The geology of the Sand-Lookout mountain area, north-west Georgia

.': -

425 State ...._..,.,.,,"""''
.... An.A...~TA, GEOR.GIA

GARLA:t-.'D PErroN, Director

. :BY
. JOHN WENTWORTH SULLIVAN
jULY, 1942
..,,,'

-1-

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction

..

1

Area and Accessibility



1

Previous Ge9lcbic Work



1

FielC. Work and Acknowledgments

3

. . . . . . . . Geon.orpho1ogy



Surface



. .

4 4

Drainage Stratigraphy

.


5 8

. Ordovician System



Silurian System



8 11

Red Mountain Forrration



11

Devonian or Mississippian System Chattanooga Shale
Mississippian System Fort PaJ~e Chert


. .
. .

16 16 19 19

Bangor Limestone ~

21

Pennington Shale

. . Pennsylvanian Syst~m



. . Pottsville Formation

. Geologic Structure



. Sand Mountain





. Lookout Creek Anticline



. . . Wills Creek Anticline



. Lookout rv-;ountain



26
30 30 36 37 38 39 40

Chattanooga Creek Anticline



41

Structure on East Side of Lookout Mountain

. . . . . Economic Products





. . . . . . Coal



41 44 44

Lookout Mountain Area

44

Sand Mountain Area



46

Clays Associated with Coal

52

Iron Ore



56

Slag



57

Bentonite









58

. . . . . Quarry Stone F'la.gstone Limestone









59 59
61

Shale . Limestone Cavern

. .

63 64

Bibliography







65

Inde~

66

l
-ii-

rLL.USTRA.TI ONS

Figures

Page ..

1. Generalized diagram of the Sand - Lookout

Mountain area

2

View east from Lookout Mountain toward

Pigeon Mountain

8

3. Chick8Jl'auga limestone at Wildwood Station

10

4. Fort Payne chert and Chattanooga shale

18

5 Fort Payne chert

19

6. Corals in Bangor limestone

22

7. Contact between Pottsville and Pennington

formations

27

8. Discordance in upper Pennington formation

29

9 Basal shales of the Pottsville formation

30

10. Falls at Lula Lake. showing Pottsville

formation

31

11. View southeast from Sand Mountain across

Lookout Creek anticline

38

12. View north along Sitton's Gulf

40

13. Vertical beds of Bangor limestone

42

14. Coal opening on Sand Mountain

51

15. Flagstone quarry in the Pottsville formation

60

TABLES

Correlation Cr~rt

9

Table II Ceramic features of underclays from

Dade County

54

MAP

Outline map showing coal outcrops

43

l

INTRODUCTION

! .

AREA AND ACCESSIBILITY
The are& covered by this report lies in the extreme northwest corner of the State of Georgia, bounded on the south by latitude 36001 1 and on the east by longitude 850 22 f 30II , except on the northeast, where the boundary has been taken as 8520'. On the north and west, it is bounded by the state line~ of Tennessee and Alabama respectively. This comprises an area some 200 square miles, within which are portions of the prominent landmasses of Look :Mountain and Sand Mountain, with the intervening Lookout Valley, and a. part of the Chattanooga. Valley to the east of Lookout Mountain. This area is covered b,y the Ringgold and Stevenson sheets of the United States Geological Survey, and is covered by the quadrangles of Hooker, Durham, Shellmound, Trenton, and part of Fort Oglethorpe, issued by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
All parts of the area are easily accessible by automobile, either from u.S. Highway 27 to the east, or from U. s. Highway 11 on the west. The area is honeycombed with roads, chiefly dirt, so that all portions may be reached easily. Recent work by the Georgie. Highway Department has resulted in excellent paved highways across Lookout Mountain from Lafaj~tte to Trenton, and roads northward along the mountain to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

PREVIOUS GEOLOGIC WCRK
In large part the early work in this area is included in the Ringgold (5)* and Stevenson Folios (7) of the United States Geological Survey, both of
*Numbers refer to works listed in the bibliography

ESJ7'30'

a5'2Z.30.

~od r-.,---.,---.---.----.---.----.35000

Trenton

I Durham

3~45' i--....1..--L-.1...-L--....L----L__! 3445'

85'37'30'

ss"22.':~:l

GENERALIZED DIAGRAM

SAND-LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AREA

SCALE

0

2

3

4

5

Figure 1. Generalised Diagram of' the Sand-Lookout Mountain Area

3
which were prepared by C. W. Hayes In these publications. the g;eologJcal structures were mapped on the scale of two miles to the inch~ and the g,eolot).cal
form~tions subdivided into broad units. Later Spencer (13) in his reconnais-
sance of the Paleozoic rocks of Georcia followed the same subdivisions. as did Maynard(ll) in his v;ork en tte limestones of north Georgia. The most recE;nt vork by Butts (1~2) an~. others in adjacent arees indicates that these forc1-tti or:al C.i visions are inedequate This, as well as the presence of usable minerals in tl;e area~ rr.akes necessary furtf:er detailed stratit;rapl:ic work with a revision of the units as previously recognized.
FIELD WORK A.~D ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For the purpose as stated above. the Geoloe;ical Survey of Georgia
has, in 1940, initiated detailed stratigraphic anc paleontological work. During the summers of 1940 and 1941, the writer spent a total of about twelve
weeks in the field measuring sections and checkint; the pr~viously mapped
units and structures. In 1941, particular attention v.;as paid to the coal
seams and mine openings in and around Sand Mountain. with an eye to possible war use of this economic material.
The writer is indebted to Captain Garland Peyton, Director of the Georgia State Division of Mines, lv!iniq:: and Geology. for the privilege of completing the report e..r,d for suggestions re[;arding field work; e,lso to Dr. A. S. Furcron~ A:::::i stant State Geologist, for field suggestions and certe.in editorial criticisms v,'hen the report \'.ra.s prepared for publication. The writer
is also grateful to Mr. Rugh Ga.rriEon of Northwestern University for assistance during the 1940 fieln season.


4

GEOMORPHOLOGY

SURF:ACE This portion of Georgia is generally considered as being a part of the Cumberland Plateau,- although it does partake of some of the features of

the folded Appalachians to the eastward. The eastern part of the Cumberland Plateau in this area is interrupted by several folds of large rragnitude. Lookout Mountain, Whose eastern escarpment marks the edge of the plateau here,

is synclinal in character and is separated from Sand MountaJ.n by the anticlinal valley of Lookout Creek. Within Sand Mountain, the strata are more nearly
..
horizontal, bringing out the plateau-like character of that le.ndnass. East of Lookout Mountain, there is another large anticlinal fold of much the same character as that to the west. This is bounded on the east by the synclinal mass of Pigeon Mountain, which, however, becones narrower and finally pinches out toward the northeast, only a few residuals marking its former ex-

tension in that direction. All of these folds are trending in a northeastsouthwest direction, parallel to the major structural axes of the folded Appalachians of the eastern United States. The region here is an example of Appalachian topography, ~erein synclinal areas for.m the uplands and anticlines underlie the lowland areas.
The synclinal areas ~ich now rise on the order of 1000 to 1500

feet above the surrounding lowlands to elevations of 2000 to 2400 feet above

sea level, are beveled by an erosion surface to which Hayes (8) has given

i

the name Cumberland peneplane, and which represents a reduction to base level of this area probably at some time during the late Cretaceous or early Ter-

I

I

tiary period. Later erosion cycles have advanced to less and less co~letion,

i

I
l ...L

5
and rerr~ants of these have been preserved in the lowland areas. Monoclinal ridges of the Fort Payne chert and Red Mountain formations, it is believed, have preserved on their summits portions of the Highland Rim peneplane at levels of from 1000 to 1200 feet. Hayes (8) considers this peneplane as being the product of one simple cycle, although other ?.'!'i ters are of the opinion that these lo,er levels are a con:posite of many uplifts, e.nd that the lowest, the Coosa peneph.ne, if the last stage in this composite uplift. The Coosa peneplane ranges from 700 to BOO feet in elevation and is to be found along pcrti ons of Lookout Creek Valley and the valley of Chattanoo~?a Creek.
Thus, at least three erosion cycles are represented in- this area, the most widespread being the Cumberll::l.D.d surface, which may be co rrela.ted with the Schooley Sllrface of the other Appalachian areas; the Highland Rim penepla.ne which is believed to correlate with the Harrisburg surface; and lastly the Coosa peneplane, an imperfect erosion surface Which now is a short distance above the main s~ream levels of the area, an indica.t~on that in recent times there has been another later uplift which has caused an incision of' the streams even below the Coosa level. The Coosa 1\li'fa.ce mi!;ht oo rrelate with the Somerville surface of the folded Appalachians, which likewise is to be found only in the least resistant rock strata.
Within the present cycle, the portions of the Cumberland Plateau in Georgia, Sand Mountain and Lookout Jlounta.in, are submaturely dissected. the dissection becoming deeper and more conspicuous near the escarpments, where streams have cut great "gulfs" into the rim of the plateau segments.
DRAINAGE Drainage in this area is, in general, of a. trellis pattern. This

6

pattern i~ more conspicuously developed along the anticlines than on the synclinal areas, probably due to the fact that more formations of varying resistance are exposed along the flanks of the anticlines, and also because the synclines, especially Sand Mountain, are more plateau-like in character.
The larger part of Sand :Mountain in Georgia is drained to the north-

west by Cole City Creek and its tributaries ~nich empty into the Tennessee River at Shellmound. The southwestern portions of Sand liiountain are drained toward the southwest by Higdon Creek and its tributaries. A dendritic drain-

age pattern shows up well on this plateau, the only indications of structure

being that the Ill2.jority of the streams drain away from the rim., the e:xc~ptions

being, of course, ~ere streams have cut head~~rd into the escarpments.

East of s~~d Mountain, in the anticlinal area of Lookout Creek, the

major drainage is longitudinal, the master stream being Lookout Creek, a sub-

l

:sequent stream which flows parallel to and east of the axis toward the north-

I

I

I

east to empty into the Tennessee.River near Chattanooga.

I
j

The headwaters of Lookout Creek are to be found southeast of Fox

Mountain, where barbed tributaries indicate headward extension through the gap between Fox Mountain and Lookout Mountain with capture of the streams

I

draining Johnson's Crook, resulting in &. reversal of these latter streams

l

I

WhiCh formerly flowed to the southwest. The westernmost branch of the head-

waters of Lookout Creek rise in Deerhead Cove, west of Fox Mountain.

From the vicinity of Fox Mountain, Lookout Creek flows northeast-

ward along the eastern site of the anticlines~ largely along and near the base of the Fort Payne chert, ~ich rises well above it in the form of monoclinal

ridges. Many tributaries enter Lookout Creek from directions at right englea

to the main stre&Jn and transverse to the structures. Some of these tributary

1
systems are well developed, rising on the west side of the anticlines., being in pe.rt longi.tudinal and in part transverse and thus enhancing the trellislike m ture of the drainage. Tributaries of this kind are from south to north respectively, Crawfish Creek, Turner Branch, Town Creek., Squirrel Town Creek, and Pope Creek. The latter two have their headwaters in the escarpment of Sand Mountain end flow across tr.e anticlinal axis to enter Lookout Creek. The larger tributaries enterinb Lookout Creek from the east are Rurric~ne Creek, draininc Joh11son's Crook, and Sitton Branch, draining Sitton Gulf and having headwaters covering extensive areas of Lookout Mountain.
In this portion of th9 area., many mnall streams, and even whole segments of stream systems are without visible outlets. These drain into sinkholes developed in the Bangpr limestone.
On Lookout Mountain, the drsinage of the great najority of streams is toward the interior, the upturned rim of Pottsville sandstone allowing only the few integrated main streams to drain off the mountain. The master stream here is Rock Creek which flar~ northeastward for several miles before leaving the mountain via. Lula Falls and McCallie Gap. This strean has numerous trib utaries entering from both! the southwest and northeast. The _pa. ttern of these streams has more of a dendritic character, although the master stream carries out the longitudinal regional pattern.
\.
The exceptions to the interior drainage on Lookout Mountain in thia are& are the head?~ters of Sitton Branch mentioned previouslys Gulf Creek and its tributaries which flow southwest into Johnson's Crook; and many other smaller streams as yet incomplete in headward erosion, which leave the rim of the mountain through small, inconspicuous gaps.
East of Lookout Mountain, in the anticlinal Chattanooga Valley, the

>
'i'! "



< ~

f,

Jl ' I , ' !'

