, brownish-gray, fine- to coarsely-crystalline, slightly fossiliferous; very o'olitic and pelletal. - 71 - Depth FROM TO Thickness 263.51 270. 8' 7.3 1 270. 8' 271. 81 1. 0' 271. 8' 274. 8' 3. O' 274.81 275. 8' 290.51 291.21 275.81 290.51 291. 2' 293.01 1. 0' 14. 7' 0. 7' 1. 8' DESCRIPTION Limestone, light-gray to brownish-gray, fine- to coarsely crystalline, with oolitic zones; scattered fossils; thin irregular green shale streaks. Slightly pyritic. Limestone, medium-gray, finely crystalline fossiliferous with mosaic of gray-green slightly calcareous shale. Limestone, medium-gray, fine-coarsely crystalline, slightly fossiliferous with streaks of gray, slightly calcareous shale. Shale, dark-gray, interbedded with irregular gray slightly calcareous shale. Limestone, brownish-gray, fine-coarsely crystalline, clean, very oolitic, fossiliferous with few styolites. Shale, dark-gray, slightly calcareous with prominent streaks of gray, fossiliferous, pyritic shale. Limestone, brownish-gray fine- to medium-crystalline, oolitic, fossiliferous with scattered pyrite. CORE HOLE #7 Drill collar elevation 13631 0.0' 41.61 66. 6' 90. 5' 114. 81 135. 2' 141. 61 158.81 166. 7' 167. 0' 170. 0' 170. 7' 174. 2' 41. 61 66.61 90. 5' 114. 8' 135. 2' 141. 61 158. 8' 166. 7' 167. 0' 170. 0' 170. 7' 174. 2' 176.01 41. 61 25.0' 23. 9' 24. 3' 20.41 6. 4' 17. 2' 7. 9' 0.3' 3. 0 1 o. 7' 3. 5' 1. 8' Overburden (no samples) Shale, medium gray greenish gray carbonaceous; slightly silty slightly calcareous from 41. 61 to 43. 6' with thin light gray siltstone laminae. Shale, medium gray-dark gray, carbonaceous, slightly silty, two slightly calcareous streaks in basal 3'. Shale, as above, medium-dark gray, carbonaceous, with thin light gray slightly calcareous siltstone laminae scattered throughout and scattered pyrite inclusions. Shale, as above, medium to dark gray with slightly more calcareous siltstone laminae scattered throughout. Shale, as above, fairly soft, less silty, non-calcareous. Shale, dark-gray, hard, very uniform, tracy pyrite (!!silt) Shale, as above. Pyrite, dull yellow with 40% black, fossiliferous, pelletal limestone and dark black shale interbeds. Shale, black, very fossiliferous, very calcareous, interbedded with almost equal amount of black, very fossiliferous crinoidal limestone. Shale, black, silty, calcareous with some disturbed bedding. Limestone, black, very fossiliferous, dense, shaly, almost fossil hash, crinoids and bryzoans. Shale, black, carbonaceous with numerous irregular laminae of calcareous siltstone. - 72- Depth FROM TO 176. 0' 179. 0' 179. 0 1 182.2' 182. 2' 183.2' 183. 2' 185.31 185.91 191.41 191. 91 193. 2' 195. 0' 185.3 1 185. 9' 191. 4' 191. 9' 193.21 195.01 200.3 1 200.3' 204.91 204.91 207. 9' 210. 7' 211. 7' 215. 8' 217. 3' 222,91 227. 8' 207. 9' 210.71 211. 7' 215. 8' 217. 3' 222.91 227. 8' 232.01 232. 0' 240.01 240.0' 247.51 247.51 248. 3' 248. 3' 256. 0' 264.0' 265. 4' 266.51 269.0' 256.01 264.0' 265. 4' 266.51 269.0' 270. 1' Thickness DESCRIPTION 3. 0' 3. 2' 1. 0 1 2. 1' 0.6' 5. 5' o. 5' 1. 3' 1. 8' Shale, black, uniform, with few very thin light gray siltstone laminae and pyrite lenses, Limestone as above from 170. 7' - 174. 2' Limestone, mottled light gray to greenish gray, shaly, with black fossiliferous shale in upper 0. 4'. Limestone, greenish-gray, argillaceous, fossiliferous. Shale, grayish-green. Shale, red with interbedded dark gray shale laminae, non-calcareous. Shale, medium-gray, non-calcareous. Limestone, light-gray, very fossiliferous, very silty and pyritic. Sandstone, greenish gray, very silty, very shaly, slightly calcareous, 5.3 1 4. 6' Sandstone, light-gray, very fine-grained, quartzose, non-calcareous, uniform with some pyrite. Shale, gray, with abundant interbedded calcareous, irregular sandstone and siltstone; limey sand 11 above base. 3.0' 2. 8' 1. 0' 4. 11 1. 5' Shale, red, mottled with black shale, slightly silty non-calcareous. Shale, red mottled with black as above. Limestone, light- to medium-gray, very fossiliferous, and shaly. Shale, gray, very calcareous, fossiliferous. Limestone, gray, very shaly, very fossiliferous. 5. 6 1 4. 9' 4. 2' Shale, gray, fossiliferous, calcareous. Limestone, gray, fossiliferous, very shaly. Siltstone, light to dark gray, vexy shaly, vexy calcareous, with shale laminae. B. 0' Siltstone; light to dark gray, very shaly, very calcareous as above with thin scattered zones of fossil hash and scattered pyrite lenses. 7. 5 1 Shale, black, carbonaceous with vexy thin light gray, calcareous siltstone laminae and a trace of pyrite. 0. 8' Siltstone, light gray, very pyritic with much interbedded dark gray shale laminae displaying disturbed bedding. 7. 7' Shale, dark gray, carbonaceous, with abundant thin light gray calcareous siltstone laminae and scattered pyrite lenses. 8.0' Shale, dark gray-black, vexy silty, slightly pyritic with thin light gray calcareous siltstone laminae. 1. 4' Limestone, black, dense, very shaly, very fossiliferous, (fragmental limestone). 1. 1' Shale as in 256. 0 1 - 264. 0 1 2. 5' Limestone as in 264. 0 1 - 265. 4'. 1. 1' Shale as in 256. 0' - 264. 0'. - 73 - Depth FROM TO 270. 1' 270.61 270. 6' 271. 1' 271. 1' 271. 6' 271. 6' 279.61 279.61 289. 6' 290. 1' 303. 9' 309. 7' 311.71 316. 2' 289.61 290. 1' 303. 91 309. 7' 311. 7' 316. 2' 317. 2' 317. 2' 320.21 320. 6' 326. 2' 328. 4' 320.2 1 320. 6' 326. 2' 328.41 338. 4' 338. 4' 340. 7' 343. 0' 340. 7' 343. 0' 345.51 345.5 1 351. 7' 351. 7' 353.3 1 354. 91 353. 3' 354.91 356. 9' 356 . 9' 399. 91 Interval Samfled For Analysis 399. 91 402. 2' 402. 2' 404.5' 404.51 408.51 408.51 411. 61 411. 6' 413 . 61 Thickness 0. 5' 0. 51 0. 5' 8. 0' DESCRIPTION Limestone as in 264. 0' - 265. 4'. Shale as in 256. 0 1 - 264. 0'. Limestone as in 264. 0' - 265. 4'. Shale as in 256. 0' - 264. 0'. 10. 0' 0. 51 13. 8' 5. 8' 2. 0' 4. 5' 1. 0' 3. 0 1 0. 4' 5. 6' 2. 2' 10. 0' 2. 3' 2. 3' 2. 5' 6. 2' 1. 6' 1. 6' 2. 0' 43. 0' 2. 3' 2. 3' 4. 0 1 3. 1' 2. 0 1 Shale, dark gray-black, uniform, non-calcareous, carbonaceous, (nonsilty). Limestone, dark gray, very fossiliferous, very shaly. Shale as above 'in 279. 6' - 289. 6'. Shale as above in 279. 6' - 289. 6'. Limestone, black, very fossiliferous, very shaly, pyritic (fragmental). Shale as above in 279. 6' - 289. 6' Limestone as above in 309. 7' - 311. 7' with black shale streaks and brachiopod valves. Shale black as above in 279. 6' - 289. 6' Limestone, gray-black, very fossiliferous and pyritic. Shale, black, noncalcareous with light gray limestone and silty fossiliferous limestone laminae and pyrite. Limestone light- to dark-gray, very fossiliferous, shaly, slightly pyritic. Limestone, light gray to black, very shaly, very fossiliferous, brachiorods, crinoids .. Limestone, light to medium gray, finely crystalline, very fossiliferous. Shale, greenish gray, uniform with small black rounded nodules. Limestone, tan to medium gray, finely crystalline, slightly fossiliferous, with few thin gray shale streaks. Limestone, tan to lavender gray, dense to finely crystalline to pelletal and oolitic with FfOminent mosaic j:atches Of green shale, also fossiliferous, bryzoans and brachiorods. Limestone as above 345. 5' - 351. 71 Limestone, tan to gray, very fossiliferous, slightly shaly. Limestone, tan to gray and shale, tan mottled, fossiliferous, slightly shaly. Limestone, brownish-gray, dense to medium crystalline, abundantly fossiliferous, with zones of dominantly oolitic and pellitic limestone, (clastic limestone). Limestone, tan-pale lavender, shaly fossiliferous, dense to finely crystalline, very hard. Limestone, as in 399. 9' - 402. 2' with dark brown irregular shale laminae. Limestone, tan-pale lavender, dense to finely crystalline with thin green shale streaks. Shale, dark green, soft, non-calcareous with dark brown-black nodules. Shale, red, non-calcareous with mottled gray shale and trace gray limestone nodules. - 74 - Depth FROM TO Thickness 413. 6' 416,. 2' 2. 61 416. 2' 419.71 3. 51 419, 7' 424.4' 4. 7' 424.41 429.91 5. 5' 429.91 433. 4' 3. 5' 433.41 440.0' 6. 61 DESCRIPTION Shale, maroon with interbedded irregular patches of very light gray dense limestone. Shale, green, pyritic with irregular patches of very fossiliferous gray-green limestone. Limestone, tan to light gray, dense to coarsely crystalline, very fossiliferous, clean, uniform (crinoids and bryzoans). Shale black, very calcareous, very fossiliferous with ~'lin streaks of fossil hash, Limestone, tan-gray; very shaly, very fossiliferous, dense to coarsely crystalline with oolites, bl'yzoans, brachiopods, and crinoids. Shale black, carbonaceous, calcareous, fossiliferous and interbedded irregular bands of very shaly limestone, dark gray to brown. Depth FROM TO Thickness 0.01 51.61 51. 6' 51.61 77. 1' 25.51 77. 1' 82. 6' 5. 5' 82. 6' 87. 6' 5.0' 87. 6' 91.3 1 3. 7' 91.3' 98. 7' 7.4' 98.71 101. 4' 2. 7' 101. 4' 106.41 5.01 106.41 128.61 22. 2' 128.61 199.0' 70.4' 199,01 211. 5 1 12,51 211.51 218.01 6, 51 218. 0' 228.51 10. 5' 228.51 231.41 2. 91 CORE HOLE# 8 Drill collar elevation 1413 1 DESCRIPTION Overburden (no samples) Shale, gray, noncalcareous, with thin light gray siltstone laminae scattered throughout. Shale, gray as above with. 1' fossil hash. Shale, greenish-gray, noncalcareous, silty, with irregular lumps of siltstone. Siltstone, red, shaly with irregular interbeds of mottled green siltstone, none ale areous. Siltstone and silty shale, green to tan, calcareous, shaly with abundant irregular lumps and nodules of gray limestone and minor limestone breccia., Siltstone, green, sandy, shaly, very calcareous with irregular lumps and nodules of gray limestone. Siltstone, green, sandy as above; upper 1' has irregular calcite-filled fractures. Shale, greenish-gray, silty, with irregular siltstone laminae, mottles and lumps, slightly calcareous, Shale, gray- dark gray, slightly silty, carbonaceous, noncalcareous with scattered light gray siltstone laminae and a few tan pyritic siltstone lumps; pyritic shale streaks (0. 1'); thicknesses increase in basal 20'. Shale, gray-dark gray, carbonaceous, noncalcareous with scattered pyritic laminae; very pyritic shale in basal 0. 3'. Limestone, black, very fossiliferous, very shaly with abundant crinoids, brachiopods, etc. Shale, gray to dark gray, silty, with interlaminated light gray siltstone with disturbed bedding. Limestone, gray very fossiliferous, shaly. - 75- Depth FROM TO 231. 41 232.51 232.51 234.01 234.01 237.71 237. 71 240.41 241. 41 243.51 240.41 241. 41 243.51 248.61 248.61 250. 11 253. 91 257. 51 250. 11 253. 91 257. 51 264. 11 264. 11 266.61 266.61 275.41 275.41 294. 11 294. 11 297.61 297.61 315.81 315. 81 317. 81 323.21 317. 81 323.21 346.71 346.71 356.71 361. 01 369.01 370.21 373.3 1 356.71 361. 01 369.01 370.21 373.31 382.3 1 Thickness 1. 