,u ,,':.

8

trellis pattern is maintained, with longitudinal subsequents flowing northeastward and picking up tributaries which dra.in from both Lookout Mountain on the west ard from Pigeon Mountain on the east.
Figure 2. View east from Lookout Mountain across Chattanooga Valley toward Pigeon .Mountain. Folded Appalachians in the background. S T R A T I GR A P HY
The rocks exposed in this area are wholly sedimentary, ranging in age from Ordovician to Pennsylvanian, the former exposed in the axes of the anticlinal folds, and the latter in the synclinal areas. Altogether there are approximately 7500 feet of sedimentary beds (See Table 1).
ORDOVICIAN SYSTEM During the course of the field ~rk for this report there was not enough time available for a detailed examination of the Ordovician strata in

9

TABLE I. ERA.
PENNSYLVANIA MISSISSIPPIAN
DEVONIAN SILURIAN
ORDOVICIAN
CAMBRIAN

CORRELATION CHART

SERIES

GROUP Pottsville

CID~BERLAND
FLATEAU
-
Pottsville Fm.
1838'

FOLDED
APPALA.Ch~ANS

Chesterian IO'W'B.n
Cayugan Niagaran Alexandrian Cincinnatian
Champlainian Canadian

Chester Maramec

Pennington Sh.
h. :c:::::_ 405 t

~

Floyd Shale

=-- Bangor Ls. ;;z

422 1

'"""C; ~

Osage Kinderhook

Fort Payne Chert 276'

Fort Payne Chert

.

Rockmart Slate

1_ Chattanooga Sh ._ Chattanooga Sh;_ 20 1

Armuchee Chert

u. Ca~~an
Salina Lockport Clinton
Medina

Red Mountain Fm. Red Mountain Fm. 1100'

Richmond Maysville Eden
Mohawk

- Sequatchie Fm-- -sequatchie F,my--
Maysville
.,.----- Trenton
Lowville

Chazy Canadian

Lenoir-Murfreesboro
Newala

Tellico-Athens Newal&

Knox Dolomite

Knox Dolomite

- - - .. -.. ~---

--

10 this area, so that the detailed stratiraphic column stops at the contact between the Red Mountain formation and the Chicka1'18.uga limestone. The divisions of the Ordovician in this area are the Chickamauga limestone at the top, and the Knox dolomite below, both of which oontain representatives of more than one stratigraphic unit. The age of the Knox is both Ordovician and Cambrian,
Figure 3. Chickamauga limestone exposed at Wildwood Station
along u.s. Highway 11.
while the Chiokamau~ limestone contains zones ranging from Canadian to Cincin natia.n in age. The two formations together make up some 3500 feet of strata. In both Alabama and Tennessee these have been subdivided into more convenient units, while in this portion of Georgia there appears to be an interfingering of the unite of both the a f orementioned sta t es. Thus, a significant stratigraphic: study coul d be 1~ade of the OrdovicieL be ds of nort hwest Ge orf,ia.

11
SILL'RIAN SYSTEM
Red MOuntain For.matioD
The Red Mountain formation of Silurian age crops out regularly on both flanks of Lookout Mountain, and on the eazt flank of Sand Mountain, dipping in under both of those structural features. The belt of outcrop completely surrounds the Lookout Valley anticline, and also that portion of the Wills Creek anticline Which extends into Johnson's Crook. It is at this latter place, in the vicinity of Rising Fawn, that herr~t1te was once mined. The Red Mountain formation also crops out on both flanks of Pigeon Mountain, but pinches out to the northeast, as a result of erosion, which has beveled the syncline pitching southwestward in this area.
The Red Mountain formation was named by E. A. Smith in 1876, from its exposures in Alabama where it crops out in the ridges near Birmingham. Ulrich and Butts (1) have shawn that the Red Mountain forirS.tion contains beds of both late Medina and Clinton ages. This is also true in the area under discussion, but lithologically the Red MOuntain formation is a single, welldefined unite
The Silurian system in Georbia consists of from 600 to 1000 feet of ~ery fine-grained, variegated shales, with interbedded limestone, flaggy

12

sandstone and intercalated henatite layers. The follol'.'ing sections of the Si-

luria.n were measured in tM.s area:

Red MOuntain formation, measured downward from the contact with the Chattanooga shale1 starting at a point 0.6 miles northwest of Cooper Heights, and proceeding along the highway toward the southeast
to the base of the Silurian, located 0.2 miles northwest of Cooper Heights.

Thick'less in feet

Contact with Chattanooga Shale

22. Interbedded sandstone and light variegated shale.

Sandstone brownish to light gray in color# in

beds up to 10 inches thick separated by dark

gray to light gray-green shales in thinly-

bedded layers. Eight inches of sandstone at

base. Contain many stringers of limonite.

Sparsely fossiliferous.

11 1"

21. Light gray-green fissile shale, thin-bedded and

crumbly# with streaks of limonite and occasional

thicker beds of sandstone. Unfossiliferous for

most part, althou&h fossils 50' below top:

Phaenopora ensifo~is Hall, Anoplotheca

herr.ispherica (Sowerby). Procteria alabamense Butts 1

Ca.ma.rotoechia sr.

68

20. Interbedded olive-green sandstone &nd shale in

regular layers, beco.t1ing more sandy toward the

bottom, with thicker ant.:'. more conspicuous sand-:;one beds

stone beds. Shale very sandy in thin crumbly

layers. Sandstone in beds up to 6" thick,

stained with lirr.~nite. Unfossiliferous.

65

Variegated sandy shales. Dpper portion liGht

olive-green to redc.ish-brown and tan in color

with occasional layers of darker olive green

sandstone. Beds thin a_nd very regular, stained

with hematite in places. Sparsely fossiliferous,

but a few specimens of Pentame~Js oblongus

Sowerbl found 25 feet below top

60

18. Hematite layer

8"

17. Olive-green shales and sandstor.e in thin layers

22

16. Hematite layer 15. Olive-green shales and sandstone in thin 1 e.yers

6" 3

i
t

14. Hematite layer 1:5. Olive-green sandy shale, color varying frorr. li::;ht

5"

r

to dark. Beds thin and rebUlar, stained with

r

hematite in places. Ten feet below top were

I
i

found: Cornulites sp., Dictyonema gracilis Hall,

!

Fenestella elebans Hall, Leptaena rhomboidalis

"{WiiCkens), Procteria alaba.n.ense Butts_, and

crinoid remains

66

l
1.

13

Thickness in feet

12. Lens of hematite, 24" thick at its widest part,

wedging out in either direction, a total

length of 12 feet

2

11. Light grayish-green sandy shale we&tthering reddish,

thin-bedded

4

10. Hematite layer

6"

9. Olive~reen sandstone in beds up to 4 inches thick,

w.i th very even layers. Procteria alabamense Butts

numerous
a. Dark red hematite layer

15 4"

7 Thin-bedded, dark olive- green fissile shale,

containing a thin hematite layer

16

6. Covered interval

100

6. Buff to tan, sandy shales and sandstone, soft and

earthy, in regular beds, weathering to a reddish

color, unfossiliferous

1,56

4. Covered interval

133

3 Buff to tan sandy shale and sandstone, w.i th soft

earthy red shales interbedded. unfossiliferous

81

2. Red and buff, arenaceous shale wjth occasional

harder sandy layers

50

1. Covered for 1200 feet, beds dip 12. Contact with

OrdOvician not visible, but can. be located

approximately. Missing about

200

Total

1053

Red Mountain formation, measured d~~rd from contact with Chattanooga shale along highway through Dug Gap in Pigeon Mountain, and continued northwestward along the railroad
tracks to contact with Chattanooga shale.
Contact with Chattanooga Shale 15. Thinly-bedded green to bro~n earthy shaleG, with
somewhat thicker bedded sandstone layers of the same color. Underlies the Chattanooga shale with no apparent unconformity. Prooteria al abl!Illense Butts_ present in large numbers
14. Covered interval 13. Brownish, thin-bedded, fissile shale 12. Hematite layer, soft 11. Bro~nish, thin~bedded, fissile shale 10. Hematite layer, hard
9. Shale, as above, containing many specimens of Dalma.nella elej;;an~ula_Jpalman)
a. HeDB.tite layer, hard

78
350 45 6" 6" 34 4" 4"
4 4"

14

Thickness in feet

7. Brownish, thin-bedded, fissile shale containing

four lenses of hematite with~n 29 feet of the

base

77

6. Sandstone, cross-bedded and in part flaggy, with

fossils scattered sparsely throughout

28 8"

5. Hematite layer, hard

1 4"

4. Light grs.y to brown, thinly laminated fissile and

crumbly shales, interbedded with thin, knobbly

layers of brownish to grayish sandstone,

becomint; more sandy toward the top. Lower

portions contain many fossils, including

Sowerbyella tr~sversal~~ (Wahlenber&)

Dalmanella elegantula 1Dalman;;-Eospirifer S.?

Strophonella striata-~11, Platvstrophia cf.--

P. d!l:tonensis Foerste, Le;ptaena rhomboidalis

TWilekens), Entero~ geometricum Foerste

175

3. Very thinly laminated, buff to gray to reddish

fissile shale, crumbly and broken by many

fractures. This bed located at railroad

trestle. Unfossiliferous.

115

2. Dense. quartzitio sandstone beds, gray and

fine-grained, ascending into flaggy, thin-

bedded, brov.nish sandstones. Intercalations

of thin-bedded shaly layers. SoD!e layers

very fossiliferous. Twenty feet below top

l

were found Strophonella striata Hall,

!

Orthis flabellites Foerste, CamirofOechia

cf C. neglecta Hall, aildStricklandin:ia"

tri_p}-esi~_!__?erste.

---

83

1. 'l'hinly laminated, reddish brown to red, soft

earthy shale containing fossilsJ weathers to

a softer plastic mass. Grades up-ward into a

redder shale of the same character

55

Total

1044 O"

The following section was taken on the east flank of Sand Mountain about

8 miles west of the section at Cooper Heights&

Red Mountain formation, measured downward from contact with Chattanooga shale along road frcm
Slygo Church to MorbB.nville. Section begins 1 mile wast of Morganville and continues to a point .6 miles west of that town, where the contact with Ordovician limestones is seen.

Thickness in feet

Contact ~th Chattanooga Shale

15.