1 I 1. 5' 3. 7 1 2. 71 DESCRIPTION Shale, green, noncalcareous with irregular limestone lumps. Shale, red, slightly silty, noncalcareous. Shale, green, interbedded with very fossiliferous gray green limestone in almost equal amounts. Shale, red, as above. 1. 0 1 Shale, green interbedded with limestone as above. 2. 11 5. 11 Shale, red, as above. Shale, gray, silty, carbonaceous, noncalcareous, with abundant thin light gray siltstone laminae with disturbed bedding. 1. 5 1 Sandstone, light gray, fine-grained uniform, noncalcareous. 3. 81 Siltstone, greenish gray, with irregular fine sandstone laminae and dark shale laminae. 3. 61 Shale, red and gray laminated, slightly silty. 6. 6 1 Siltstone, grayish-green, shaly, very fossiliferous, with irregular streaks of green limestone (Crinoids, brachiopods, and gastropods) 2.51 B. 8 1 Shale, red and gray laminated, slightly fossiliferous, (Calcareous in the gray streaks. ). Shale, gray-greenish gray, calcareous, very fossiliferous, becomes more calcareous, pyritic and silty in basal 31 18.71 3. 51 Siltstone, gray, shaly, fossiliferous slightly calcareous, with some large gastropods. Shale, dark gray, carbonaceous, fossiliferous, with light gray siltstone laminae and disturbed bedding. 18. 21 Shale, dark gray, silty, carbonaceous, fossiliferous, noncalcareous, slightly pyritic with interlaminated, light gray irregular siltstone with disturbed bedding. 2.01 Siltstone, black, very fossiliferous, shaly, sandy, very pyritic, (bryzoans, crinoids, etc. ). 5. 41 23.51 10.01 4. 31 8. 0 1 1. 21 3. 1I 9.01 Shale, black, silty, fossiliferous, carbonaceous, noncalcareous, becomes more uniform in basal 4 1 Shale, black, carbonaceous, slightly fossiliferous, uniform with scattered very thin light gray siltstone laminae and pyrite laminae and trace of fossil hash (0. 11). Shale, black, uniform, carbonaceous, slightly silty, slightly pyritic, as above. Limestone, light gray, shaly, very fossiliferous, slightly pyritic with thin black shale laminae and pyritic laminae. Shale, black, very silty, carbonaceous, slightly fossiliferous, slightly pyritic with abundant interbedded light gray fossiliferous siltstone laminae . Limestone, light to dark gray, dense fo fine grained, very fossiliferous, pyritic. Shale, black, carbonaceous silty, slightly fossiliferous, pyritic. Shale, black, carbonaceous and limestone light gray, very fossiliferous in about equal amounts. - 76- Depth FROM TO Thickness 382. 3' 387. O' 4" 7' 387. 0' 390.0' 3, 0 1 390,01 391. 8' 391. 8' 393.3 1 393. 3' 395. 1' 1. 8' 1. 51 1. 81 395. 1' 397. 6' 397.61 400.2' 400.2 1 403. 6' 2. 51 2. 61 3. 4' 403.61 407. 2' 3. 6' 407.2' 445. 9' Interval Sampled For Analysis 445.91 451. 11 38. 7' 5. 2' 451. 11 459. 4' B. 3 1 459.4' 462. O' 2. 6' 462.0' 463. 6' 1. 6' DESCRIPTION Limestone, light gray to black, dense to medium crystalline, very fossiliferous with less than 20 percent black shale laminae, Limestone, light gray to black, dense to medium crystalline, very fossiliferous, slightly shaly, slightly pyritic (fragmental)., Shale gray to olive gray, slightly calcareous and fossiliferous with scattered calcite blebs. Shale, maroon, with scattered limestone blebs and nodules. Shale medium to dark gray, noncalcareous, uniform, basal 0. 5' fossiliferous and calcareous, Limestone, tan to brownish gray, dense to medium crystalline, very fossiliferous, oolitic. Limestone, tan to lavender, dense to crystalline with mosaic of green shale. Limestone, tan to brownish-gray, dense to medium crystalline interbedded with 30 percent brownish gray shale, fairly fossiliferous with calcitefilled vertical fractwes, Limestone. tan to brownish gray, fine to medium-crystalline, oolitic fossiliferous pelletal clastic limestone with 6 very thin black shale streaks. Limestone, brown to brownish gray, dense to coarsely crystalline, very oolitic pelletal and fossiliferous; clean, very hard clastic limestone with few calcite filled high angle fractures, minor styolites. Limestone, tan to brownish gray, dense, siliceous, very hard with minor gray shale laminae. Limestone tan to gray, dense, hard, shaly with 10 percent gray shale laminae and few fossiliferous zones. Shale, greenish gray, hard, fossiliferous, calcareous with minor interbedded dense limey zones. Mottled greenish gray and maroon shale, hard, calcareous, with some hard dense gray mottled limestone patches. T. D. 463. 6' - 77- gently dipping and the expected elevation was obtained by a lateral projection of 1,200 feet from the nearest hole. Quality of the Limestone - The apparent uniformity of the main limestone unit is verified by the similarity of the chemical analyses (Table 22) obtained on samples from core holes 4-8. The analyses confirm that the 40' thick limestone is high quality. Its approximate average composition is: Total Acid Insolubles Acid Insolubles other than Si02 CaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe203 P2o5 M304 so3 If present less than C02 CaC03 Equivalent 1. 49 0.56 52.85 1. 61 0. 93 0.27 0.22 0.03 o. 010 0.01 42.00 98.30 Note: The above averages do not include the analyses from 446-450. 5 feet in core #8, as this bed is below the objective limestone and was tested only for additional information. The higher silica values were obtained for the upper two samples from core #5. The higher values might be due to the difference in test procedure already noted, reflecting the normal variation to be expected in a clastic limestone. Quantity - An estimate of volume of the main limestone unit was made by projecting the limestone 600 feet northeast and southwest along strike from the nearest hole and 600 feet northwest downdip. This projection distance is slightly less than the average distance between core holes and is conservative. The southeastern limit is a line parallel to the strike passing through a point 100 feet northwest of core hole #4. The block of proven limestone thus delimited is rectangular in plan with dimensions of 4,600 feet in NE-SW direction, 1,100 feet in NW-SE direction and 40 feet thick. This block comprises 202,400,000 cubic feet, or about 14,700,000 long tons, assuming a weight of 163 pounds per cubic foot. Conclusions - The five core holes which penetrated the main limestone demonstrate that it is laterally persistent and averages 40 feet thick. The analyses indicate a consistent composition, high in lime, low in magnesia, silica and alkalies. This limestone is suitable for the manufacture of - 78- TABLE 22 - Chemical Analyses of Limestone Samples from the Cooper Properties, Chattooga County, Georgia CORE NO. 4 1 77' - 112 1 CaO Mgo Si02 Al2o 3 Fe203 P2o5 Mn304 so3 Free Water, H20 C02 As Received 54.06 o. 71 0.54 0.50 0.19 0. 01 0.02 0.04 0.08 43.34 CORE NO. 52 CaO MgO Si02 Al2o 3 Fe203 P2o5 Mn304 so3 Total Acid Insoluble Acid Insoluble other than Si02 Moisture Loss on Ignition C02 Equivalent CaC03 (1) 222'7" to 232 1711 % 46.42 5. 14 3. 81 0.34 0. 73 0.05 0.011 If present less than 0.01 5.27 1. 46 0. 10 42.21 42. 10 95.59 (2) 232'7" to 242'7" % 49.21 3. 36 2.65 0.44 o. 26 0.05 0.008 If present less than 0.01 4.07 1.42 o. 10 42.64 42.00 96. 16 (3) 242'7" to 252'7" % 53. 18 1. 26 0.79 0. 14 0. 26 0.045 0.008 If present less than o. 01 1. 54 o. 75 0.20 43.48 42.70 98.02 (4) 252'7" to 262'7" % 54.09 0. 73 0.88 0.24 0.10 0.045 0.007 If present less than 0.01 1.43 0.55 0.10 43.40 42.90 97.58 Composite (1), (2), (3), (4). % 51.00 2. 10 2. 18 0.23 0.35 0.045 0.009 If present less than 0.01 3. 12 0. 94 o. 10 42.84 42.25 96.22 - 79- CORE NO, 62 CaO MgO Si02 A12o3 Fe203 P2os Mn304 so3 Total Acid Insoluble Acid Insoluble other than Si02 Moisture Loss on Ignition C02 Equivalent CaC03 218'5" to 223 15" % 54.44 0.75 0.60 0.26 0. 14 0.02 0.007 If present less than 0.01 0~ 90 0.30 o. 10 43.84 43.70 99.01 223 1511 to 233'5" % 54.44 0.75 0.58 o. 19 o. 14 0.03 0.007 If present less than 0.01 0.86 o. 28 0. 10 43.65 43. 10 99.01 233'5" to 243 1511 % 53.07 1. so 0.65 0.22 0.20 0.03 0.008 If present less than 0.01 0. 96 0. 31 o. 10 43.73 43.30 98.43 243 1511 to 253 1511 % 52.61 1, 80 1. 14 o. 21 0.23 0.06 0.007 If present less than 0.01 1. 53 0. 39 0. 10 43.44 43. 10 98,35 CORE NO. 72 CaO MgO Si02 A1203 Fez03 P2os Mn304 S03 Total Acid Insoluble Acid Insoluble other than Si02 Moisture Loss on Ignition COz Equivalent CaC03 3611 to 3671 % 53.68 1.20 0.43 0. 13 o. 21 0.04 0.01 If present less than 0.01 0.81 0.38 0.20 43.68 43.40 98.80 3671 to 377' % 53.52 1. 12 0,42 0.07 0. 16 0.03 0.008 If present less than 0.01 0. 73 0. 31 0. 10 43.80 43,50 98,30 3771 to 387' % 52. 16 1. 95 0.53 o. 10 0.20 0.03 0.009 If present less than 0.01 0.99 0.46 o. 10 43.79 43.40 97,95 387' to 399, 8' % 53.01 1. 20 0,85 o. 19 0. 16 0.03 0.009 If present less than 0.01 1. 48 0,63 0.20 43, 14 43.00 97.60 - 80- CORE NO. 82 CaO MgO SiOz Alz03 Fez03 PzOs Mn304 S03 Total Acid Insoluble Acid Insoluble other than SiOz Moisture Loss on Ignition COz Equivalent CaC03 411' to 417' % 51.57 2. 60 0. 55 0.24 0.24 0.05 0.006 If present less than 0.01 1.03 0.48 0.40 44.07 43.00 98.42 417' to 430' % 52.92 2.40 0.50 o. 17 o. 16 0.04 0.006 If present less than 0.01 0. 98 0.48 0.40 44.06 43.20 100.42 430' to 438' % 52.26 2.80 0.60 o. 21 o. 19 0.04 0.007 If present less than 0.01 1. 18 0.58 0.40 43.81 43.10 100.23 438' to 446' % 54. 19 0.80 1. 34 0.30 0.23 0.04 0.008 If present less than 0. 01 2.00 0,66 0.40 43. 10 43.00 98.87 446' to 450. 5' % 42.09 4. 10 14. 12 1. 43 0.60 0.06 0.016 If present less than 0.01 15.30 1. 18 0.50 37.24 37.00 85.33 Samples were washed in 10% HCl and then washed with water before crushing. 1- Analyzed by Commercial Testing and Engineering Company 228 North LaSalle Street, Chicago 1, Illinois 2 -Analyzed by Law and Company, Chemists, Atlanta, Georgia - 81 - portland cement, agricultural lime, chemical fluxes and a variety of other uses. An estimated 14,700,000 tons of stone are available in the investigated area. Additional tonnage probably can be proved by further exploration. Leroy Massey Quarry (Cedar Point), Locality #29 West of Menlo 1.5 miles, on the property of Mr. Leroy Massey, is a cliff known as Cedar Point where nearly 200 feet thickness of Bangor Limestone is exposed. The limestone is heavy-bedded, gray to blue-gray and fine- to medium-grained (Table 23). TABLE 23 - Stratigraphic Section at Cedar Point, 1. 5 miles west of Menlo, Chattooga County Sample # 8 and 9 Unit # 6 5 4 6 and 7 3 5 2 Description of Units Sandstone Concealed Partially concealed bluish gray argillaceous medium-grained crystalline limestone with oolites Bluish gray medium-grained crystalline limestone and oolitic limestone (vertical cliff) Bluish gray cherty limestone Concealed Thickness (feet) 260' Total Thickness 650' 210' 390' 84' 1801 84' 96' 7' 12' 5' 5' Unit #1 is at the base of the cliffs. Unit #3 is well exposed on the vertical cliffs. Unit #5 is probably the Pennington Shale. Chemical analyses show that the limestone is generally low in magnesia and silica (Table 24). TABLE 24- Chemical Analyses of Composite Limestone Samples from Cedar Point, Chattooga County Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 CaO MgO Si02 Al2o3 F e 2o3 C02 Total 30, 9 0.7 41.8 0.8 0.9 24,9 53. 1 1, 2 1.8 0.7 0.3 42.9 54.2 1.0 o. 1 0.8 0,3 43.6 53. 9 0.7 1.6 0.6 0.2 43.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 41.6 0,4 16.8 4. 2 4.0 33.0 100.0 - 82- The nearest paved road is Georgia Highway #48, which is a half mile to the west. The T.A.G. Railroad is 1.2 miles to the east across Shinbone Ridge. In 1949 the Ledbetter Construction Company of Rome operated a small quarry at Cedar Point and produced crushed stone for Georgia Highway #48. Marble Products Quarry #1, Locality #30 On the west slope of Taylor Ridge 3.5 miles southeast of Summerville, the upper part of the Chickamauga Limestone is being quarried for Terrazzo chips. The quarry was opened in 1962 on property of the Sturdivand family by the Marble Products Company. The site was chosen because of the red color of the limestone. Traces of earlier workings are a few hundred feet south of the new quarry. Figure 17 shows the geology of the quarry area. The oldest exposed unit is the Knox dolomite, represented by a yellow to buff, cherty clay. The overlying Chickamauga Limestone ranging from gray to red is fine-grained and commonly argillaceous. Mud cracks and ripple marks can be found along the bedding planes. Some shale is interbedded with the limestone in the lower part of the formation. The red limestone, which local residents call "marble", is most abundant in the upper part of the formation, near its contact with the overlying Silurian Red Mountain Formation. The formational contact is easily located on topographic maps because of a change in slope due to the differential weathering of the two formations. A search along the contact on the western slope of Taylor Ridge has shown that red "marble1' similar to that being quarried is very abundant along the ridge. Sample # 6-5 Unit # 5 6-4 4 6-3 3 6-2 2 6-1 1 TABLE 25 - Stratigraphic Section at the Marble Products Company Quarry #1, Chattooga County Description of Rock Units Thickness Dark red, fine-grained argillaceous limestone. This unit forms the ceiling of the mine. Red, fine-grained, argillaceous limestone Interbedded sequence of red, fine-grained, argillaceous limestone, calcareous shale, and gray and red calcareous siltstone. Partially concealed, gray, fine-grained, crystalline limestone. Partially concealed, gray, fine-grained, argillaceous limestone. 5. 00' 8. 17' 15. 83' 9. 91 1 5. 42 1 Total Thickness 44. 33' 39. 33' 31. 161 15. 33' 5. 42 1 - 83 - '>:1 Ci co c: ~ ~ ...... -..:1 ( / J ' - .......... .........__ \ \ ffJ I I I I 2- I ~ - ~',~:;:-CHANGE r -..I.N..___"SL-O.P_EI I -~fl\1 ,u-1' I '-... "'-.. '-- - --..,- ...- -- - ~'Y' I I I -- - -...:.'--- -+ I I I I ,_.I,. l~il\~, I I ' ., I I I 'hllm u.$:1,. .., ,.....~ '" MARBLE PRODUCTS QUARRY CHATTOOGA COUNTY N u 660 FEET 1967 ~~ ;; ~ ~ --~ !JD Red Mountain Formation Limestone~ Chickamauga Limestone Shale Knox Dolomite [X] Quarry A topographic break marks the Chickamauga Limestone - Red Mountain formational contact on Gaylor Ridge, Whiteoak Mountain, Johns Mountain, Horn Mountain, Mill Creek Mountain, and Rocky Face Mountain. Red "marbles" are just below this contact at many places. TABLE 26- Analyses of Limestone at the Marble Products Company Quarry #1, Chattooga County Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample 6-5 6-4 6-3 6-2 6-1 CaO MgO Si02 A1203 Fe203 C02 33.7 1. 2 25. 1 6. 5 5. 8 27.7 31.4 0.7 28. 1 7.7 6.8 25.3 28.5 1.0 30.5 8. 9 7. 7 23.4 38.0 1. 0 22.3 4.7 3. 2 30.8 40. 1 o. 7 22.0 4.2 0.8 32.2 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Knox Dolomite Prospect #1, Locality #31 Gray, fine-grained Knox dolomite crops out abundantly on the slopes 2.25 miles northeast of Trion. U.S. Highway 27 is one mile to the west; the Central of Georgia Railroad is 2 miles to the west. A composite sample of the dolomite analyses: CaO - 30.7% MgO - 19.9 AFSeil022oo233 - 2.4 o.s 0.4 C02 - 45.7 Total - 99.9 Marble Products Quarry #2, Locality #32 The (underground) quarry is in Knox dolomite 1.5 miles north of the Trion City Hall on the Central of Georgia Railroad. This site was chosen because of the rose color of the dolomite. Three openings have been made, and have produced terrazzo chips since 1962. S. I. Storey Property, Locality #33 Southeast of Summerville 11 miles, on the west slope of Little Sand Mountain, on the property of Mr. S. I. Storey, gray, fine-grained Bangor - 85- Limestone crops out conspicuously. A composite sample analyses: CaO - 50.7 MgO 0. 7 Si02 6.2 Al Fe 22oo33 - 1. 3 0.5 C02 - 40.6 Total -100.0 No prospecting has been done at this site, but the outcrops reveal a large quantity of limestone. Martin's Cave Prospect, Locality #34 The cave is 1.5 miles northeast of Teloga, on the east slope of Lookout Mountain. The T.A.G. Railroad and a paved road pass through Teloga. Bluish gray, fine- to medium-grained Bangor Limestone crops out in the vicinity of the cave. A total thickness of at least 150 feet is exposed. Samples #10, #11 and #12 are three different composite samples taken from the outcrops: Sample Sample Sample #10 #11 #12 CaO MgO Si02 AI2o3 Fe203 C02 52.2 1. 4 3.2 0.6 0.2 42.4 53.4 1. 0 1. 6 6. 7 0.4 42.9 50.3 0. 4 7. 1 1.7 0.6 39.9 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 Knox Dolomite Prospect #2, Locality #35 A large outcrop of gray, fine-grained Knox dolomite . is two miles southeast of Lyerly along the Central of Georgia Railroad. A composite sample analyses: CaO - 29.3 MgO - 19.7 ASFeil022oo233 - 4.1 2.0 0.4 C02 - 44.6 Total 100.1 - 86- CARBONATE ROCK RESOURCES OF DADE COUNTY Introduction The three carbonate-bearing units which crop out in Dade County are the Knox Group, the Chickamauga Limestone, and the Mississippian formations (Figure 18). Knox Group Outcrops of the Knox Group are found only in the southern part of the county. They extend northward from the Alabama-Georgia line along the headwaters of Lookout Creek, along the axis of the northeast plunging Wills Creek anticline. Most of the outcrops are cherty residuum, but gray fineto medium-grained cherty limestones and dolomites are exposed about three quarters of a mile south of Cloverdale Church. Though the Knox Group is 3500-4000 feet thick, only the upper few hundred feet are exposed in Dade County. Chickamauga Limestone This unit is well exposed in Lookout Valley and along the Wills Creek anticline between Fox Mountain and Lookout Mountain. Excellent outcrops are along U.S. Highway #11 and Interstate Highway #59 in Lookout Valley. Allen and Lester measured a partial section of 320 feet in Dade County, but the actual thickness of the formation is probably greater than 1000 feet. Two active quarries (the Dave L. Brown Quarry and the Nella A. Teer Quarry) and one abandoned quarry (The William Colder Quarry) are in the Chickamauga. Additional prospects have been located. The fresh rock is gray, fine-grained limestone with argillaceous laminae. Fossils are common in many of the units and chert is locally abundant. Occasional small cubes of pyrite are visible. The Newala Limestone was not observed in Dade County. The Chickamauga Limestone immediately overlies the Knox Group and underlies the Sequatchie Formation. Mississippian System All Mississippian rocks in Dade County belong to the western facies. Lower Mississippian rocks generally occur in ridges which flank the center of Lookout Valley and below floodplains of the small streams draining the Valley - Cole City Creek, Allison Creek, Lookout Creek, and Dry Wash Branch. Upper Mississippian rocks occur on the slopes of Lookout, Fox, and Sand Mountains. - 87- ., .. ..c:: E ~ ~... E z Cl) :J 0 ~ z 0 :"eI' (!) JC 0c:: :00: :; If LLJ I~ ' D\ U) z 0 ~ z ~ a:: 0 LL. IJ.... 0 (!) -az:: <( <( (!) 0:: 0 w z 0 I::::> m w m w I 1- <( (!) ~ >1z - ::::> 0 0 m ID ~ z a:: (.) Ien- 0 0 m a:: w 0 <( 0 <( (.) _.J <( a.. (.) z aa:.:. FIGURE 18 - 88- The Fort Payne Chert is about 160 feet thick. It crops out as a wide band capping the ridges that flank the center of Lookout Valley. On the western slope of Lookout Mountain from the Tennessee border to 3.3 miles south of Trenton, the Fort Payne is faulted up to the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones. The St. Louis Limestone generally is concealed under the flood plains of small streams, but is well exposed at the Southern Iron and Steel Quarries in Johnson Crook, the only larg~ exposure of the St. Louis in Dade County. The lower part of the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is covered by the floodplains of small streams, like the St. Louis Limestone, but the upper part is exposed on the lower slopes of Sand, Fox, and Lookout Mountains. The Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is well exposed in Cloudland Canyon, at Rising Fawn School, on U. S. Highway #11 one mile south of Rising Fawn, on Newsome Gap Road in Johnson Crook, on the slope of Lookout Mountain between Easley Gap and Rising Fawn, and a half mile east of Sulphur Springs. The combined thickness of the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper is approximately 400 feet. The Golconda Formation and the Hartselle Sandstone are exposed in Cloudland Canyon. Their combined thickness is about 20 feet. The Bangor Limestone, about 500 feet thick, is better exposed than the other Mississippian limestones. It crops out at many places on Sand, Fox, and Lookout Mountains, in Nickajack Cove, Slygo Cove, Egypt Hollow, and Paris Hollow. The Pennington Shale crops out near the rims of Sand, Fox, and Lookout Mountains. The exact Pennsylvanian-Mississippian contact is difficult to determine because directly beneath the ''Lookout" sandstone is a green shale, the Gizzard Formation, similar in appearance to the Pennington Shale, but it contains thin coal seams and probably is Pennsylvanian age. The thickness of the Pennington Shale is between 100 and 200 feet. Description of Individual Properties Cloudland Canyon Prospect, Locality #36 A thickness of more than 500 feet of Gasper and lower Bangor limestones is exposed in Cloudland Canyon State Park. A composite sample analyses: GaO - 53.2% MgO 1.1 AFSeil022oo233 - 1. 