Covered reddis

and h-br

bad o.,'ll

l

y wea shale

twheitrhedo.eeaL.soiw~ _e_r_ ,po".r.'-"..'t.cieon~..a.u.._-_

gray- sh.e.ie

240

15
14. Reddish-brown~ thin-bedded shale, '11\d. th occasional thin bands of limestone
13. Interbedded gray limestone and yellowish-brown thinly laminated shale. Limestone layers up '00 3 inches thick, with shale interca.lations up to 1 foot. Shalier toward top
12. Thinly laminated greenish-gray shale 11. Thick-bedded, medium gray limestone, replete
with bryozoans 10. Irregularly bedded, knobbly, thick and thin-
bedded, interbedded limestone and shale 9. Ledge of impure mottled lirrestone
a. Thin-bedded, sandy limestone and interbedded
greenish-gray shale 7 Ledge of liB. s s i ve gray dolomite 6. Greenish to brownish sandy shale. Some layers
replete with fossils. Occasional limestone layers 5. Ledge of impure limestone, very fossiliferous containing layers of hard hematite, 2 to 3 inches in thickness 4. Covered 3. Massive, light gray, medium grained limestone and dolomite. Some layers very fossiliferous, the rest sparsely so. Becon:es thinner-bedded toward the top with some shal y partings 2. Yellowish to reddi sh-bro-.m., thinly laminated, earthy shale 1. Interbedded limestone and shale, nth the limestone being in the greater proportion. Limestone, light gray, medium-grained, with bryozoans. Shale, a yellowish-brown, earthy, very thinly laminated, unfossiliferous series of intercalations between the limy layers
Total

Thickness in feet
66
67 10 10"
6 6" 19 8"
2 9" 4 4" 2 8"
25 3"
2
13
35 46 4"
69
6101 411

A comparison of these stratigraphic sections indicates that the Red ~untain formation changes character and thickness to some extent between the east and west -.rgins of this area. There is a decrease in: thickness from about 1000 feet on the east. side of Lookout :Mountain to about 600 feet on the east s:ide of Sand Mountain. In addition, althougn the shales are of much the same character

16
in both localities, there is a somewhat higher pr_oportion of' limy beds in those sections near Sand Mour..tain. Hayes (7), in the Stevenson. Folio, indicates that this thinning continues ~estward, reporting that the Red ~ountain (Rockwood) formation is only 22.5 feet thick in Brown's Valley, which lies west of Sand .Mountain.
The fossils as indicated in the above sections show that the upper portion of this for;mation is equivalent to the Clinton, with such typical Clinton forms as Anoplotheca hemispherica, Dictyonema gracilis, Fenestella ele[ans, and Pentamerus oblohgus. Procteria alabamense is a peculiar coral-like form which Butts (1) reports in great numbers in the upper portion of thi formation in
' ...
Alabama. These are also preser~t in Georgia. In thh. part of Georgia, Penta.meru.~ oblongus is apparently not present in such t;reat nurr.bers as in the adjacent states. and no horizons corresponding to the "Hickory Nut Seam" of Alabama were seen. The lower portion of the Red ltountain formation contains such diagnostic forms as Orthis flabellites, Strickls.ndinia triplesiana a.11.d others which are typieal of the Brassfield and v:hich show the lower Silurian age of that part of this series of beds.
DEYOlHAN OR MISSISSIPPH.N SYSTEM
Cr~ttanooga Shale The Cblttanooga shale, na.lned by Hayes fer us exposures near Ch.attanooga, Tennessee, ever.~ere lies above the Rec Mountain forrrLation and below the Fort Payne chert. It is a. very fine-g;rained, black, cartonaceous shale which

' I

l'l

has been broken by many fractures along which slipping has occurred resulting

in innumerable slickensided surraces, which enhance the shiny appearance of

the shale. The Chattanooga shale in this area ranges from 15 to 20 feet in

thickness. contains no fossils, except in the upper portion~ and is so homoge-

neous in appearance and so uniform J.n position as to make one of the best

horizon markers of the whole region.

The following section occurs in a road cut on the highway to Cooper

Heights, 0.6 miles northwest of that locality~

Chattanooga Shale

Thickness

Contact ~th Fort Payne Chert

in feet

2. Thin-bedded, grayish-green, very fine-grained earthy

shale. Hard and compact. Sparsely fossiliferous,

containing very small forms of Lin~a melie Hall.

There is an abrupt change in color and lithology

between this and the black Shales beneath

5

1. Very black, carbonaceous, fine-grained shale, hard

and compact. Upper one foot, light chocolate brown

in color, the remainder black. Shows slickensided

surfaces, and much minute crumbling within the

beds. Rests without break on light gray, thin

bedded shales of Silurian age. Unfossiliferous

10

311

Total

15

The black shales (Bed 1) are the typical Chattanooga shales, while the uppermost, lighter strata (Bed 2) correspond to the :Maury glauconitic member of the Ridgetop shale, which ~uld place its age as basal ~ssissippian. This is borne out by the presence of Lingula melie, a form which occura in the Waverly group of Ohio of Mississippian age. According to Safford and Killebrew,

~f~'.~. ;,.~.,....->'><0'-~"'"'"'''';~.~~~-"'''

'

''' .~~ ~>.-

.-~ ' ''

..-,c..,~-',_,,,'::'.,.,

""-\

.,,.,

<'"~,

18 the Maury shale overlies the Chattanooga shale unconformably in Tennessee. and the Chattanooga is Devonian in age. Quite possibly these same relations may hold in Georgia. but since the black shales of the Chattanooga are unfossiliferous. no new light can be thrown on the subject in this area.
Figure 4. Base of the Fort Payne chert, underlain by Maury shale and Chattanooga shale View looking northeast of highway to Cooper Heights


19

MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM

Fort Payne Chert

The Fort Payne chert, one of the dominant ridge makers of this area,

.nioh is found cropping out around the flanks of the anticlines throu~out the

Sand-Lookout Mountain area, takes its name from the type locality near Fort Payne,

Alabama. where it was first named by

E. A. Smith in 1890. The formation was

later restricted by Butts, and the name

Fort Payne chert now refers to s t rata

of pre-Warsaw a 6e which are underlain

by the Chattanooga shale. According to

Butts and Ulrich, the Fort Payne chert

contains fossils of Keokuk, lower

Burlington, and Fern Glen, all of the

Osage group, and of late Kinderhook age,

thus placing the formation in the lower

part of the Mississippian system.

The Fort Payne chert throughout the

area is of uniform character, consisting

of massive beds of limest one and cherty

limestone, weathering and breaking down

Figure s. Fort Payne chert on the
road to Rising Fawn.

into a blocky and hackly mass. The lower port i on is more cherty than the upper

portion, and in almost all exposures,

the lower portions are best preserved, the upper parts havin g wea t hered into a

20

red soil, contai~ing angular blocks of chert, with nodules and concretions of

silica, thus givinl rise to a distinctive belt of soils by which the Fort Payne

chert can be traced.

Because of the weathering of the upper portions, accurate determinations

of tl:ickncss ccr.;l d not be made directly1 but fro.m observations in a number of

localities, it was determined that the Fort Payne chert va.r'J...es from 200 to

275 feet in trickness, and. is apparently quite uniform in this thickness and

in character throughout all oarts of the area.

The following section shows the general character of the Fort Payne

chert:

Fort Payne chert, measur~d downward from contact

with Bangor limestone 2.65 miles N60E of Rising

Fawn, and proceeding along the highway to the
lower contact with the Chattanooga shale, 2.46
~iles N700g of Rising Fawn.
;. Sha1y and cherty beds, with many silica concretions; upper contact with Bangor limestone not observable. Uppermost beds badly weathered, approximately
2. Upper portion covered. Thick ledges of mas:::i ve limestone, brownish gray in color, containing nodules and lentils of chert, with a few small crinoid stems.
1. Thick and thin bedded, cherty limestone and

Thickriess

in feet

I

i

l

I

r:.

60

I

I

1

50

l r
1

dolomite. Beds irregular and knobbly with

nodules, irregular lenses ~~d beds of chert.

'

C~ert ranges in color from black through dark gray to white. In part cavernous with vuge of calcite and quartz. Weat..'l1ers to an iron brown color. Sparsely fossiliferous,

f
I
I
I

a few crinoid stems of large size being

l

common. Becomes shaly toward top and is more conspicuously weathered.

166

I '

Total

276

j,

I

Other localities where the Fort Payne chert was observed show the same

I

i i

general character as given above. Although great numbers of fossils have been

reported from the Fort Payne chert in other areas, they were quite scarce

21 in this part of Georgia, with the exception of the very large crinoid stems which are reported to be eo typical of the Fort Payne chert. At Dug Gap, where the highway crosses Pigeon Mountain, such crinoid stems were found in large numbers together with fragments of a large spirifer, identified as Spirifer logani Hall, which is typical of this portion of the Mississippian.
Bangor Limestone The Bangor limestone was named by E. A. Smith from its development at Bangor, Alabama. In its original usage it included all rocks of Mississippian age lying above the Fort Payne chert. It has been restricted by Butts (1) to the limestones lying above the Hartselle sandstone (above the Fort Payne in Georgia) and below the Pennington shales. The Bangor limestone as thus res~ricted belongs almost wholly to the Chester group. An early name for the Bangor limestone was the "Mountain limestone", since it may be seen cropping out in the flanks of the mountain ridges in this area, and the Bangor by itself holds up some of the ridge& where the Potta~lle is missing. Thus, it may be seen c~opping out in the lower portions of Lookout Mountain and Sand Mountain, forming the steep escarpment fro~ the base of these mountains almost to the top. The Bangor limestone is massive in character, with beds of heavy, compact
limestone up to ; or 4 feet in thickness, with the exception of some shaly
beds near the top. It is quite fossiliferous throughout, containing fossils of Chester age. The thickness varies from somewhat over 400 feet in the latitude of Rising Fawn and Trenton to some 700 feet in the northeastern end of Lookout Mountain, the changes in thickness being apparently at the expense of the overlying Pennington shales.


22

Figure 6. Corals in Bangor limestone, 115 feet below top. Exposed along highway to Cooper Heights.

The following sections of the Bangor limestone were obtained at the

localities indicated:

Bangor limestone, measured downward fro~ contact with the Pennington shale on road to Rising Fawn. Upper contact 1.1 miles Sl8 Wof New Salem Church.

Thickness i n feet

4. Ledge of oolitic limestone, hard, pompact, with

medium gray color. Contains crinoid fragments.

No good contact with Pennington observable

here.

8

~. Limestone ledges interbedded with shales

24

2. Greenish to greenish gray, fine grained, soft

plastic shales in very thin layers. Sparsely

fossiliferous, containing ostracods and very

minute brachiopods.

78

1. Massive, thick bedded, gray limestone, medium

grained with thin bedded shaly partings.

Some layers contain abundant fossils, as at

18 feet above base, with Campophyllum

gasperenee Butts, Zaphrentis spinulosa

Edwards and Haime, Archimedes swallovanus

Hall, and Fenestella spp.; 70 feet above the

base is a layer replete with corals such as

mentioned above.

Total

23

Bangor limestone, measured downward from contact with Pennington shales, on IUad to Cooper Heights, 2.44 miles S 81 W of Cooper Heights. Contact somewhat obscured, but Bangor and Pennington conformable, vnth sharp lithologic break.

Thickness in feet

14. Very massive, gray limestone, medium-grained,

in heavy irregular layers. Some layers

fine-grained and compact. F<>rty feet below

top occurs Zaphrentis spinulosa Edwards and

Haime, together v.i th a type of coral which

seems rather closely related to Campophyllum 1

gasperense Butts. The bottom layer is very

fossiliferous, containing corals as mentioned

above, Pentremites pyramidatus Ulrich, P.

okawensis Weller, and numerous crinoid

frAgments. -

60

Very thinly laminated, gray fissile shale.

Fine-grained and containing only minute

fossils.

35

12. Massive, gray crinoidal limestone

4

11. Thinly laminated, gray fissile shale

4

10. 1~ssive, gray crinoidal limestone

3

9. Thinly laminated, gray fissile shale

3

s. Massive, gray limestone containing large corals

in abundance: Zaphrentis spinulosa Edwards

and Ha.ime, Campophyllum aff e C. gasf>erense

Butts, Pentremites hamba.chi Ulrich, P. okawensis

Weller, Archimedes spp., Fenestella spp.

4

I

7. Shale, thinly laminated and fissile

3

I

6. Massive, gray limestone; upper beds slabby and covered with a mass of bryozoans. Some interbedded shale in Ufpermost layers. Contains

I.

crinoid frabiDents, Fenestella serratula Ulrich,

i
f!

F. tenax Ulrich, Archimedes communis Ulrich,

I

A. swallo~anus-Hall, Archimedes sp., Polypora sp.,

t

Pentremites platybasis Weller.

6

~hinly larninated 1 gray fissile shale

2

Massive, crinoidal limestone, showing solution

features. Contains great numbers of corals of

large size and also blastoids of h_rge size.

Campophyllum gasperense Butts.

35

Interbedded. lobbly limestone, weathering to

rounded, concretion-like forms, with thin-bedded

gray shale. Unf.ossiliferous.

12

Massive, gray 1i:re stone, very fine-grained and

dark gray in color. Corals as above.

23

Massive, coarse-grained, light gray limestone, with

occasional crinoidal layers.