4 o.6 0.5 C0 2 - 43.3 Total 100.1 - 89- Though the stone in the State Park is hardly available, the strata exposed there extend both to the northeast and southwest, as shown by Figure 18, and could be quarried at many places. Southern Iron and Steel Quarries, Locality #37 The quarries are 1.2 miles northeast of Rising Fawn. Paved highway Ga. 189 passes 2000 feet to the south. The Southern Railroad passes through Rising Fawn. In 1875 the old Southern Iron and Steel Company opened four quarries at this site. The three lower quarries are in the St. Louis Limestone. The upper quarry is in both the St. Louis and the Ste. Genevieve limestones, and now exposes. a'vertical thickness of 125 feet. The lower quarries were abandoned because the chert content was too high. Over a 38 year period these quarries produced lime for the blast furnaces at Rising Fawn. Large reserves remain. The owner is Dr. W.S. Hansard. Table 27 is the geologic section on the southern slope of Lookout Mountain at Locality #37. Note that the thicknesses are vertical rather than stratigraphic thicknesses. Unit # 5 4 3 2 1 0 TABLE 27 - Stratigraphic Section at Locality #37 Description Pottsville Formation - Sandstone and Conglomerate Unit Thickness 50' Pennington Shale - green and yellow shale, largely concealed Bangor Limestone - bluish gray limestone with argillaceous and cherty beds 310' 3101 Gasper Formation and Ste. Genevieve Limestone - 1401 bluish gray limestone with oolites. St. Louis Limestone - gray cherty limestone and 140' shaly beds. Fort Payne Chert 0 Total Thickness 950' 900' 590' 2801 140' 0 Three composite samples were collected from the upper quarry. #1 is gray, fine-grained, cherty limestone from the lower part of the quarry. #2 is bluish gray, medium-grained, oolitic limestone collected at the top of the quarry. #3 is bluish gray, medium-grained, oolitic limestone collected above the quarry. - 90- TABLE 28 - Analyses of Limestone from the Upper Quarry, Locality #37 ill #2 #3 GaO MgO AFSeil022oo233 - C0 2 Total - 46.9 0.4 10.0 1.4 2.3 38.9 99.9 53.5 0.5 2.3 0.4 0.6 42.7 100.0 54.3 0.5 1.1 0.4 0.3 43.5 100.1 A detailed stratigraphic section and 25 chemical analyses of the stone from the quarries was published by Maynard (1912, pp. 205-208). Fox Mountain Prospect, Locality #38 Extensive outcrops of the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones are on the lower slopes of Fox Mountain, just north of Rising Fawn Grammar School. U.S. Highway #11 and the Southern Railroad are a quarter mile to the east. The land is owned by Ralph Rumley and Kathleen W. Thomas. A very large tonnage of limestone could be developed. Three composite samples were collected for chemical analyses. Sample #1 is predominantly light gray, oolitic limestone from an elevation of about 817 feet. Sample #2 is dark gray, medium-grained oolitic limestone from an elevation of 970 feet. Sample #3 is gray, finegrained limestone from an elevation of 1055 feet. TABLE 29 - Analyses of Composite Samples from Locality 1!38 111 1!2 #3 GaO MgO Si0 2 AFcoel 222oo33 Total 49.9 2.4 4.2 1.3 0.6 -140-10..-60 53.0 0.1 3.3 0.8 1.2 41.6 100.0 51.7 1.4 3.8 0.7 0.4 42.0 100.0 Easley Gap Prospect, Locality #39 Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones crop out extensively along the Southern Railroad 0.75 miles north of Rising Fawn. U. S. Highway #11 is 1500 feet to the west. The property is owned by Mr. L. M. Allison and Mr. Charles Long. This stone is stratigraphically equivalent to that at the Patton Rock Products Quarry in Walker County and the Fax Campbell Quarry in Catoosa County. A composite sample, predominantly bluish gray, medium-grained, oolitic limestone, analyses: - 91 - CaO - 53.1 % MgO LO Si02 2.1 AFel22 oo33 - 0.8 0.3 C02 - 42.7 Total -100.0 A large tonnage of limestone low in magnesia and silica could be developed at this prospect. Dave L. Brown Quarry, Locality #40 The quarry is at Wildwood, Georgia, just east of U.S. Highway #11 and the Southern Railroad. The Dave L. Brown estate owns the property. The quarry was operated by Mr. Dave L. Brown from 1947 to 1966 and since then has been operated by the Lambert Brothers, to produce crushed stone primarily for road metal. The stone being quarried is the Chickamauga Limestone, a dark gray, fine-grained rock that contains both shale and chert. A composite sample analyses: CaO 44.0% MgO 3.8 Si02 10.0 AFel 22oo33 - 2.6 1.0 C0 2 Total - -130-80..-60 Nella A. Teer Quarry, Locality #41 While a road cut was being made through the Chickamauga Limestone along Interstate Highway #59 a mile southwest of New England, Georgia, the excavated stone was crushed and used as road metal. The operation was carried on by Mr. Nella A. Teer of Durham, N.C., during 1966-67. The stone is gray, fine-grained argillaceous limestone; a composite sample analyses: CaO 47 .s% MgO 1.8 Si02 Al Fe 22oo33 - COz 8.2 2.0 1.3 39.2 Total - 100.0 A stratigraphic thickness of more than 100 feet of the Chickamauga Limestone is exposed in the cut. - 92- William Colder Quarry, Locality #42 The quarry is in the Chickamauga Limestone at the junction of Interstate Highway #24 and Georgia Highway #289, 1.2 miles east of Hooker. The L & N Railroad is 0.3 mile to the north. In 1966 Mr. William Colder opened the quarry to supply local stone for the fill on which a gasoline station was built. The quarry face is over 60 feet high. The overburden is about 35 feet thick. Three samples were collected for analysis. Sample #1 was collected at the quarry floor; sample #2 was collected at the middle of the quarry face; and sample #3 from the top of the quarry. TABLE 30 - Analyses of Chickamauga Limestone from the William Colder Quarry, Locality #42 #1 #2 #3 CaO MgO AFcSoeil0222oo233 Total 42.0 1.0 18.6 3.1 1.3 34.0 100.0 34.7 2.1 23.7 4.6 5.4 29.5 100.0 40.3 1.0 20.5 3.5 2.1 32.7 100.1 Because of location, thick overburden and poor quality of stone, this site is unfavorable for further development. - 93 - CARBONATE ROCK RESOURCES OF FLOYD COUNTY Introduction Carbonate-bearing formations underlie extensive areas in Floyd County. Most extensive is the Conasauga Group, which blankets much of the western part of the county (Figure 19). Next most extensive is the Knox Group, which underlies nearly all of the southeast. The Newala Limestone, Chickamauga Limestone and Mississippian limestones occupy relatively small areas. Conasauga Group The northern boundary of the Conasauga Group is the Rome Fault. South of the fault the Conasauga crops out in a broad triangular area extending eastward from the Alabama line between Coosa and Cave Springs to Rome. Northeast of Rome the Conasauga crops out in two belts. The westernmost of these belts underlies the flood plain of the Oostanaula River. The eastern belt forms a broad valley extending from Rome through Hermitage to the Gordon County line. South and southwest of Rome, the Conasauga crops out in a series of narrow belts, most of them bounded on the west by a thrust fault along which Conasauga rocks have been thrust over Knox rocks. The entire Conasauga section appears to be present in Floyd County, but because of complex folding and faulting, its exact thickness is hard to determine. Conasauga limestone crops out extensively at the Public Work Camp Quarries #2, #3, and #4 just east of the Coosa River, 3 miles southwest of Rome. The limestone is thin-bedded to laminated, intensely shattered and recemented by calcite. At a point on the Southern Railroad 1.5 miles west of Cunningham Station, the limestone is dark blue to light blue, locally oolitic and frequently made up almost entirely of trilobite remains. Northeast of Rome limestone is less abundant in the Conasauga, and occurs as very thin beds interstratified with shale. The uppermost beds of the Conasauga are mainly limestone and probably are equivalent to the Maynardville Formation. Knox Group The Knox Group consists mainly of heavy-bedded to massive gray dolomite, containing dark gray carbonaceous beds and interbedded with chert. Chert occurs also as nodules. Cherty limestone and occasionally sandstone also are interbedded with the dolomite and the chert. A thick chert residuum accumulates over the weathering Knox rocks; fresh outcrops are uncommon. The best exposures are along streams where the residuum has been recently removed. -~- DISTRIBUTION 0 F PRINCIPAL CARBONATE-BEARING FORMATIONS / FLOYD COUNTY GEORGIA 1969 N I / '~ EXPLANATION .UJ Mlululpp an. Llmutonee e J Chickamauga Limeeton --fiE\'EI Newolo Limtone D Knox Group Conaeaugo Group Fault FIGURE 19 - 95- Newala Limestone Exposure of the Newala Limestone is limited to a small area in the extreme southeastern corner of the county. The area is low, and exposure is poor. Chickamauga Limestone Approximately 1500 stratigraphic feet of Middle and Upper Ordovician strata crop out in Floyd County. Good exposures are on Horseleg Mountain, Lavender Mountain, the west side of Heath Mountain, the vicinity of Sprite, and the west side of John's Mountain. The Middle and Upper Ordovician strata consist largely of varicolored argillaceous shales and interbedded, mottled, argillaceous limestones. The abundance of terrigenous material connotes that these strata belong to the nearshore facies; by definition, then, they are not the Chickamauga limestone; though they are stratigraphically equivalent. Mississippian System All of the Mississippian rocks in Floyd County are part of the eastern facies, or nearshore facies. They are similar to the eastern facies rocks in Chattooga County, but are more terrigenous. Structurally, Floyd County is quite complex. The rocks are tightly folded and sliced by numerous thrust faults. Simms Mountain, Johns Mountain, Lavender Mountain, Turkey Mountain, and Horseleg Mountain, all of which are known as Armuchee Ridges, are anticlinal features. A large thrust fault cuts through Big Texas Valley. The Rome Fault, which crosses the county, has moved the Cambrian Conasauga Formation into contact with strata of Mississippian age, a displacement of at least 7500 feet. The widely distributed Fort Payne Chert generally crops out on the lower slopes of the Armuchee Ridges. Above the Fort Payne Chert, are green, gray and brown shales which probably are the stratigraphic equivalent of the St. Louis Limestone. A limestone thought to be Ste. Genevieve-Gasper crops out in a narrow band from the old Public Work Camp Quarry #1 four miles north of Rome to the Old Huffacker Railroad Station 4.5 miles northwest of Rome. The large Ledbetter Bros. Quarry is in this unit. Similar limestones crop out on the Oostanaula River 1.6 miles south of Rosedale and on Beach Creek 4 miles southeast of the Coosa Post Office. Above the limestones are shale which probably are equivalent to the Golconda formation. Nine large clay pits are located in this shale unit along the Central of Georgia Railroad west of Rome. A narrow band of sandstone partially encircles Rocky Mountain. Hayes (1902) mapped it as the Oxmoor Sandstone. It appears to be the Hartselle Sandstone, which crops out also on Judy Mountain. -%- Above the Hartselle Sandstone are interbedded