20

Total

214

'"':~~~.......-~~-- ... ~--~-'

.... ----./:~. ., ;,~-

., ..,, . . . .. . . ~:"'. '~-~~--4_ .1>~, - ~.~.... _.;. ,.,,_,j. ,, ,,_! ~~-:'l .., .. ,><:d~ ~~~. -' -~\:.-,,~.) --'~-~- ~ ... ...,_>;.... ,.,

24
The section as just given is incomplete. Below the end of the section there is a covered interval, after w~ach there is a repetition of the Pennington shales. The Bangor limestone reappears farther down the highway. The section has been broken by faulting, causing the beds to be repeated. The total thickness he~, however, does 1:1ot seem to differ greatly from the thickness as seen on the road to Ri.sing Fawn.
At the northeastern md of Lookout Mounte.in in Ten.l"!.essee, a measured . I
thickness of 574 feet was found, with the top of the section missing, so that in that locality the total thickness must be on the order of 600 feet or more, the Pennington apparently having been thinned in that direction. The fossils obtained were of the same type and ch'lraeter as given in the sections above. At the base of the section in Tennessee were obtained Pentremites hambachi Ulrich, P. godoni (DeFrance), Archimedes swallovanus Hall, Comnosita ct. 0. trinuclea(Hall), and Diaphragmus elegans (Norwood and Pratten).
The Bangor linestone is characterized by abundant specimens of Archimedes, Pentremitee, and corals, but although it constitutes a rather definite lithological unit, the faunas indicate that it contains a number of horizons which are equivalent to unite defined elsewhere. In Georgia, further work is ne~essary to define these horizons properly, but tentatively it might be suggested that the following is true.
The uppermost limestone beda 1 constituting the highest 65-75 feet is a~parently the Glen Dean equivalent, and contain a an assemblage typical of that. Immediately underlying this limestone are greenish shaly beds, which are sparsely fossiliferous, but which appear in position to be partly equivalent to the Golconda shale. Butta (1) mentions that the Golcanda is characterized by innumerable species of Archimedes, which is true of the limestone immediately below the shale, so that possibly the shale plus a portion of the limestone is

25 to be correlated ~ith the Golconda. In part this is confirmed by work on microfossils from the shaly beds, which shows that this horizon is below the Glen Dean* although their equivalence with the Golconda has not been conclusively shown.
From shale beds in Cooper Gap were collected the following: Oycloceras sp., Edmondia sp., Orthoceras sp., Spiriferina spinosa (Norwood end Pratten), Polyj>ora sp separated raC!ial plates of Pentremites obesus Lyon, a blastoid of ver,y large size. Although this locality has not been placed definitely in the section, it apparently is near the top of the Bangor, and seems to be a..11other indication of the equivalence of that portion of the Bangor to the Bolconda.
In the lower portions of the Bangor, the presence of Campophyllum gacperense is good evidence of its equivalence to the Gasper of Alabama and Tennessee. In Georgia, this is the lowermost horizon of the Bangor, and follows immediately above the Fort Payne chert.
In Tennessee, at the northeastern end of Lookout Mountain, the presence trt the St. Louie limestone horizon between the Gasper and the Fort Payne, is indicated by Lithostrotion proliferum, Spirifer leidyi, and Spirifer keokuk.
*linkler, Virgil, Personal Communication
::I
,,
'I'I
il

26

Pennington Shale

The Pennington shale of late Chester age, was named by Campbell for

Pennington Gap 1 Virginia, where it is 1025 feet thick. In Alabama and in Georgia, it rests upon the Bangor limestone and is overlain by the Pottavi lle

formation of Pennsylvanian age. In this area, it is co-extensive with the

Bangor limestone, although varie.ble in thickness. It consist'" of variegated

shales with occasional layers of sandstone and limestone. It is extremely

fossiliferous, belng characterized by great numbers of fenestellid bryozoans

and brachiopods. The following sections will give the most characteristic

features of this formation.

Pennington formation measured downward from contact with the Pottsville formation on the road to Rising Fawn. Upper contact 1.1 miles Sll 0 E of New Salem C"~rch. Contact with Pottsville not good.

Thickness in feet

14. Interbedded sandstone and shale. Shales

greenish gray in color; sandstone brownish,

in irregular lens-like beds. Ascends into

predominantly greenish-gray shale.

21

1;. Earthy greenish gray shale, weathering brown

with black stains. Crumbly. Some sandy

layers. Upper three feet a brick red shale,

which is characteristic of the Pennington.

Unfossiliferous.

78

12. Irregular, thick and thin bedded s~~dstone in

lenses. Cross bedded. Medium grained,

reddish bro~n color.

18

11. Thin bedded, brown shale, splitting into fine

slivers, and weathering dark brown. Some

black staining between the layers. Some

sandy layers. Unfossiliferoue.

48

10. Covered interval.

22

9. Greenish gray fissile shale, thin bedded,

splits into thin slivers. Unfossiliferous.

26

8. Brownish to greenish gray fissile shale.

16

7. Brick red shale

2

6. Covered interval

9

5. Dark, brick red shale. Very soft and earthy,

stained with black.

217

4. Dark, dirty greenish-gray shale, fissile, weathering to small fragments. Contains several species of Fenestella, Diaphramus elegans (Norwood and PrattenJ, Polypora sp.
3. Cdvered interval 2. Yellowish brown, muddy shale. Soft and plastic.
Very fossiliferous with Fenestella ~' Fenestella tenax Ulrich, Aviculopecten spp., Cycloceras sp._, Orbiculoidea sp., Spirifer increbescene Hall, Orthotetes kaskaskiensis McChesne , Diaphragmus elegans (Norwood and Pratten 1. Yellowis"h-'brown, muddy shales. Only occasional
outcrops of this bed, with no g> od contact between it and the Bangor below.
Total

Thickness in feet
29 7
36 90 405

Fi~re 7.

Corltact between shale at the base of the Pottsville (Gixzard), and the Pennington shale, exposed along road to Trenton, View looking east.

28

Pennington 'ormation, measured do;mward :from contact. with Pottsville formation on highway to Cooper Heights. Upper contact located on highway near the rim of Lookout Mountain, 2.8 miles S7l0 I of Cooper Heights.
1;. Thinly laminated grayish green shale to
brownish shale. Overlain by Pottsville shales with no conspicuous break. Unfoasiliferoue. 12. Thinly laminated light gray shales. 11. Brownish gray shale in thin beds. 10. Irregular and lens-like, massive sandstone, interbedded with shale of the same character as above. 9. Grayish green to brown sandy shales with
several layers (up to 4 feet) of red earthy
shale. Occasional lenses of sandstone. Unfosailiferoue. 8. Interbedded sandy shale and sandstone, resting
with discordance upon Bed 7.
7 Massive, irregular and lena-shaped beds of heavy compact sandstone, with interbedded shale layers. Shaly layers contain limonite. Sandstone in part conglomeratic with quartz pebbles and with fragments of Bed 6 near base.
6. Thinly laminated green to gray fiaaiie shales,
with occasional thicker beds of sandy shale. Descends into olive green shales. 5. Thin and thick bedded buff' to greenish gray sandy shales and sandstone in beds up to six inches thick. Unf'ossiliferoua.
4. 'l'hinly,bedded, red earthy shales.
;. Greenish gray, earthy shales. Contains numerous fossils, with Fenestella tenax Ulrich, Fenestella ~~ Polypora sp., Diaphragmus elegans (Norwood and Pratten), Spirifer increbescena Hall.
2. Red shale, thinly bedded and earthy. 1. Covered interval with occasional exposures of
greenish gray, thin bedded shales interbedded 'l'ith red earthy shales. Maintains same attitude to the Bangor limestone, whare there is a sharp and conformable contact.
Total

Thickness in feet
12 10 8 15
15 - 2!f 10 15"
15 25"
20 15
28
75
6
194
418 - 42)811

The Pennington shales are of this same character throughout the area, although the.y apparently thin out northward, being probably not much more than 200 (?) teet thick at the northeastern ene1 of Lookout liiountain.

29
Figure e. Discordance in the sandstones at the top of
the Pennington formation, exposed on highway to Cooper Heights. View looking west. The contained foesils and the position of the Pennington i'b rma.tion show that it is upper Chester in age. It is in part equivalent to the Floyd shale which lies to the eastward, end the presence of the shaly Pennington beds in this area probably represent a shoaling of the seas toward the end of the IU,ssissippian period. The Floya shale also represe11ts the shoreward shaly facies of the Bene;or limestone, with which it intertongues.

30
PE ~NSYLV&~I~~ SYSTEM
Pottsville Format ion In 1892, Hayes (5) divided the Pottsville of Tennessee and Georgia into two formations, the Lookout sandstone, which rests upon the Bangor limestone (the Pennington) 1 and the Walden sand stone which lies above the Lookout sandstone, both named for exposures in and around Lookout li.iountain and ialden Ridge. The top member of the Lookout sandstone was named the Sewanee conglomera~e, and this member marked the division between the two formations. Investigations in the Lookout Mountain area of Georgia indicate that the strata of the Pottsville are extremely irregular in character, varying from shale to sand to conglomerate in short distances. It is seen, furthermore

Figure 9.

Top of the shaly member at the base of the Pottsville, overlain by massive sandstone.
Small coal seam li e s between the two Exposed on road to Trenton. View looking east.

31

the.t there is no continuous stratum of conglomerate which might be differentiated

aa the Sewanee conglomerate, and hence there is no good dividing horizon

between t he Lookout sandstone below and the Walden sandstone above. It is

proposed, therefore, to consider all of t he variable beds above the Pennington

shales as a unit--the Pottsville

formation. Any subdivisions will apply

only locally, and will lead only to

confusion in attempts at correlation.

'l'he Pottsville formation ia the

uppermost rock unit of the Lookout-Sand

Mountain area, and only a portion of it

is present, so that the section is

incomplete upward. It is to be found

making up the summits of both Lookout

and Sand Mountains, and owing to the

synclinal structure, the highest portions

of the formation are to be found in the

central parte of these mountain masses.

The escarpments of the mountains are

ordinarily made up of the more resistant

l<'i g;ure 10. Falls at Lula Lak e
with exposure of the Pottsville sandstone. View looking north across upper part of McCalliee Gap.

Pottsville sandstone and conglomerates, although the amount exposed varies greatly from place to place, in some areas only the rim is composed of these

rock strata, while in others, the Potts-

ville extends far down the escarpment. Where &ctive streams have cut back into

the rime of the mountains, the synclinal structure causes the Pottsville to

32

appear near the base of the cliffs so formed.

Throughout, the Pottsville is extremely variable in character, consisting

of lenses of cross-bedded, massive aandstore; thin, ela.bby sandstone and shales;

beds of conglomerate which are developed oniy locally where white quartz

pebbles have been introduced into the coarser sandstone of the formation. These

beds are continental in origin and contain no fossils other than those of

plants. Coal beds are common in the upper portions of the formation, where

several seams are thick enough to be worked commercially. Small lenses of

coal are scattered throughout the Pottsville, however. In most of the localities examined, a. group of shale beds is rather persistent at the base of the

Pottsville. This shale seams to correspond to the Gizzard shale of Nelson, as

defined b Tennessee. It is variable in thickness and in character, and may

or may not have a coal seam at the top.

The longest continuous section of the Pottsville is that which starts at

the coal mining area at Durham, where the higheDt stratigraphic point is the

summit of Round Mountab. The section may be continued downward for a

distance of about nine miles along the railroad spur which leaves the mountain

via McCalliee Gap. This section follows:

Pottsville formation, measured downward from Round Mountain at the Durham coal mines, and proceeding northeastward ~ong the railroad spur to a point in the rim of the mountain just below McCallies
Ge.p.
;a. Sandstone, coarse grained, massive, and white
in color. ~7. Shale, arenaceous ;6. Sandstone, massive, white. ~5. Shale, gray at base, ascending into shaly
sandstcne
~. Coal, "A seam
~~. Shaly sandstone ~. Thick and thin bedded, irregular sandstone, white
to pink in color, with gradual tnL~sition to bed above.

Thickness in feet
40
50
40
65
1 6" 12
50

33
;1. Coal, Durham Seam Marker
;o. Thick and thin bedded, irregular and cross
bedded sandstone, with occasional massive lenses. White to pink in oolor.
29. Coal, Durham Seam
28. Underclay, gray in color, with numerous plant remains
27. Coal, Durham Seam. Beds 27 and 29 together
constitute a double seam, which have been named the Durham Seam.
26. Underclay, gray in color, with numerous plant
remains. 25. Thick and thin bedded, irregular and sometimes
flaggy sandstone, white in color, but weathering brown. Cross bedded. 24. Shaly sandstone in thin beds
2;. Thin bedded sandstone, with transition to above.
22. Ledges of massive white to gray sandstone, weathering brown
21. Very thin bedded, gray to brownish gray, fissile shale
20. Coal, Number 4 Seam 19. Underclay, gray in color with numerous plant
remains. 18. Thick and thin bedded white sandstone, ascending
into thicker and more massive layers. These layers change laterally into thinner beds. On the whole very irregular. 17. Very thinly laminated white sandstone
16. White sandstone in thick beds
15. White, thin bedded sandstone
14. Thin bedded sandy shale 1;. Shale, brown to tan, very thinly laminated
12. Thin bedded sandy shale 11. Cross bedded white sandstone, stained brown, in
irregular beds up to 4 inches thick
10. Thinly laminated, erose bedded white sandstone, undulating very gently. Sandstone in part conglomeratic with white quartz p~bbles. Disintegrates into white sand
9. Coal seam 8. Pink to white sandstone, thinly laminated and
cross bedded
1 Coal, smutty and impure
6. Massive white sandstone, cross bedded in
irregular beds ~. Massive white sandstone in beds up to 1 foot thick 4. Thick and thin bedded, brownish gray sandstone,
weathering brown, ascending into thin bedded shales

Thickness in feet 8"

56
1

en

2

2
101
;1
15 12 20
2

1;0
;o ;o
20
10
90 27

100
1
;o
2
277 20
180

34

Thickness

in feet

~. Shale, brownish, fissile, and weathering to

rounded concretion-like forma.

60

2. Massive sandstone, white in color, weathering

brown

150

1. Lower portions of sandstone missing and also the

basal shales. From other sections and from the

relation to the Pennington below, it is estimated

that there are about 140 feet missing here. Se~ other sections for the character of these

~

lowermost beds.

140

1.:

Total

1838 4"

The following section shows the character of the basal portions of the

Pottsville formation. This section is incomplete, but continues upward as

one proceeds toward the center of the mountain.

Pottsville formation, measured downward to contact with Pennington shale, starting just above the rim of the mountain on the road to Trenton, at a point about 2.1 miles Nl2W of New Salem School.

Thickness in feet

9. Massive, cross bedded, white, medium grained

sandstone

33

8. Brownish gray sandstone in beds ranging from

) to 4 inches thick. Very irregular and

lenticular. Medium grained, containing much

carbonaceous matter and plant impressions.

Crose bedded. Beds whit& to light gray in

color. Unfossiliferous.

78

7 Massive, white to light gray sandstone in beds

up to 3 feet thick. Beds lenticular, containing

locally beds of conglomerate. Sm~ll coal seams

a few inches thick, and a few feet in length

intercalated in the sandstone layers.

30

6. Conglomerate. Massive beds containing great

uumbers of white quartz pebbles. Pebbles for
the most part of small size (up to t inch in

diameter) with a matrix of coarse grained sand.

Contains many cavities, some of wr~ch are

limonitized. At the base a sandstone lens
separated from the conglomerate by a 6 inch

~:\
t

layer of coal. Carbonaceous matter may be

1

seen throughout the conglomerate.

21

5. Coal Seam, variable in thickness, but rather

persistent at this horizon

2

35

Thickness

in feet

4. Massive, medium gray sandstone, almost quartzitic

in character. Very dense and fine grained, in

beds up to 2 feet thick. In part cross bedded.

Heavy ledges of almost white quartzite predominate

near bottom. Toward the top, sandy shale beds

become intercalated into the section, and are

l

separated by heavy sandstone layers ) Sandy shale, somewhat thicker bedded than Bed 1
below, being up to 1 inch in thickness. Brownish

46 8"

gray to tan in color; beds very regular in

character. Shalier toward top.

18

2. Ledge of greenish gray shaly sandstone containing

fragments of carbonaceous matter

1 6'1

1. Greenish gray to brownish gray fissile shales,

weathering to a dark brown color. Neathered

surface is rounded. Broken by innumerable

fractures. Very fine grained with an earthy

luster.

59 611

Total Contact with Pennington shale is sharp, showing
abrupt change in lithology and character. Beds
1 to 4 above seem to correspond to Nelson's
Gizzard shale. (See Figure 9)

287 8"

The corresponding section was measured on the opposite side of Lookout

Mountain. This follows:

I
Pottsville formation, basal portion, measured

downward to contact with Pennington shale, starting

just above the rim of the mountain on the road to

Cooper Heights, at a point about 2.8 miles S71j

Thickness

of Cooper Heights.

in feet

6. Covered interval, with intermittent outcrops

of massive, white, cross bedded sandstone.

Occurs just west of turn on rim of mountain.

)00

5. Smutty coal seam

2

4. White to gray sandstone lenses up to 1 foot

thick, interbedded with sandy shales

16

~. Shale, dark and carbonaceous, with thin coal

iayer near top, and occasional interbedded

sandstone layers

9

2. Heavy white sandstone, massive at base, and

becoming thinner bedded toward top. White

to brownish in color

6

1. Gray to brown shale, weathering to rounded

forms. Shale fissile, thin-bedded, and broken

by innumerable fractures Shows sharp

contact with underlying Pennington shale.

80

Total

41S

;l1t :,},.."'..Cc!'"J:..Hf~~l'l

~f,'j.;:~'"<" ,;'~~.~~''"'".~ t 'l-~'-~,

> ,\.~,~ _ , . ,

''1\..,,..._,~ ~ ,.-<f.""

.....JL&!&&3 '

I-<

~

f"".{:{_~.J/1';~,~.-.l'lk~+' ..;-,o ~ . '.. < ,L ; ',~,;".!

The variable charac~er of the Pottsville formation is indicated by the sections as given. This formation contains no animal remains. but it does contain large numbers of fossilized plant remains. In general. these were most numerous in the underclays found together with the coal seams. Among the genera. represented were Calamites. Lepidodendron and others with the same character as those found in the Pottsville in other areas.
The Pottsville section is incomplete. and there are no representatives of any higher systems. so that these rock strata comprise the youngest rocks of this area.
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE
The geo logioal structure of the Lookout-Sand Mount a in a rea, in general consists of quite symmetrical folds which trend in a direction N 30 E. and which pitch generally in this area to the southwest. so that the structure when combined with erosion has given rise to zig-zag ridges. vtlich are so characteristic of Appe.la:chia.n structures. Nort.'lwestward 1 the folds become less pronounced, and Sand Mountain has more of a plateau-like character. Erosion has resulted in a reversal of topography and at the present time. the mountain areas are underlain by the synclinal structures, vb ile the valleys and lowlands are underlain by the anticlines.
From west to east in this area the following major structures may be noted a Sand lrtountain occupying the whole northwestern corner of the area; Lookout Valley anticline, narrow and closed at both ends. and extending from the Alabama line to the Tennesaee boundary; Lookout Mountain, synclinal in character, extending from 'Chattanooga. Tennessee, well into Alabama. in a southwesterly di-

37
rection. Near the southern part of the area, Lookout Mountain splits, becoming a double ridge, each one of these maintaining the synclinal form. On the west, Fox Mountain represents the southwestern extension of the Lookout Mountain ridge. On the east, Lookout Mountain proper continues in the same direction. In between, heading into Johnson's Crook, lies the northeasternmost extension of the Wills Creek anticline of Alabama, a. structure of remarkable length and continuity. East of Lookout Mountain is the anticlinal area of Chattanooga Creek, bordered on the east by Pigeon Mountain. This anticline pinches out southwestward in Mclamore Cove, a feature analogous to Johnson's Crook. Lastly, Pigeon Mountain, a full description of ~nich is not given in this report, is synclinal in structure, tapering out and finally disappearing to the northeastward. Still farther east are the prominent folds and thrusts of the folded Appalachians.
SAND lo10t11'"TAIN
Sand Mountain~ the broad northeastward extension of Walden Ridge of Alabama, is underlain by rocks that ere broadly synclinal in o:hara.cter, the structure being most pronounced near the edges, and so inconspicuous in the interior portions as to be essentially flat-lying. Thus, in its dissection, the belts of outcrop of the rock strata tend to follow more or less closely the contours of the topography. The Pottsville formation constitutes the upper portion of the plateau, the Bangor and Pennington formations being exposed only in the floors of the deeper valleys, such as Nickajack Cove and Castle Rock Gulf. Along the southeastern side, where the Bangor and Pennington formations are tilted upward, they form more prominent outcrops, and northeast of Slygo Cove, these formations underlie the whole broad area, with the excet~tion of Tatum and k.'lurphy Mountains. Along this portion . of Sand Mountain, dips are toward the northwest. ranging from go to 1"7o, and flattening rather rapidly as one approaches the interior parts of the mountain.

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36
LOOKOUT CREEK ANTICLINE Southeast of Sand Mountain, and flanking it for its entire length in
I
Georgia, is the Lookout Creek anticline, some three and one-half miles wide between the escarpments of t he flanking mountain masses, and some 17 miles long in its exposed portions in Georgia. It extends several miles farther into Alabama before finally closing off, and also extends northeastward into Tennessee for
some distance. The axis of this anticline coincides almost ~xn ctly with u. s.
Highway No. 11 throughout most of its length, but there is some divergence at either end. Exposed in the axial portions of this structure are strata of Ordovician age. but none older than Chickamauga may be seen. Adjacent to the Alabama and Tennessee boundaries, Silurian rocks extend completely across the axis. indicating a closure at both ends.

Figure 11

View southeast from Sand Mountain toward Fox Mountain. Johnson's Crook in distance. Valley in foreground shows the breached Lookout Creek anticline, with strata arranged concentrically. The line of low hills underlain by Fort Payne chert may be followed all the way around the closed
southwest end of this structure. Central portions of anticline contain Silurian and Ordovician strata.

39

The dip of the beds away from the axis varies within rather broad

limits, but in general, the average dip is 12 on both sides, or 1100 feet per

The mile.

structure is symmetrical and is flanked regularly by Silurian and

Mississippian strata.

YHLIB CREEK .ANTICLINE One of the most prominent structural features of Alabama is the Wills Creek anticline, lying between Walden Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and extending in a northeasterly direction for some 80 miles, the northeastern end reaching into Geor&La for a distance of 5 or 6 miles and heading into Johnson's Crook, a deep indentation of Lookout Mountain on the west side This anticline is separated from the Lookout Creek anticline by the southwesterly extension of Lookout Mountain and Fox Mountain, both of which are underlain by the Pottsville formation, and both of which -have a synclinal form. Between the tv,ro there is a sa,ddle in >minh Bangor limestone is exposed throughout; this is the gap through which flow the headwaters of Lookout Creek. This anticline i::: similar to the Lookout Creek anticline, in that the succession of beds a?.'8.Y from the axis is perfectly regular. The nose of the anticline, howe;rer, near the head of Johnson's Crook appears to be constricted later-
ally, so that the Yd.dth here i::: less than it is farther to the southwest. Dips
are on the same order of nagni tude as in the oase of the previously discussed anticline, eJ. though a number of anomalous C.ips were observed on Silurian strata - this is believed to be the result of purely loce~ folding: in the softer Red Mountain forwation. Dips in general ra.nbe from 10 to 13,with the averaE;e being nearer th; upper li:rr.it; the directions vary from northwest to east in passing around the end of the structure.
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40
LOOKOUT J>..:OUNTAIN
Lookout Mountain, the most prominent landnass in this area, hls the fonn of an elongated basin, striking N 30 E. It's prominence is assurect by the heavy beds of the Pottsville fornation that constitute the center and the rim of the syncline. The structure is, in general, pitching toward the southwest, so that
Figure 12. View north along Sitton's Gulf toward Lookout Valley and Sand Mountain, showing prominent western escarpment of Lookout Mountain and exposures of the Pottsville formation.
more of the Pottsville formation is pre served in tha:t portion, with the higpest point stratigraphically being Round Mountain in the vicinity of Durham. In the region of Johnson's Crook, dips are northeastv~rd, showing a closing of the basin at that end. Althou~ dips throughout the mountain area vary widely in both direction and magnii;ude, they do, in general, g:ive the picture of a basin ldth its center close to Durham.
The dips tend to be hit;hest near the rim of the mountain, f1 attening out as one approaches the interior. Dips alon~ both the eastern and western margins are

1: 1:

41

I

!

close to an average of 20 , whereas, in the central portions of the syncline, the

dips, which are more variable in direction, average on the order of 5 to 10 de~rees.