Bangor shales and limestones. The limestones are exposed at Orsman and along the lower slopes of Rocky Mountain. The shale cropping out below the Pennsylvanian sandstones on Rocky Mountain probably is the Pennington Shale. Geology of the Northwest Rome Area Figure 20 is a detailed geologic map of the Northwest Rome area. The commercial limestone in this area is restricted to a stratigraphic thickness of about 200 feet of the Gasper-Ste. Genevieve formations. Beneath the Gasper-Ste. Genevieve limestone is the St. Louis shale; overlying the limestone are Gasper and Golconda shales. The Mississippian limestones in this area contain very little dolomite, in contrast to the Conasauga limestones which commonly are dolomitic. The Ledbetter Bros. Quarry at locality 4 (Figure 20) shows that the quality of the limestone is good, and that shale and chert are minimal. The Gasper-Ste. Genevieve limestone has been traced for over three miles through Northwest Rome. Three quarries are within this 3 mile stretch. The Public Work Camp No. 1 Quarry (locality #2 of Figure 20) and the Old Huffacker Station Quarry (locality #6) are small quarries that have been out of operation several years. The Ledbetter Bros. Quarry (locality #4), the largest limestone quarry in northwest Georgia, is being actively worked, and extensive reserves remain. Only Cambrian and Mississippian rocks are exposed in the Northwest Rome area. The Cambrian Conasauga rocks have been overridden by the Mississippian rocks along the Rome Fault, represented by the heavy dashed line on the left side of Figure 20. The Conasauga rocks are tan- to cream-colored shales interbedded with thin blue limestones. The oldest Mississippian formation is the Fort Payne Chert. The Lavender Shale member predominates over bedded chert, so that most of the formation is a gray calcareous shale. The Lavender Shale is well exposed at the Will Mitchell Quarry (locality #1). The St. Louis Shale is the clastic facies of the St. Louis Limestone. The shale is dark gray, calcareous, and often interbedded with thin, bluish, medium-grained limestones that locally are cherty. Overlying the St. Louis shale are the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones. The Ste. Genevieve and lower Gasper could not be distinguished during the mapping. Both consist of bluish gray, slightly argillaceous, medium-grained, crystalline to oolitic limestones. A 152 foot section is exposed in the Ledbetter Bros. Quarry. Another large outcrop of this limestone is at locality #6, a good potential quarry site. Undifferentiated Mississippian shales overlie the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones. These gray to brown calcareous shales interbedded with dark gray shaly limestone are exposed at the Old Summerville Road Quarry (locality #3). - 97 - :!l (J \0 00 c:: fg N 0 ---- _,. --<' ,. ,./ / ; I ,.I I o~,.J~o~-o~~~'.ILL R'"l.51 n illoUJIO ST'AtrON -n,r-- t -- --- --- ------ / GEOLOGIC MAP NORTHWEST ROME AREA FLOYD COUNTY, :.__ ___:19:;80 Feel 1968 GEORGIA N I t=-=---: Mississippian Sholes (Includes Golconda Formation and Gasper Shales) ~ ~!n Gasper Formation and St. Louis Sholes Fori Payne Chert Ste. Genevieve Limestone ~~-1 Conasauga Formation The undifferentiated Mississippian shales include the upper Gasper Formation, which probably is shaly, and the shales of the Golconda Formation. The Mississippian units in the Northwest Rome area strike east-northeast and dip 10-20 N.W. To the south the Mississippian rocks are slightly undulose. The Cambrian Conasauga rocks have been thrust at least 7500 feet along the Rome Fault onto the Mississippian sediments. The trace of the Rome Fault is quite irregular, but because of distinct color differences between Conasauga and Mississippian shales, the fault is easy to trace. The Gasper-Ste. Genevieve belt in Northwest Rome offers large reserves of low-magnesia limestone favorably situated along railroads, with abundant shales nearby. From a raw materials standpoint, the area is favorable site for a portland cement plant. Description of Individual Properties West Lavender Mountain Prospect, Locality #43 On the west side of Lavender Mountain, a mile west of the Central of Georgia Railroad, a thickness of 60 feet of light gray, fine-grained limestone is exposed. For the exact location see the frontispiece. This site has never been prospected. The limestone could be considerably thicker. A composite sample of the exposed 60-foot thickness analyses: GaO 51.0% MgO 0.4 AFSeil022oo233 - 5.4 1.5 0.6 C0 2 41.1 Total - 100.0 Maynard (1912, pp. 169-170) gave an earlier description of this prospect. Rome Quarry (Will Mitchell Quarry), Locality #44 Within the Rome city limits at the junction of U.S. Highway #27 and the Southern Railroad is an abandoned quarry in dark gray, fine-grained shaly limestone belonging to the Lavender Shale Member of the Ft. Payne Chert. Floyd County operated the quarry from about 1900 to 1920. Mr. WiLL Mitchell continued the operation until 1945. Part of the stone was used in the construction of buildings at Berry College. The land now is owned by W. C. Lloyd Real Estate Company of Anniston, Alabama. An automobile dealer occupies part of the old quarry floor. Though the site no longer is available for the production of stone, a composite sample has been analysed to show the general quality of the stone in this stratigraphic unit in the vicinity of Rome: - 99- CaO 12.9% MgO 2.1 AcFSoeil0222oo233 - 56.5 7.7 8.4 12.4 Total - 100.0 Public Work Camp Quarry #1, Locality #45 This abandoned quarry is beneath a bridge on U. S. Highway #27, where the highway cros~es Big Dry Creek in Northwest Rome. It is Locality #2 in Figure 20, now owned by Berry College. Floyd County opened the quarry in 1917 and operated it about three years for crushed stone. The quarry is in the Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestone which is bluish gray, medium-grained, and analyses: CaO 54.1% MgO 0.1 AFScoeil0222oo233 - 2.3 0.7 0.3 42.5 Total - 100.0 A cherty layer is 7-8 feet above the quarry floor. Reserves are small. Old Summerville Road Quarry, Locality #46 The quarry, 4.5 miles north of Rome on the Old Summerville Road, was operated by Floyd County prior to World War I for road metal. A waterfilled pit 50' x 100' now marks the site. The property is owned by Dr. L. R. Cauthen. The rock exposed at the quarry is a dark gray calcareous shale, probably Golconda shale, which analyses: CaO 24.4% MgO 1.0 AFSeil022oo233 - 38.4 9.6 6.4 C0 2 20.2 Total - 100.0 Neither the quality of the stone nor the quantity that is readily accessible favor reopening the quarry. - 100- Ledbetter Brothers Quarry, Locality #47 Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestone has been quarried by Ledbetter Brothers since 1951 from an opening 3 miles northwest of Rome on a spur of the Central of Georgia Railroad. The opening has a maximum width of 742 feet and a length of 1900 feet. About 75 persons presently work at the quarry. The stone is crushed mainly for aggregate and agricultural lime. Table 31 describes the stratigraphic section measured at the quarry. TABLE 31- Stratigraphic Section at the Ledbetter Brothers Quarry, Locality #47 Sample Unit # # Description of Rock Units Thickness B-19 B-17 B-16 B-15 B-14 B-13 B-12 B-11 B-10 B-9 B-B B-7 B-6 B-5 B-4 B-3 B-2 B-1 19 Light bluish gray fine-grained calcareous shale B.O' 1B Greenish gray shale 2.0' 17 Very dark gray fine-grained limestone 4. B' 16 Gray fine- tO' medium-grained crystalline s. 7' limestone with o8lites. 15 Gray medium-grained limestone with oCilites. B. 1' Thin argillaceous streaks are interbedded. 14 Gray medium-grained limestone with o!Slites. 20. 6' In places the unit should be considered an oolitic limestone. 13 Bluish gray medium- to coarse-grained 14.51 . crystalline limestone with o8lites. 12 Gray medium-grained limestone with o- ~ 1z - :::> ... ~ <( 0 0 0 0 CD 10 !!! 0 d5 >- 0 ....J IJ.. ~ u 0 ...1 z 0 ~ z c: 0 <( a...J. X w 1i ID 0 .&; (I) :E:; ~ :'':'':'' ,,11:11' .E J '5 :a; . i"I' .I l .--....... \ \\\ FIGURE 21 - 106- ,:~1 .::i:!::. '~~~::;:.::::~::~:~. ~,:::::::: :, ~'.:~'il'::';:::. :.~,, ' Jl-)- ,,,.., t1r -~, I ::J:J:, '111::::::; 1 .ifJ1~:, .; . ~~"V:,::;: 'I.t.J~P.t': 't1J'J 't t}i~, I . ::::;:, !J:l 1,{1.1 ,:J:;;.; ,t,JIIIIII t' :::::'1;.,:::1'~'':~:':':';:t::''::::'':!::''!''''' ''!::'::'::'::'t~;::': :'::'::' ''':'l,:1~'''~'f':J:',:'':I)'J:''!1' t:l:l: 1: ~ I !' CARBONATE ROCK RESOURCES OF GORDON COUNTY Introduction Well over two-thirds of Gordon County is underlain by limestone- dolomite-bearing formations (Figure 22). The Conasauga Group and the Knox Group are the principal units. Though Mississippian rocks crop out in the western part of the county, they belong to the eastern facies (see page 19), and appear to contain little carbonate of high quality. Carbonates are completely absent from the area east of the Cartersville Fault, which runs north-south ~-1 mile east of Fairmount, Ranger and Oakman. Conasauga Group The Conasauga Group crops out in four north-south trending belts. The westernmost belt, which is immediately east of the Rome Fault, extends northward from the Oostanaula River through Sugar Valley to the Whitfield County line. The two belts in the central part of the county are the outcrop pattern due to a series of gently dipping anticlines and synclines in which the Conasauga rocks occupy the anticlinal areas and Knox rocks occupy the synclinal areas. At the eastern side of the county, immediately west of the Cartersville Fault, slightly metamorphosed Conasauga shales and limestones form a 3-4 mile wide belt extending from the Bartow to the Murray County line. All of the Conasauga formations appear to be present in Gordon County, and the total thickness of the Group is at least 3600 feet. The Conasauga Group offers a greater economic potential than any other Paleozoic unit in the county. Knox Group Three areas in the central part of the county are underlain by the Knox Group. The western area extends northward out of Bartow County to about one mile north of Lilly Pond. A second area extends northeastward from Calhoun almost to the Oostanaula River. The third area extends from the Bartow County line through Farmville, to the Murray County line a mile east of Nickelville. The Knox Group in Gordon County, as elsewhere, consists mainly of cherty dolomites and limestones. Weathering develops over the Knox a thick residuum of cherty nodules and boulders. Mississippian System Mississippian rocks crop out only in the western part of the county. They are bounded on the west by Silurian and Devonian rocks along Horn Mountain and on the east by the Rome Fault, along which the Conasauga Group has - 107- .., () .... c:: 0 00 Gl ""'' PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTION OF CARBONATE-BEARING GORDON COUNTY, GEORGIA u 2 MILES 1969 FORMATIONS r EXPLANATION CJ Knox Group. - ConosOUQO Group. Limestones and shales. The better known limestone areas ore marked by cross-hotchlnQ. """ Fault. been thrust over Mississippian rocks. The Fort Payne Chert crops out along the eastern flank of Horn Mountain and in a small north-south trending fenster between Sugar Valley and Resaca. It immediately overlies the Devonian Chattanooga Shale. Its thickness probably exceeds 150 feet. Excellent exposures of the Fort Payne are on Baugh Mountain, where there are many chert pits. No Lavender Shale was seen in the county. Above the Fort Payne Chert is a greenish gray shale probably equivalent to the St. Louis Limestone farther west. The thickness of this shale could not be measured. Above it are Ste. Genevieve-Gasper limestones, the youngest rocks in the county. The Mississippian rocks are tightly folded and faulted. Baugh Mountain is a small northeast-southwest trending anticline. No commercial deposits of limestone were observed in the Mississippian rocks of Gordon County, though the Mississippian cherts on Baugh Mountain and the eastern flank of Horn Mountain have been used extensively for road metal and fill. Description of Individual Properties Pine Log Creek Prospect, Locality #55 In southern Gordon County, four miles southwest of Fairmount, bluish gray, medium-grained Conasauga limestone crops out on the west side of the dirt road. The thickness and extent of the stone are not decipherable from present exposures, but a minimum of 100,000 tons probably could be quarried. A composite sample analyses: CaO 49.0% MgO 4.2 Si02 2.1 Al203 - 1.0 Fe 2o3 - 0.7 C02 43.0 Total - 100.0 J. W. Evans Quarry, Locality #56 The quarry is on the east side of Oakman, within the city limits, 0.2 mile east of U.S. Highway #411 and the L & N Railroad (Figure 23). Lambert Brothers of Chattanooga, Tennessee, operated the quarry in 1936-37 to produce crushed stone for U. S. Highway 411. Mr. Leonard Smith core drilled the area in 1950. The owner is Mr. J. W. Evans. The quarry face is 30 feet high. A total stratigraphic thickness of 46 feet of Conasauga limestone is exposed in the quarry area. - 109- 0 1968 CONTOUR INTERVAL 100 FEET OAKMAN EVANS QUARRY OAKMAN, GA-. - v ~ EVANS QUARRY (/) ::i N FIGURE 23 0 1968 - 110- 3000 FEET TABLE 33 - Stratigraphic Section at the J, W. Evans Quarry, Oakman, Georgia Sample# Unit# Description of Rock Units Total Thickness Thickness ll-5 11-4 11-3 11-2 11-1 5 Gray fine-grained argillaceous lime- stone interbedded with black fine- grained limestone 4 Gray fine-grained argillaceous lime- stone with white coarse-grained calcite veinlets 3 Gray to black fine-grained limestone with argillaceous patches and white calcite veinlets 2 Black fine-grained limestone with white coarse-grained calcite veinlets Dark gray fine-grained slightly argillaceous limestone 17. 4' 46.11 10.01 28.71 6.01 5. 71 7.01+ 18. 7' 12.71 7. 0' The analyses in Table 34 show that magnesia is too high for the stone to be considered for the production of portland cement. TABLE 34 - Analyses of the Limestone in the ], W, Evans Quarry, Oakman, Georgia 11-5 11-4 11-3 11-2 11-1 CaO MgO Si02 A1203 Fe203 C02 Total 44.6 2.5 10.6 3. 5 1. 3 37.6 100. 1 37.3 4.5 17.4 4.4 2.3 34.1 100.0 49.3 3.8 3.1 0. 6 0.5 42.7 lOO.C 48.4 3.8 3.8 1.5 0.5 42.0 100.0 48.8 3.5 3.9 1.4 0.5 41.9 100.0 Hamrick "Black Marble11 Quarry, Locality It 57 The quarry is 0.9 mile west of Ranger (Figure 24) in dark gray to black Conasauga limestone. The property owner is Mr. H. F. Hamrick. "Black Marble11 dimension stone was produced by Mr. Leonard Smith from 1951 to 1958. The Georgia Marble Company prospected the site and took over the quarry from 1958 to 1962. The quarried stone ranges from black, oolitic, crystalline limestone or "marble" to dark gray interlaminated limestone, shaly limestone, and dolomite. Conunonly the black "marble" is cut by white calcite veinlets that occupy well - 111- OF MARBLE I 1 7 N 1 _ _ _ _ 0,____ __._ ___I_O. OFEET 1968 HAMRICK BLACK MARBLE QUARRY RANGER, GA. .- 0 3000 FEET 1968 FIGURE 24 - 112- defined fracture sets. The strength of the stone depends significantly on the proportion and distribution of shaly laminae and on how well the fractures have been healed by calcite. This 11black marble 11 gashed by white calcite veinlets makes a striking dimension stone, and is quite widespread in the area. The selection of quarry sites that will yield solid, high-strength blocks requires core drilling. Prospecting should be restricted to sites where the partially weathered stone near the surface easily can be stripped off in preparation for the removal of dimension stone, where shaly laminae are notably coherent (or absent) and where the numerous fractures that cut the stone are well healed. Phil Tate Quarry, Locality #58 A mile southwest of Fairmount, a small quarry in Conasauga limestone was operated by Mr. Phil Tate from 1955-60. The crushed stone that he produced was used to make cement blocks. The quarry face is ten feet high. Sample #260 was collected near the bottom of the quarry face; sample #261 was collected near the top. Sample 11260 Sample #261 CaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe 2o3 C02 Total 48.6 2.4 5.3 2.2 0.8 -140-00..-70 41.7 4.9 12.1 2.5 0.9 37.9 100.0 The quality of the stone as shown by these analyses is unsatisfactory for the production of portland cement. The quantity appears to be too small for the development of a large quarry. County Quarry, Locality #59 Southeast of Fairmount 1.25 miles and 0.4 mile east of U. S. Highway #41, on the north side of Sallocoa Creek, is a quarry in the Conasauga Group. The quarry face is over 100 feet high. An adit 12 feet high and 18 feet wide opened in the quarry face goes back into the hill 62 feet. The limestone is notably fractured, probably because it is near the Cartersville Fault. A composite sample analyses: CaO MgO Si02 Al 2o3 - Fe203 C02 Total - 52.3 2.1 1.1 1.0 0.2 43.2 99.9 - 113 - Lambert Brothers of Chattanooga operated the quarry in 1936-37 for road metal. Mr. N. R. Champion produced crushed stone for road aggregate and terrazzo chips from 1957 to 1962. The property is owned by Janelle Irving of Charlotte, N. C. F. J. Richardson Quarry, Locality #60 Southeast of Calhoun 3.25 miles and a quarter mile east of Interstate #75 is a large quarry from which Lambert Brothers produced crushed stone for road metal in 1965-66 (Figure 25). The stone is bluish gray, fine- to medium-grained limestone of the Conasauga Group. The owner is Mr. F. J. Richardson. The quarry was opened to supply stone for Interstate 1175 and closed when the highway was completed. Large reserves of limestone remain. Overburden is thin. GEOLOGIC MAP OF EASTERN GORDON, MURRAY AND BARTOW COUNTIES A 105 square mile area comprising the eastern parts of Gordon, Murray and Bartow Counties was mapped geologically in 1967 to accurately locate the carbonate deposits that are readily accessible to Atlanta by railroad (Figure 26). Only the Conasauga carbonates in this area appear to have any appreciable economic potential. The Shady dolomite is too deeply weathered to be a promising source. The limestones in the Rome Formation are too thin and variable. All the formations which underlie the area are tabulated in Table 35. All are Cambrian in age. TABLE 35 - Cambrian Formations in Eastern Gordon, Murray and Bartow Counties Ccnasat 0 (,) 1 ~ ~ a:: m "'6a:: 0 1&.1 ~ ""t!'' 0w ::E (!) z 0 0a:: 0 (!) z aw:: etn- wIz - z 0 I::> ID 0 ::! (.) (!) a:: aa~:::: @ (!) C1> 10 ~ ~ a:: z I- (J) ::> :::!: 0 0 CaD:: :1 5 c::: ~ w... GEOLOGIC MAP OF NORTHERN PIGEON MOUNTAIN WALKER COUNTY, GEORGIA N 0 19 67 I MILE ~ . . POTTSVILLE ~ ~ PENNINGTON FORMATION SHALE ~ BANGOR LIMESTONE (INCLUDES HARTSELLE SANDSTONE AND GOLCONDA FORMATION) i i i GASPER AND STE. GENEVIEVE LIMESTONES .G.J ST. LOUIS LIMESTONE FORT PAYNE CHERT ~ ~ RED MOUNTAIN FORMATION CHATTANOOGA SHALE) (INCLUDES Q .... FORMATIONAL CONTACT (DOTTED WHERE APPROXIMATE) TABLE 36- Stratigraphic Section for Northern Pigeon Mountain Era Pennsy1vani an Mississippian Devonian Silurian Formation Name Thickness (feet) Pottsville Formation Pennington Shale Bangor Limestone Hartselle Sandstone Golconda Formation 1500 200 500 5 10 Gasper Formation 150 Ste. Genevieve I imestone 250 St. Louis Limestone 100-150 Fort Payne Chert Chattanooga Shale Red Mountain Formation 150 30 1000 The Red Mountain Formation is composed of gray shales and interbedded thin blue limestones and tan sandstones. The Chattanooga Shale is black and highly fissle. The Fort Payne Chert is a dark gray calcareous chert containing abundant crinoid stems. This unit tends to form narrow ridges because of its resistance to weathering, as Shinbone Ridge. The St. Louis Limestone is a dark gray, very cherty, fine-grained limestone. The contact between the St. Louis limestone and the Fort Payne chert is probably conformable. The St. Louis is generally thick-bedded and contains many large nodules and stringers of chert. Some pearl gray dolomite is near the St. Louis-Ste. Genevieve contact. On the eastern flank of Pigeon Mountain the St. Louis underlies the valley floor. The bluish gray oolitic Ste. Genevieve overlies the cherty St. Louis. It contains a little chert and a few argillaceous zones, but generally is quite pure. The Ste. Genevieve Limestone is the stone being worked at the Patton Rock Products Quarry and the W.M. Matthews Quarry. The Gasper Formation overlies the Ste. Genevieve limestone but the two formations are not readily differentiated in Georgia, though the upper Gasper is shaly. The Golconda Formation consists of thin-bedded fossiliferous limestone and greenish shale and in most localities is difficult to locate or trace. The Hartselle Sandstone was not seen in outcrop, and might be absent from this area. The Bangor Limestone consists mostly of gray fine- to coarse-grained limestone, but includes some dolomite and chert. The upper Bangor is interbedded with dark gray calcareous shale. - 132- Conformably overlying the Bangor Limestone is the Pennington Shale. Unconformably overlying this shale are the basal conglomerates and sandstones of the Pottsville Formation. Because of greater resistance to weathering the Pottsville forms high cliffs that rim Pigeon Mountain. The Ste. Genevieve and Gasper limestones are of unusually high quality. They contain limited argillaceous and cherty zones. Both formations are well exposed on Pigeon Mountain, and very large reserves can be developed. The Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia Railroad connecting Gasden, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, runs along the base of the mountain. Pigeon Mountain is one of the more