I

The axis of this synCline parallels in direction the axes of the other

I

structures already noted, namely N 30 E; the axis pitching in a southwesterly di-

I

rection, such that the syncline becomes broader in going southwestward. The

l

!

pitch here is on the order of 133 feet per mile, or about one wmd one-half degrees.

CHATTANOOGA CREEK ANTICLINE

Lookout Mountain is flanked on the east by another anticline, of which

only a small portion is included in the area under discussion. This anticline

is of the same symmetrical character as those previously discussed, but is very

much broader at its northeastern end, and exposes the Knox dolomite along the

axial portions. This anticline pitches southwestward, and as a result it becomes

narrower in that direction, finally nosing out in MoLamore Cove, where it is sur-

mounted on the one side by Lookout Mountain, and on the other by Pigeon M:luntain,

an offshuot of the Lookout Mountain syncline. The belts of outcrop of bot~ the

Lookout and Pieeon Mountain synclines end the Chattanooga anticline have the

characteristically zig-zag appearance of the ridges and valleys of the folded Ap

pa.lachians, and it is even more pronounced in this part of the area than in the

t:
!

area west of Lookout Mountain.

ji:i

E!

STRUCTURE ON EAST SIDE OF LOOKOUT ~OUNTAIN On the east flank of Lookout l'lountain, and exposed along the road outa
of the highway to Cooper Heights, is a local structure that apparently has involved
faulting of a tensional character. In the upper part of the mountain the Bangor limestone may be seen in its normal position, dipping inward toward the synclinal axia. At the base of the :roountain, large exposures of this formation are again

42
to be seen. with low dips, but lower in elevat5.on than would be expected. Between these two exposures, both Bangor and Pennington may be seen, with dips ranging from 80 t 0 vert ica.lly.
Figure 13. Vertical beds of Bangor limestone exposed along hiGhway to Cooper Hei&hts. View
along strike (N 18 E).
Although thrust-faulting is a. regional habit in this portion of the Appa.la.chia.ns, it is not unlikely th&t relaxation of regional compression may be followed by readjustments of a te!1sional character, giving rise to normal faults. It is thou~:;ht that in this part of Lookout Mountain, two or more faults mve developed along which slippa&e of the slump type, with rotational movements, bas caused the displacement downward of the strata, with sufficient rotation to give rise to the high dips noted. The displacement is probably on the order of a few hundred feet, apparently dying out in either direction. since no evidence of mov~tents of this type were to be seen in exposures on either side of that looality.

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COAL OUTCROPS, DURHAM AREA LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA

asDzs'

2 Scale in Miles

44
ECONOMIC PRODUCTS
COAL Coal in this area has b~en mined continuously at one locality.or another since a number of years before the Civil ~ar, the first producing area being at Castle Rock and in the vicinity of Cole City, both areas being now abandoned except for purely local operations The area divides itself naturally into two coal producing areas~ that of Lookout Mountain \\here operations are on a compara.ti vely lar~ scale~ and that of Sand Mountain where small scale mining is the rule.
Lookout Mountain Area In the vicini~y of Round Mountain in this area, outcrops of coal were worked to a very limited extent prior to the Civil War1 anu utilized locally. It was not until 1891, however, that intensive mining operations began to be carried out. The building of the railroad Sfur in to Durham aided these activities, and from 1892 to the present the mines have been in continuous operation, at the present time being leased by the Durham Land Company. At the turn of the century the mines were producing about 1000 tons per day, but this has now fallen off to a few hundred tons a month. Originally, a large part of the coal was converted to coke in ovens at nearby Chickamauga, but these coke ovens have now fallen into disuse, and the coal is shipped as mined. At the present time, these mines at Durham are the largest active coal mines in the area. Within the Pottsville for:na tion in this area are nine to ten coal seama varying from 4 to 30 inches in thickness. In addition to ~~ese, there are innumerable smaller lenses and seamlets of coal which are more local in character and distinctly less persistent than the larger ones. Workable sea'B.s, unlike those

45

in the Sand Mountain area. tend to be concentrated near the top of the Pottsville formation (See Stratigraphy), and hence are to be found cropping_, out chiefly in the vicinity of Rotmd Mountain and Durham, which is the central portion of the basin containing the higner strata o~ the Pottsville (See map for outcrop area~ of coal seal!ll).
At Durham, the producing sea.n~s are three in number: Number Four Seam; the Durh~ seam, a double seam about 180 feet higper stratigraphically; and the "A" Se~, some 120 feet stratigraphically above the Durhatn Seam. These are all exposed in the Durham region, and crop out concentrically with Round Mountain as a center. The follo1'ring is the generalized section of that area:

"A" Seam Shale and Sandstone
Durham Seam Marker Sandstone
Durham Seam end middleman
Shale and Sandstone Number Four Seam
Shale and Sandstone Coal
Sandstone Coal
Sl"..ale and Sandstone Shale (Giztard)

1' 62'
56 1
5' 181'
2' 477 1
1' 30'
2' 687 1 140'

Totd

1645'

6" 8" 2"
---
411

The Durham See.m, averaging 24 inches in thickness, is a type of coal similar to Pocahontas, and in the past, this seam has furn5shed the bulk of the production, wi.th the result that e.t the present time, it is le.rt;ely exhausted.
NUl!lber F'our Seam, e.l:o ut 180 feet below the Durhe.n.. see.m, averat;ing, 17 to 18 inches in thickness, has a hiJ:l value for cokin& and industrial purposes. This seam is reported to underlie some 6000 acres, e.,ivin& a possible reserve of

46
9 1 600 1 000 tons.* This. tog;ether with the sz::aller "A" SeamJI 120 feet above the Durham Seam, v.uuld see:rn to assure res<-rves well into the future at the present rate of production. The latter seam has just recently been opened in a nu:rnber of places, and future production 1':ill conte largely from these two seams
The following; is an analysis of the coal from Nurr:ber Four Seamt *
toisture 1.10 Volatile Matter 22.00 Fixed Carbon 75.25 Ash 1.65 Sulphur .77
100.77
B. T. u. per pound 15.550
The main openings for the mines at Durham are in Walker County, on Lots 314 and 316 of the loth District, and Lot 10 of the 11th District. Scattered through the area are a number of smaller openings, either abandoned, or used as exploratory holes.
Sand Mountain Area The history of coal mining on Sand Mountain antedates that of Lookout Mountain, this area containint; Castle Reck end Cole City, two are-as, which, together with several others, v.-ere the sites of the first large scale mining enterprises in this area. These la rc;e mines have been abandoned for sone years. but Sand Mountain is still an area of ever-increased rr~ning on a small scale. the individual enterprises contributing to a srowing total annual coal production. The coal of Sand Mountain is contained largely in the so-called Lower Coal Measures, or the Lookout Sandstone aE ~med by C. W. Hayes in 1892, f~r exposures on Lookout Mountain. As on Lookout Mountain. it consists of a variegated
*From Durham Land Company prospectus.

47

series of shales. sandstone and conglomerates, 300 to 400 feet in thickness. It is overlain by the Walden sandstone. a similar series of somewhat greater thickness, the greater portion of which is to be found on Lookout Mountain, where it contains the workable coal serur.s. On Sand Mountain, only a small thickness of these upper Coal Measures are to be found.
Contained ~~thin the lower Pottsville in Sand Mountain are four coal seams, three of which have been mined in the past, and which seem to offer commercial possibilities for the future. These ere: The Etna (Castle Rock or Raccoon) Seam; the Dade Seam; and the Rattlesnake Seam Below these occur a fourth seam, the Red Ash, which has not been worked to any greet extent. In a general way, these seams occupy the following positions with respect to the Pottsville formation:

Etna Seam

18 - 28"

Shales and Sandstone

1 - 40 1

Dade Seam

20 - 60"

Shales and Sandstone

30 - 75'

Rattlesnake Seam

15 - 30"

Shales and Sandstone

30 - 60 1

Red Ash Seam

8 - 12"

Shale (Gizr.erd)

100 - 150'

(Penning,ton Shale - Mississ:i.ppian)

The thicknesses of sandstone or shale which occur between tue coal seams vary rather widely from place to place, while at the same time, the thickness of the coal seams is just as variable. Around Nickajack Gulf and the interior por-
'
tions of the mountain, the coal seams lie almost flat and crop out in the bluffs in belts of outcrop that tend to parallel the contours. This would make mining operations comparatively easy, since the drifts and entries would lie in a horizontal plane Only toward the eastern margin of 1'and Mountain d(l the coal seams become inclined, with a dip toward the northwest at moderate angles.
Inasmuch as the coal seams on Lookout ],;ount&in and the coal seams on

48

Sand Mountain occur in different portions of the same series of strata. it is. of course. evident that they are not correlative. Certain coal seams near the base of the Pottsville w:>uld appear to be equivalent in both mountains. but there is no evidence other than stratigraphic position. The problems of correlation in the Pottsville are evident from the heterogeneity of the sections; the only sure way of correlating the coal seams beint; to walk them out from locality to locality, an impossible procedure between the two mountains.
From about 1870 to the period 1905 to 1910. a considerable quantity of coal was removed from the Sand Mountain area under lar6e scale operations. All of the mines operated during this period are now abandoned and if used at all are worked only on a minor scale. Since the abandonment of these mines, however. many individuals have opened new and smaller openings or have cleaned out olcer exploratory entries 1n order to remove small quantities of coal v.hich is placed on the market in nearby Chattanooga. The aggregate tonnaE,e obtained by these operations is small. but it is an industry which could be encouraged and there are still untouched resources of coal in sufficient quantity so that annual production from this area could be &reatly increased, to the advantabe not only of the coal miners but to the State
The fbllo~ing are the mines originally worked on a large scale, but now lying idlet

Castle Rock M.ines Raccoon !.:lines Cole City A~ines Parker Mines New South Wales Mine Battlesnake Mines Ferndale I:.:ines Slope 12ir.e Old Dade kine

Lot 43, District 19 Lot 37. f.istrict 19 Lot 47 I Ij strict 19 Lot 48, l'istrict 19 Lot 74, District 19 Lot 72, I:istrict lC
Lot '-"", '.!:'"" i-:1 strict 19
Lot 54, District 19 Lot 69, Iistrict 19

The l.&st named mine has been worked somewhat in the past few years, with

49

the removal of a few tons of coal from the pillars. The seam worked here is the Dade Seam, which is about 30 to 40 inches in thickr.ess. An analysis of the coal from this seam shows the follmdnt;, Hansard ( 3):

:Moi !rture Ash .. Volatiles Fixed Carton

2.04 18.99 20.11 58.86

Total 1oo.oo

B. T. u.

12,353

It is extremely difficult to determir_e the arr.ount ')f test coal that has

been removed from these workings, since no statistics covering this area alone exist

for the years follo;'li.ng 1891, and none prior to 1884. From 1884 to 1891, the tonnages

removed were as follows, McCallie (9)&

Year

Short Tons

1884 1585 1886

.. ..e ..e ..e ..e ..e ..e .. ..e ......e ..e ..I ..........

1887 1888 1889 1890 1891

............................................................................

150,000 150,000 223,000 313,715 180,000 225,9"34 225,337 171,000

Total 1,638,986 At tre present t1me, a great many smaller openings are to be found scattered through the San(i Mountain area, some or them made at the se..me time that the older mines were. operating, as exploration drifts, others recently opened up by the occupants of the area in e..n attempt to :rr..a.ke coal mininc; pay dividends At the present time, there is a certain small activity in mining the coal, amounting to only a few hundred tons per month. These smaller active and inactive openin~s are as follows&

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Etna Se8l!l.
Lot

17, District 19

56

19

36

10

35

10

36

10)

37

10)

71

19

75

10

4 openings, 2 working 1 opening, collapsed 1 opening, new and working 1 opening, new and '00 rking
3 openings, 110 rking
2 openings, inactive 1 opening, worked sporadically

Dade Seam Lot

17, District 19

56

19

55

19

71

19

74

19

1 opening, inactive 1 opening, inactive 2 openings new and working 3 openings, inactive
worked in 1940

Rattlesnake Seam

Lot 17, Dis triot 19

26

19

1 opening, inactive 1 opening, collapsed

Unidentified

Lot 181, District 10

124

19

139

19

140

19

1 opening, inactive (Dade?) 1 opening, inactive (Dade?) 2 openings, 1 being opened, and
1 abandoned 2 openings. abandoned (Rattlesna.ke?)