promising areas in the state for the development of high grade limestone deposits. Description of Individual Properties Yates Quarry #1, Locality #68 In 1941, the State Highway Department opened a quarry 1.4 miles northwest of Cooper Heights, along Georgia Highway #143 (Figure 32), on the property of the Yates family of Flintstone, Georgia . The quarry is on the north side of the road, is 200 feet long, l/3rd as wide, and 70 feet deep. The stone in the quarry is horizontally bedded St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve limestone (see Table 37). Thirty feet above the quarry floor is a layer of chert nodules (silica), flattened ellipsoidal masses and irregularshaped masses up to one inch thick which are scattered along a horizon without forming a continuous layer. Above and below the cherty horizon are fossiliferous limestones and dolomitic limestone. The geologic map of northwest Georgia shows the quarry rock as part of a limestone band ~-mile wide, running NE-SW, along the flank of Lookout Mountain. The band is at least 250 feet thick, and probably thicker. This means that limestone lies beneath the quarry floor to a depth of at least 100 feet. The compositional banding visible in the quarry face can be expected to extend laterally for several hundred feet with little change. Because the beds are horizontal and massive, i.e., maintain their composition laterally, proving a large tonnage would require relatively little drilling at this site. One vertical hole drilled 200 feet northwest of the quarry to a depth of at least 100 feet, a second hole drilled 300 feet southwest of Hole No. 1 and the same distance from the road and a third hole drilled 300 feet northeast of Hole No. 1 would sample a body of stone 400 feet wide, 100 feet deep, and 1000 feet long that could yield more than seven million tons. Additional holes drilled to the northeast might prove additional tonnage. Table 33 shows the variations in the quality of the stone within the quarry. The limestones are generally low in magnesia, but commonly high in - 133 - ... 5 c= lo> ~ ~ lo> N YATE'S QUARRY # WALKER CO., GEORGIA N 0 50 100 FEET 1967 L,.; J Ste. Genevieve Limestone 1',::3{:-1 St. Louis Limestone silica. The silica occurs in small nodules and occasional grains. It is therefore easy in collecting samples to get varying percentages of silica, depending on whether one or more coarse silica nodules happen to be included in the sample. TABLE 37- StratigraJ=hic Sec:ion at the Yates QuaiTy #1, Walker County, Georgia Sample No. 2-12 2-10 2-9 2-8 2-7 2-6 2-5 2-4 2-3 Unit FormNo. ation 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Description of Units Thickness (feet) Bluish gray crystalline limestone with oolites. Small siliceous cavity fillings are in this unit. 7. 1' Black chert seam . 3' Bluish gray oolitic limestone that 14.0' grades upward into crystalline limestone Bluish gray oolitic limestone that grades 7. 3' upward into a crystalline limestone Bluish gray crystalline limestone with 7. 0' oolites and thin argillaceous streaks. Greenish gray slightly argillaceous limestone with occasional chert nodules. Bluish gray limestone containing large chert nodules (up to 2'6" across) 6. 0 1 5. 4' Gray aphanitic limestone Light gray limestone Gray crystalline limestone. No chert observed in this unit. 2.0' 11. 8' 3. 6' Total Thickness 82.3 1 75. 2' 74.91 60. 9' 53. 6' 46. 6' 40. 6' 35. 2' 33. 2' 21. 4' 2-2 2 "'..... Qj ;:S 1'1 Gray aphanitic cherty limestone. 10. 8' 17.8' o.B ..... ~ The chert is present in bands about ............ 1" thick. 2-1 1 above, a~ternating with beds of limestone, gray-brown, un- fossiliierous or slig~1tly fossilifero'!.ls. Limestone: gray-brown, :finely crystalline, slightly fossiliferous. Limestone: g!'ay-brown, medium to coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, argillaceous in parts, Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic, sligb.tly fossiliferous. Limestone: gray, finely ccystc..lline, unossiliferous. Limestone : g!'ay, .::oarsely crystalline, oolitic and fossiliferous. Limes:o:::te: gray, finely crystalline, unfossiliferous, argillaceous, with occasional thin bed of limestone as above. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline with dispersed fossil fragments, oolitic. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, unfossiliferous, argillaceous. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic and fossiliferous. Chert: dark-gray. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, unfossiliferous, argillaceous; with occasional thin bed of limestone, as above. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic and fossiliferous. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, unfossiliferous. Chert: dark-g'.'ay. Limestone: as above. Che..-rt: dark-gray. Limestone: as abovf'.. BOTTOM 0.7 2. 2 3. 7 4.7 7.7 8.4 10.2 10.7 11.0 12.6 13. 1 20.2 23.9 25.3 30. 1 44.8 46.2 50.8 51.9 53.2 60.2 61.0 2.2 3~ 7 4.7 7. 7 8.4 10.2 10.7 11.0 12.6 13. 1 20.2 23.9 25.3 30. 1 44.8 46.2 50.8 51. 9 53.2 60.2 61.0 63.4 CORE HOLE# 4 Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossils present. Clay: (from driller's log). Limestone: as above. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic. Clay: (from driller's log). Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic and fossiliferous. Clay: (from driller's log). Limestone: as above, cavernous. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous. Cavernous. Limestone, as above. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, o'olitic. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic, dispersed fossils present. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous. . Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, o'olitic. Limestone: gray-brown, finely crystalline. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, a..-.gillaceous. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, slightly OOlitic :H:J slightly fossiliferOUS, Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, argfllaceous,' Limestone: gray, coarsely C!'ystalline, o'olitic. Limestone: gray, finely c!oystalline, argillaceous. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, fossiliferous. -151- 63.4 63.4 63.7 64.2 64.3 65.0 63.4 63.7 64.2 64.3 65.0 72.9 72.9 74.0 74.0 81.2 81.2 85.2 85.2 92.3 100.0 92.3 100.0 Chert: dark-gray, nodulP.. Limestone: gray, finely CI"fStallir..e. Chert: dark-gray, llod.:tle. Chert: dark-~ay, lo.yer about ~/';, incn thick. Limestone: a~ above. Limestone: gray, finely Cl"f~talline, wi':h 9 distinc": layers or nodule zones of chert, medium-gray. Limestone: light-gray, medium to coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous with 1 layer of chert, light-grc.y. Limestone: medium-gray, finely cxystalline, argillaceous with about 9 layers or nodule :!ones of chert, dark-gray. Limestone: light-gray, medium to coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous with two layers of chert, medium-gray, near base of unit. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline. Limestone: gray to light-gray, coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous. BOTTOM o. 6. 7 8. 1 B. 1 39.6 39.8 40.8 41.2 6.7 8. 1 8. 1 39.6 39.8 40.8 41.2 49.5 49.5 51. 1 56.4 72.2 73.0 74.3 76.5 76.7 86.5 87.2 51. 1 56.4 72.2 73.0 74.3 76.5 76.7 86.5 87.2 95.2 95.2 99.3 109.3 114.6 115.7 118.9 119.7 99.3 109.3 114.6 115.7 118.9 119.7 122.4 122.4 125.5 125.5 135.7 CORE HOLE# 5 Limestone: blue-gray, finely crystalline with fossil ;fragments. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline. Shale: brown, calcareous, 1/2 inch thick. Limestone: blue-gray, finely crystalline with fossil fragments. Limestone: yellow-brown, finely crystalline, slightly dolomitic (?). Limestone: blue-gray, finely crystalline, with fossil fragments. Limestone: yellow-brown, finely crystalline, dolomitic (?), Limestone: blue-gray, finely crystalline, fossil fragments present, some styolite developement present, vuggy zone at 48. 4 feet. Limestone: gray, oolitic. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, very few fossil fragments present. Limestone: gray, o'olitic. Limestone: gray unfossiliferous. Limestone: gray, finely crystalline, abundant crinoid fragments present. Limestone: dark-gray, finely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present. Chert: dark-gray. Limestone: light-gray, finely crystalline with dispersed fossil fragments present. Limestone: g!'ay, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present, some styolite development, occasional vuggy zone present. Limestone: as above, finely crystalline. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present. Limestonf!: gray coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present,oolitic. Limestone: dark-g:oay, finely crystalline, very few fossil fragments present. Limestone: g~ay, coarsely crystalline, ooEtic, dispe:tsed fossil fragments present. Limestone: gray, finely crys~alline, very few fossil fragments present. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossi~ fragments present, oolitic. Limestone: gray-brown, coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous. Limestone: gray-brown, finely crystalline, with few thin beds of oolitic limestone as above. -152- 135.7 135.9 135.9 136. 1 136.2 137.8 138.0 138.4 138.5 138~ 7 138.9 139.5 140.0 144.2 136. 1 136.2 137.8 138.0 138,4 138.5 138.7 138.9 139.5 140.0 144.2 147.3 147.3 148.8 14&. 8 150.6 151.0 153.8 150.6 151.0 153.8 158.9 158.9 160.2 160.2 163.0 163.0 166.9 182,8 166.9 182.8 184.7 184.7 213.3 213.3 215.8 215.8 236.0 236.0 237.0 237.0 243.5 247.3 247.5 248.6 251.6 243.5 247.3 247.5 248.6 251.6 261.0 261.0 269.0 272.5 285.5 287. 1 299.8 300.0 269.0 272.5 285,5 287. 1 299.8 300.0 Limestone: g~a;o, coarsely crrstalline w!.tl: dispersed fossil fragments and some oOlites. Che!'t: daik-g~ay, with some fossil fragments present. Limestone: g!'a'j-, coarsely crystalline with disper~ed foss:i.l fragments. Limestone: gr:>.y, finely c:o:oystalline, u::Uossiliferous. Limestone: gr.9.y, coarsely c::ystalli.ne, Some oolit:-e: sra;;-, iinely crystalline, argillaceous, slightly oolitic :U::rv~stone: gr:ay, coarsely crystalline, abundant fossil fragments present. limestone: dark-g::oay, very argillaceous. Li.meswne: d~&-gray, coarsely crystallir..e, oolitic. L:ime~tone : dark-gray, finely crystalline, argillaceous. li:me;to:::te: da.rk-gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic. LlriP.stone: gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic. Dolomite: lig~1t-gray, vuggy zones present. :Jolomite: lignt..gray, slightly vuggy at top and becoming very vuggy toward base of unit. Limestone: blue-gray, coarsely crystalline, oolitic. Limestone: light-gray, finely crystalline, some vuggy zones present Limestone: light-gray, finely crystalline, moderate number of styolites present. Limestone: as above except coarsely crystalline. Limestone: light-gray, finely crystalline. Limestone: as above with chert, dark gray. Limestone: as above, without chert. Limestone: light-gray, finely crystalline, with thin chert beds (?) Limestone: light-gray, finely crystalline. Lim.!Stone: light-gray, finely crystalline with small chert nodules Chert: dark-gray !.imestone: as above. Dolomite: light-gray, with some chert, dark-gray. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present. Limestone: brown, finely crystalline, dolomitic. Limestone: !~:ray, coarsely crystalline. Limestone: gray, with chert, dark-gray. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, dispersed fossil fragments present. Dolomite: vuggy with some chert, dark-gray. Limestone: gray, coarsely crystalline, with some dispersed fossil fragments present, Limestone: brown, dolomitic, vuggy, especially near bottom BOTTOM Two chert zones which night be different zones or might be one zone which has been cut and offset by faulting have been mapped. The two chert zones are about 100 feet apart in elevation and both are in a light grey, fine- to medium-grained fossiliferous limestone. The northern zone could not be traced south of point 11, nor could the southern zone be traced north of point 6 (See Figure 38). The upper chert zone begins at point 11 as an irregular chert band and thickens north along strike into a zone 4-5 feet thick. This zone has chert nodules and 3-4 inch thick bands of chert distributed in the fine- to medium-grained fossiliferous limestone. -155- LITHOLOGY 8 TENTATIVE CORRELATION OF 6 CORES, NORTH TRACT OF PIGEON MOUNTAIN ( For location see Figure 36 l _,.a, 10.0 =,........o,:20;:,.,........,40 FEET #6 #5 A B Chert zone # 3 #2 c Chert zone # 2 D E E E F F F Chert zone # I G FIGURE 37 - 156- EXPLANATION ITTIJ Fossiliferous Limestone ~ Unfossiliferous Limestone ~ Oolitic Limestone ~Dolomite ~Cheri ~ Shale LHL SOUTH END OF PIGEON MOUNTAIN WALKER COUNTY, GEORGIA 1969 500 0 1000 FEET N I - -~- - / B :~~:~ O~!R'T - -, I 1001)" _ _ ..... , ,.,.1 ' "". ' B' RR HGV --=--~ -- -=:] EXPLANATION EZllJ Veoetation covered areas Proposed drill sites _;!- Strike 8 dip of beds x Cave LHL FIGURE 38 - 157- TABLE 46 - ?arti:;.: A:1a~ys~s of cures from Nortl1 Tract, Vernon Close Ra :ch, W al~ CCJNTY :~t:r;-;-dut:tion More than half cf Whitfield Cour:ty is u.:1de:rlain by carbonate-bearing formations (Figure 39). The Cambrian Conasauga Group and the CambroOrdovician Kncx Group predo:ninate. All Middle and Upper Ordovician rocks in the county are near-shore fac.ies, thus the Chickamauga Limestone does not appear. Cherts and che~ty caroonates of the Ft. Payne Formation crop out widely, but other Mississippian carb.:mates appear to be absent, except a little limestone ~f probable St. Louis age in Houston Valley. Conasauga Group This group crops out in a series of roughly parallel north-south to northeast trending bands. Their width varies in response to structure and topography. The best exposures are on the flanks of Cedar Ridge, especially at the Jet Black Marble Quarry. All the Conasauga formations ap?ear to be present in Whitfield County, though only the Maynardville has been differentiated (Munyan, 1951). Total thickness probably is a little less than the 4600 feet in western Gordon County. Knox Group In western Whitfield County the Knox strata occur in a series of subparallel, north-south trend:Lng belts, some of which have been split into smaller slices by faults pa~allel to the general strike of the belts. In the eastern pare of the county, Knox strata cap both the northern and southern parts of Cedar Ridge. The Knox strata range in color from light gray through brownish gray and light olive gray to pale red. Bedding ranges from less than one inch to more than ten feet. Several chert layers up to ten feet thick are present; still, most of the chert is in the form of nodules. Fresh rock exposures are uncommon; mapping has to be based mostly on the distribution of chert ledges and bculders (Maynard, 1948). No continuous exposures of fresh dolomite that were seen exceed 40 stratig=aphic feet. The best exposure is on Oder Ridge, ~ mile south of U.S, 1176, in an old road quarry. The entire Knox section appears to be presenL in Whitfield County. Total thickness is about aSOO feet. The Newala Limestone which commonly overlies the Knox in other counties was not observed in Whitfield County. Mississippian System The Fort Payne Chert is the most widely distributed Mississippian unit in Whitfield County. It c:rops out on the eastern slope of Taylor Ridge DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL CARBONATE- BEARING N WHITFIELD COUNTY GEORGIA 1 6....-...li:...~...J,==~2MILES 1969 FORMATIONS EXPLANATION D Knox Group - Conasauva Group .....-"' Fault FIGURE 39 - 160- and the western slope of Dick Ridge in Houston Valley and Gordon Springs Valley. It also crops out on the eastern slope of Rocky Face Mountain, in Redwine Cove; and on both sides of Chestnut Hountain. Limestone thought to be equivalent to the St. Louis overlies the Ft. Payne Chert in Houston Valley; shale of equivalent age crops out above the Fort Payne in Gordon Springs Valley. No rocks younger than St. Louis have been found. Except chert, which is quarried for road fill, the Mississippian rocks of Whitfield County have limited economic potential, Description of Individual Properties Dalton Rock Products Quarry, Locality #77 The quarry is 5.5 miles northeast of Dalton on a paved county road. Georgia Highway #71 is 2.2 miles to the west. The nearest railroad is 3.4 miles to the west. Whitfield County first opened the quarry on a large Conasauga limestone outcrop about 1935. From 1948 to 1955 Cooper and Maples operated the quarry, and in 1955 Dalton Rock Products became the operator. The principal products are aggregate, road metal, and agricultural stone. The property is owned by Mrs. W. B. Renalsen. Figure 40 is a plan view of the quarry as of 1967. The quarry rock is bluish gray, fine-grained limestone, A composite sample analysed: CaO 50.1% MgO 2.2 Si02 3.6 Al203 1.4 Fe203 - 1.1 C02 41.6 Total 100.0 Jet Black Marble Company Quarries, Locality #78 The openings are 4.2 miles east of Dalton on the west side of Cedar Ridge, just north of the Dalton- Chatsworth Highway (U.S, 76), These openings were made in the late 1800's in the hope of locating commercial marbles. A stratigraphic thickness of about 230 feet of dark Conasauga ''marble:' is exposed. It is stratigraphically equivalent to the stone being quarried by the Dalton Rock Products Company. A brief description of the site, a stratigraphic section and two chemical analyses of the stone were given by Maynard (1912, pp. 260-261). The stone taken from these openings was cut and polished, but no information is available on its quality or use, The L1narblen contains thin argillaceous intercalations, like those described in the black 11marbles 11 of Gordon County. Polish and strength are limited to some extent by these intercalations. The massiveness of the stone, the proportion of oolitic to argillaceous layers, the color and other characteristics vary within -161- +-Dolton .... g"J:j ~ ~ ~ DALTON ROCK PRODUCTS QUARRY WHITFIELD COUNTY N 0 ~ ./OOOFEET I 1967 - . / Secondary Roads abort distances both along and across strike. The search for monumental stone of this type is the search for massive stone whose strength and polishability are not seriously reduced by argillaceous seams. While the Conasauga limestones generally are weak, they are unusually massive at this site, and the possibility of locating high strength "marble" appears good. A composite sample of the dark limestone analyses: CaO MgO Si02 Al203 Fe203 C02 Total 46.9% 3.1 6.2 2.0 1.5 40.3 100.0 -163- ADDE NDUM Marble in Haralson County A thin body of marble northeast of Buchanan is shown on the Geologic Map of Georgia (1939), and mentioned briefly by Crickmay (1952, p. 30). Reconnaissance mapping in the area in 1968 did not locate any outcropping marble. According to local report, marble outcrops could be seen in the bed of Little River on the Sanders Property (Figure 41) before the run of the river was changed some years back, About two miles southwest of the Sanders Property, marble is said to have been visible at one time in the bottom of a spring in back of the Bowling house. In 1967, several core holes were drilled in the area. Incomplete records on file at the Georgia Department of Mines show that marble was encountered on both the Sanders and Bowling Properties. No data are available on the quality or extent at either site. Geologic mapping indicates that the marble occurrences are fault controlled. Roadcuts east of the Bowling property expose a fault zone consisting of approximately 50 feet of sheared micaceous quartzite and 3 feet of breccia and wad. North of Hobbs Bridge, and at intermittant outcrops to the northeast, concentrations of manganese oxide indicate probable faulting. Future exploration for marble in Haralson County should be along the fault in Figure 41. No marble is now exposed. -164- MARBLE OCCURRENCES IN HARALSON GEORGIA N Oiii.5&i!!!I...,.;O..._.;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;il MIL ES 1969 I COUNTY The heavy dashed line is o major fault . FIGURE 41 - 165- BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, Arthur T., 1953, Measured Section of the Knox Dolomite, in Short Contributions to the Geology, Geography, and Ar ch aeology of Georgia (No . 2): Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 60, p. 178-189 . - - -M-is-sis, saipnpd iaLne ster, James G., 19 Blastoid in Short 53, Ecol ogi cal Contributions signi ficance of to the Geology, a Geography, and Archaeology of Georgia (No. 2): Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 60, p . 190-199 . _ _____, 19.54, Contribut ion to the Paleontology of Northwest Georgia: Georgia Geol. 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Watson, T. L., 1904, Geological relations of the manganese ore-deposits of Georgia: Am. Inst. Min. Eng. Trans., val. 34, pp. 212-226. ----------' 1906, A preliminary re~ort on the ocher deposits of Georgia: Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 13, 81 pp. ----~----' 1908, A preliminary report on the manganese deposits of Georgia: Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 14, pp. 32-99, 145-157. - -- -- -In--s-t.-, and Min. Grasty, J. S., 1915, Eng. Bull., val. 98, Barite of the pp. 353-357. Appalachian States: Am. ----------' 1964, Bauxite Deposits of Georgia: Ga. Geol. Survey Bull. 11. Weigel, w. M., 1923, Barite and ocher in the Cartersville, Georgia, district: U. S. Bur. Mines. Rept. Inv. 2477, 11 pp. -170-