For futther ana more complete inforrre.tion Vvi th regard to these individual mines and properties, the reader is referred to McCallie (9) and Sullivan (14).
There are, as is seen, four principal coal seams in this ar~a, only two of which are worked to any extent at the present time. These four seams aggregate 8 feet 5 inches in average thickness.
The area where the coal is best developed 1s that portion of Sand Mountain that lies north of the latitude of Trenton, a total area of about 30 square miles, deducting the gulfs formed by Cole City Creek and its tributa.r1es (See Map for distribution and outcrop belts of the coal seams). Of this area, the Dade Seam ~.ppa.rently underlies all, while the Etna, Rattlesnake, and Red Ash, in workable quantities, being very conservative, underlies only half. Using the average thickness of these

61

seams, and the areas given, the total amount of coal for each seam is as follows&

Seam
Etna Seam Dade Seam Rattlesnake Seam Red Ash Seam

Short Tons
29,275,000 100,360,000
41,625,000 16,725,000

Total

This bives a total tonnage for Sand Mountain of 188,185,000 short tons. From this must be deducted that coal already mined in the operations from 1880 to 1907, for Which only partial fisures are available. Durin~ the period 1884 to 1891, 1,6381 986 tons were removed from these mines. Using this figure, plus twice as muoh more to estimate roughly and safely for the 19 years without record, would mean that possibly 41 6391 000 tons had already been removed, thus leaving as a workable reserve in this area, a tonnage amounting to 183,546,000 short tons

Figure 14.

Coal Opening on Lot 55, District 19. Thirtythree inches of coal reay be seen to left. This is typical of the individual coal mines operating in the Sand Mountain area.

62
No figures are available on the annual production of coal in this area, but from conversations with the operators, which may be overly optimistic, production in 1940'appeared to be possibly 4000 tons. Some of the mines have been worked only intermittently, and some nave closed down since 1940, al~hough other new ones have opened up since that time, so that production for 1941, if the newly opened mines reached their ezpected peak, would have amounted to between 4000 and 5000 tons. This to~6e coald be greatly increased if the o~ners or lessees could be encouraged by having assured rrarkets without too great costs.
CLAYS .ASSOCIATED V'i'ITH COAL ,.......
In connection ~~th the coal seams ~ithin the Pottsville formation and coextensive with these seams are layers of clay, usually occurring below the coal, but in some instances overlying the coal seam. They may be seen in all localities where the coal is exposed. This clay ranges in thickness from 2 to 4 feet, and in general is rather plastic, light gray to tan, fine-grained clay, which usually contains varying amounts of carboni%ed plant fossils.
Up until naw, no use has been made of these clays. It appears, however, that such clays will b~ to buff color, such as would be suitable to the manufacture of face brick or glazed tile of that color. Bricks such as this sell for $40. to $45. !ler 1000 and v.ould warrant careful consideration of this clay for that purpose. In addition to the use for brick manufacturing, this clay could probably be utilized for a variety of other purposes, either with or without the addition of other ingredients.
The development of a use for the clays associated with the coal seams of Dade and Walker counties vo uld serve the additional purpose of furthering the coal
~
~

55

industry. inasmuch as large quantities of clay are now handled to no av!dl in opening drifts into the coal semas. All of this clay is now disc9rded, but with the development of a use for it, the miner could take out both th~ aoa.l and the clay, which will not only g;i. ve-'him &reater working space vd thin the mine, but would mutually lower the cost of removing these t~~ products, and would aasure the miner larger profits.
As in the use of coal, the clay could very easily be transported from the mines by truck. Since there are no brick manufacturing plants in the area, this clay would have to be taken to Chattanooga or to other parts of north Georgia for processing, unless a brick plant cou~d l1e established in the area.

Thus, these clays represent a hitherto undeveloped mineral resource which offers excellent opportunities for further advancement in the mineral industries of Georgia.
Several samples of underclays from Dade County, collected by the writer, were examined and reported upon by W. Carey Hansard, Ceramic Engineer. Mr. Hansard finds that their colors, total shrinkages and water-absorptions indicate that their greatest heat range is around Cone 1 - 5 (2000 to 2200 deErees F.).
These clays seem to possess suitable properties for structural products and possibly for pottery wares such as buff brick, glaxed brick, hollow tile, glazed structural tile, floor and wall tile ( t;l azed and unglazed), art pottery (vases .. pots, specialties, etc.), jugs, churns and stone~are.
The rich buff colors of these clays, when fired. to normal ceramic heats plus their hard, smooth and plP-asing textures. would add to the market value of the manufactured products. 'fhese clays have r::,ood plasticity and~ since they pulverize rather easily, they are not difficult to prepare for use.
The followinG table (Table 2) represents a preliminary report by Mr. Hansard upon four s~ples of underclays from this district.*

----- ---- -- - - - - - - - - ~ *R-ep-o- rt - su- bm-i- tte-d-to-- th- e - D- iv- isi- on-- of-~ines,

-- .
Mining and

Geology,

June,

1942

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CERAMIC FEATURES OF IDrDER-CLAYS FROM DADE roun'Y

TABLE 2

Da. L - la Da. X - 21

W. Jl. Lo:f'ty s.nd CJE. rl es Ford property
L. L. 17 Diste 19 Below Coal Seam. Knight proper~. L. L. 71 6 Dist. 19.
Opening 9

Sample No.

Dae L- 1

Da. X- e

Description: Dry color Texture
DRY PROPERTIES: Plasticity and working properties
Water of plasticity Dry Limar
Shrillkage FIRED PROPERTIES t
1900 F. (Cone 06) Total Linear
Shrinkage
Water absorption Color Structure
2000 F.JCone l) Total Linear
Shr.inkage Water absorption
Color Structure
GLAZING PROPERTIES

Medium gray; So:me hard lumps Coal particles present

Light tan; Soft. readily pulverized

Fair 21.2%

Good

Disrupted on firing, d"~Le to high coal content

10.6%

Gray-tan
e e

Buff
Good strength. nice
smooth surfacetexture

..............
..............
Buff
..............
...............

17 .. 0%
4.1% Rich, buff-tan Steel-hard, very smooth
surface texture Good. Several colora tried.

55 CERAMIC FEATURES OF UNDER-CLAYS FROM DADE COUFrlr

TABLE 2

Da. X - 3: Da. X - 4a
(Cont.)

W. M. Lofty and Cha rle.s Ford property
L. L. 17, Dist. l9. Above the coal.
Side of road through Mag;sby Gap, between
two thin coal seams; 2 miles S 70 W
of Trenton.

Sample No.

Da. X - 3

Da. X- 4

Description2 Dry color Texture

Gray-tan Hardest of 4 sarr.plesJ pulverhes well.

Tan-gray; Fairly soft

DRY ffiOPERTIES:

Plasticity and working properties

Fair

Excellent

Water of plasticity

22.4%

Dry Linear Shrinkage

FIRED PROPERTIES:

19Q0 F. (Cone 05)
Total Linear Shrinkage

Water absorption

20.0%

Color

Light buff

Medium buff

Structure

Fair strength; Good texture

Fair strengthJ C--ood texture

2000 F. (Cone 1)
Total Linear Shrinkage

12.0%

Water absorption

Color

.Medium buff

Deep buff

Structure

Steel-hard, smooth Steel-hard, smooth

surface texture

surface texture

GLAZING PROPERTIESa

Good. Several colora tried

Good. Several colora tried

.Ed .:s

&dJ &

au:

A

m

1

56
IRON ORE
Several beds of red hematite are contained within the Red Mountain formation, which is equivalent to the Clinton formation of Silurian age. In this area, the thickness of the individual beds is variable, although in most of the localities there is an average thickness of 3 feet. At the old mines east of Rising Fawn, the thickness approaches 8 feet.
The outcrop of these iron ores is very extensive, paralleling that of the Red Mountain formation, and it completely encircles the Lookout Valley anticline, as well as the Wills Creek anticline. The Rising Fawn area is located within the latter structure in Johnson's Crook.
The iron ore occurs as both soft hematite and as hard hematite, the strata consisting almost entirely of replaced shells of animals, hence the earlier name, "fossil iron ore." These beds are contained within the soft1 vari-colored, thin-bedded shales of the Red .Mountain fonua.tion, which in this area ranges from 600 to 1000 feet in thickness.
Conditions for mining this hematite are, in general, favorable, the drainage being good, and the ore generally dipping at low angles, so that in many instances stripping operations can be carried on. The small thickness of the ore beds, however, in the larger part of the area, would detract from the cor mercial possibilities of this ore in many localities Previous investigations by McCallje (10) have located beds of ore where thickness, quality of ore and accessicility justify mining operations.
In Walker County, the red hematite is mined in small quantities for use as pigment in paint. This use could be applied to Dade County ore as well. An additional use Which has been suggested recently is that the hematite could also be used as a pigment in the manufacture of bricks v;here clays do not carry sufficient iron to be of satisfactory color.

....------------------------~~~~- '~~-~-~.
57
This iron ore has been mined to a small extent in a number of places other than ~he Rising Fawn area, although all of them, including, the latter place, are now abandonede For further and fuller information regarding the occurrences and specific localities Where this ore has been mined,. the reader is referred to the Georgia reports on iron ore by Haseltine (4) and McCallie (10).

SLA.G
In conjunction ~~th the iron smelting activities at the Rising Fawn furnace,. a huge pile of slag accumulated. This slag, ar.ounting to several hundreds of thousands of tons is now lying untouched,. except ro~ a small amount which was removed for use as road ballast. It is easily accessible to both the main hi&hway and to the railroad,. The slag is of two typesa (1) A glassy, black type; and (2), a grayish,. stony appearing slag. Although this material has been used so f'ar only as road material and ballast,. it is believed that it may find use in the manufacture of slag wool, or possible use for agricultural purpoases, although early analyses indicate that some portions of' the slag would have no use for the latter
purpose, being low in phosphates. The fo llowin:; is one az:alysis o.r a sa"'lple taken
from this area:

Slag, Sample 420-M, Div. of Mines, Georgia

CaO MgO Al203
Fe203 SiOz p

..........................................................................................

38.41 tr 18.69 2.63 34.30
.0215

Undetermined 3.82

:c------------------------------.:.....11.ij

58 BENTONITE

About 100 to 160 feet below the top of the Trenton limestone in this area

is found a layer of bentonite, ranging in thickness from 1 foot to 10 feet, This

is a light green to 'White, mottled, fine-grained clay, vbich ordinarily my be

used for bleaching purposes.

The bentonite appears in four localities in Dade County. Elsewhere it

I

~s not exposed, but from the relationShips it is apparently a continuous stratum

I

completely encircling the Lookout Creek anticline. It also appea.ra in the north-

east end of Wills Creek anticline which extends into Johnson 1 s Crook, and also

may be found in mny localities in Walker County, east of Lookout Mountain.

In Dade County, the localities where this clay crops out are as follawaa

Road to White Clak Gap, one-half mile west of TrentonJ road out on u. S, 11, one
and one-half miles south of Trenton; on the side road leading west from u. S~ 11,

one Ddle north of Cedar HillJ and in a road cut on U. S. 11~ 0.9 miles north-

east of the Ala.bama state line

The bentonite lies in the midst of unfossiliferous, cherty, light gray

limestone, 'Which in all exposures dips at rather high angles. The high dip and

the small thickness of b~mtonite (average 2 feet) my :n:ake exploitation rather

tmpraotical, but if the demand were great enough these difficulties could be sur-

mounted.

Followinb are analyses of the bentonite from this areas

White CAk Gap Road Johnson's Crook

Loss on ignition 8.51 ..... 12.61 Na20 2.24 ........... 1.~7

K20 2.46 .......... 1.42

............ CaO 4.31 ........ 7.59

llgO tr

tr

Alz O;s ........................ . 18.75 ...........

............ Fe203 3.46

............ Ti~ ..............
............ so~ ....................... .

.28
.oo

15.45 1.94
.27
.oo

~05 .........

.07 &

.12

Si~ ...... 57.01 ..... 59.77

97.09

lOO.M

0

: .

'

,,.,

59

'

Q.UARRY STONE

Flagstone

Flagstone of good quality occurs within the Pottsville fonnation on both

Sand and Lookout Mountains. It consists generally of white to yellow, crqss-bedded

sandstone, ot' thin-be.dded sandstone, which may be separated from one another into

flags ranging from 1 inch to 6 inches in thickness. These flags weather into a

deeper yellow or into a reddish color on the surface. Only several localities

were noted where any use had been rmde of this material, but more detailed work

with flagstone specifically as the objective would no coubt reveal other sites

suitable for the removal of this material.

On Lookout N~untain, the following exposures were seen:

Lot 100, District 11, Northeast corner. A partially quarried, fine-

grained, unfossiliferous, white sandstone, with variegated iron hydroxide marking;s

$.:

along the bedding planes and t'Sn.rough the flags. Evenly bedded, striking N 60 E,

and dipping 8 NW. The strata are in beds varying from one-half inch up to about

4 inches, with an average of between one and one ana one-half inches. Portions of

this exposure are quite soft, but there is a large percentage hard enoubh for flag-

stone purposes.

Lot 66, District 11, East Central part. Cross-bedded sandstones,
striking N 30 E and dipping 18 NW, with an exp~sure of 15 feet above Bear Creek.

Medium-grained, well-cemented, solid tan sandstone, which is quite hard and durable.

Beds are even and regular with individual thicknesses of from one-half to two inches.

Lot 66, District 11, Center, along Bear Creek. Beds exposed along the

stream for a distance of about 20 feet, dippinb 10 to 15 debrees obliquely to the

stream. Two feet of hard, fine-rajned, steel blue to tan flagstone in layers

.one-quarter to one-half inch in thickness. Beds very regular.

60

Lot 66, District 11, West Central part along Bear Creek. Exposure on

side of hill, with a total thickness of 10 to 15 feet exposed. Beds consist of

cross-bedded sandstone varying in dip from 8 to 20 degrees, which are hard and

quartzitic, medium-grained, tan to

brown in color, though stained black

on the bedding surfaces The thick-

ness of the individual beds varies

from one-half to two inches, and

they occur in very smooth and reg-

ule..r layers.

On Sand Mountain, the follow-

ing localities were noteaa

Lot 64, District 19. The flag-

stone on this lot occurs about one-

quarter mile northeast of the Old

Dade Mines. It consists of horizon-

ta.l, well-bedded, though somewhat ir-

regular strata of thin-bedded sand-

Figure 15. Flagstone quarry on Lot 100, District 11, Lookout Mountain

stone. It is a homogeneous, light yellow ~lag, which is very hard and durable. The flaS range in thick-

ness from 1 inch to 3 inches, with

occasional thicker slabs. The weath-

ered surface shows a deeper yellow

color which is spread uniformly over the surfa ce. A portion of this fla g has been

stripped, exp osin~ an area of about 50 to 100 feet, to a depth of 3 or 4 feet. It

is easily accessible by the road which leads to the Old Dade Mines.

6l
Lot 122, District 19. A small quarry is located just off the road, onehalf mile beyond Davis School. The fla~ has been removed in an area 10 to 15 feet wide to a depth of 5 feet. It consists of white to yellow sandstone in 1ayers up to one foot thick. :Many of the slabs are 5 to 6 inches in thickness, ranging downward to one inch. It is hard and durable, regularly bedded, and lies horizontally. The color is chiefly whi~e to light yellow, the surface weathering to a deeper yellow. Some layers have weathered to a brownish-red color. It is easily accessible ~nd a large quantity is obtainable.
Limestone Limestone is present and available in large quantities for quarry purposes. Much of this limestone is cherty and n:agnesian, and would probably be suitable only as crushed stone or ballast material. Some beds are rather pure limestone and ~Ay find use as flux or cement material. The limestone in thi~ area consists of two formations, the lowermost is the Trenton limestone of Ordovieian age, which is found all through the central part of the Lookout Creek anticline, and recurs on the east side of Lookout Mountain, in the flanks OI the anticline of Chattanooga Creek; the uppermost is the Bangor limestone of Mississippian age, vmich occurs on the flanks of both Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain, exposed in its entire thickness of 300 to 500 feet. Trenton Limestone. Since the base of this limestone is not exposed, it is impossible to tell the exact thickness, but it probably is on the order of 300 feet or more thick, The limestone is, in general, a li[ht gray to dark gray, argillaceous and highly calcareous limestone, ~1th occasional layers of cherty and magnesian linestone. The percentage of n:agnesia is generally low, so that

it would be suitable !'or the manufacture of Portland cement. It my also be used

!'or road material and concrete

The limestone is exposed in a long, narrow, elliptically shaped outcrop

in the center of the Lookout Creek anticline, extending !'rom a point near Wild-

wood to Cedar Hill, a distance of about 12 miles along U. S. Highway 11. The beds

are dipping away from the axis of the Lookout Creek anticline, with average dips

of about 12, although higper local dips are noted. A short distance on either

side of the main highway, the Ordovician limestone usually crops out at the base

of a series of low hills, and these areas would probably be more suitable f-or

quarry sites. The limestone could be easily obtained, and accessible

to highway or railroad anywhere in the area, thus, quarries oould be located to

suit the operator's oonveniencee
J
On the east side of Lookout ountain, the Ordovician limestone occupies

I..i

the same relati:ve position with respect to the Chattanooga Creek anticline, and

:!:.t.

crops out all along the east foot of the mountain. One large quarry is located

just north of Cooper Heights, \'here the limestone was removed for building the

highway across Lookout Mountain.

Bangor Limestone. The Bangpr limestone here ranges from 300 to 500

feet in thickness, the thicker portions lying near the Tennessee line. The lime-

stone consists of thick-bedded and Ill9.ssive, pure, magnesian, or aherty limestones,

exposed along 'the flanks of both Sand and Lookout Mountains. This limestone is

useful as roaa mterial and ballast, and has been used as a flux in the smelting

of the red l'sma.tite of that area. The high cherty and magnesian content probably precludes the utilization a.s cement material or the manuf'aoture of lime pro ducts,

I

although some beds are entirely free of these impurities

~
}

AI in the case of the Trenton limestone, quarries for the reoo very ot

l

.. '
i.
;;!'

63
this limestom could be opened at the convenience of the operator. Accessible roads to q.1 arry sites are fewer, and would probably govern t;o a gr~at extent the pesition of the quarries
.A. small quarry is now in existence on the east flank of Lookout Mountain,
just off the new hignway; for the building of Which this stone was used. An-
other site has been abandoned for some years. This is a large quarry located one mile northeast of Rising Fawn on the southern end of the westernmost spur of Lookout Mountain. This quarry was fonnerly used by the Southern Iron and Steel Company in its operations 1.n the Rising Fawn area. The quarry, at the present time, has a face about 500 feet in width and exposes the Bangor limestone to a height of 150 feet. With some improvement of the road leading to it, and cJ.eaning off the quarry floor, this could be nade available for further use. The Bangor limestone here dips at about 10 to the northwest and into the quarry face.
For further information regarding the limestones of this area, the reader is referred to the limestone bulletin by Maynard (11).
Shale The shales of Dad.e and Walker counties consist of the Red Mountain formation of Silurian age, Which occurs between the Trenton limestone and the Fort Payne chertJ the Pennington shales of Mississippian age, which lie directly above the Bangor limestone; and shales which occur in the Pottsville fonnation, tl:e thiokest and :most persistent being at the base of that fb rma.tion. The Chatta
nooga shales at the base of the Mississippian are of slight thickness, but may
have some possible use. For complete information regarding these ::hales, tne
w. reader is referred to the recent work on these materials by R. Smith (12).

64

Limestone Cavern

One mile southwest of Trenton on the road which branches off the White

Oe.k: Gap roa.d to go through Back Valley1 is located the entrance to a limestone cavern. This cavern is near the base of the Bangor formation~ Which is cha.ra.e-

terized throughout this area by the presence of sinkholes and probably great

numbers of connecting fissures.

I

The cavern1 partially explored in the pr-esent survey, runs in a. north-

i

westerly direction for a. short distance. The entrance is low, being about 5 to

6 feet high1 and some 12 to 15 feet wide. ~~er a. distance of 100 feet, the cavern begins to open up where there is a rather large room not far from the

entrance. Tre cavern continues in e. northwesterly direction from this point.

According to the local inhabitants, the cavern runs below Sand Mount aiD for :aany

miles.

This cavern offers some commercial possibilities as an attraction for
tourists, great numbers of ~om pa.se on u. S. Highway 11, a short distance east

of here. It is easily accessible from that highway, thus would necessitate only

a short detour for travelers, a. feature not enjoyed by the other commercially ex-

ploited caverns in the il:nroodiate vicinity.

I
t

615
BI.BLI OGRAPRY
1. Adams, Ge L., Butta, C., et al, Geology of Alabamaa Alabama Gaol. Survey Sp. Rept. 14, 1926.
2 Butts, Charles, lli.ssissippian series of eaatern Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. Survey, 6th ser., vol. 7, 1922.
3. Hansard, W. c., A preliminary survey of certain minerals of North Georgiat
T.V~. - C.W.A. Geological Project 1601. Manuscript in files of Div.
of Mines, Atlanta, Ga.., 1934.
4. Haseltine, R. H., Iron ore deposits of Georg;iu Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 41, 1924.
5. Hayes, C. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Geo1. Atlas, Ringgold folio (No. 2), 1892.
6. Hayes, C. w., U. s. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Chattanooga folio (No. 6),
1894.
7. Hayes, C. w., U. s. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Stevenson folio (No. 19),
1895.
s. Hayes, C. w., Physioraphy of the Chattanooga districtz u. S. Geol.
Survey Nineteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, 1899.
9. McCallie, S. w., Coal deposits of Georgia: Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 12,
1904.
10. KoCellie, s. w., Fossil iron ore deposits of Georgiu Georgia Geol.
Survey Bull. 17, 1908.
11. Maynard, T. Poole, Lim:l stones and cement na terials of North Geor&ta: Georgla Geol. Survey Bull. 27, 1912.
12. Smith, R. w., Shales and brick clays of Georgia: Geore;ia Geol. Survey
Bull. 45, 1931.
13. Spencer, J. w., The Paleozoic group - the geology of ten counties of
Northwest Georgia: Georgia Geo1. Survey, 1893.
14. Sullivan, J. w., Mineral resources of Dade county (Preliminary report)a
Manuscript in files of Div. of Mines, Atlanta, Ga., 1941.
15 ,An occurrence of concretions in the Pottsville of Georciaa Jour. Geology, vol. 50, no. 2, PP 209-212, 1942.

i
I

INDEX

"A" Seam 45 Accessibility 1 Alabama 1, 10, 25, 26, 37 Alexandrian Series 9 Anoplotheca hemispherica (Sowerby)
12, 16
Appalachians, folded 4, 5, 9, -26, 42 Archimedes communis Ulrich 23 Archimedes sp. 23 Archimedes swallovanus Hall 22, 23
24 Area 1 Armuchee Chery 9 Athens formation 9 Avieulopecten sp. 27
Back Ve.lley 64 Ballast 57 Bangor, Alabama 21
Bangor formation 7, 9, .21, 26, 29
38.. 43, 61 , 62 Bentonite 58 Birmingham, Alabama 11 Brassfield 16 Browns Ve.lley 16 Burlington 19 Butts, C~ar1es 3, 11, 16, 19, 21, 24
Calamites sp. 36
Camatotoechia cf. c. neg1ecta Hall
15 Camarotoechia sp. 12 Cambrian System 9 Campophyllum gasperense Butts 22,
23, 25' Canadian Series 9 Castle Rock 44,' 46 Castle Roak Gulf 37 Castle Rock Kina 48 Castle Rock Seam 47 Cayugan Series 9 Cedar Hill 58, 62 Champlainian Series 9 Chattanoo~ Creek 5 37 Chattanooga Creek Anticline 42, 61
62 Chattanooga Shale 9 12, 14, 16,
19, 20, 6Z

Chattanooga, Tennessee 1, 6, 16, 36, 48,

53

Chattanoga Valley 8

Chester Group 9, 21, 29

Chicama.ug;a 45

Chickamauga Limestone lOff, 38

Cincinnatian Se~ies 9, 10

Clinton Group 9, 11, 16, 56

Coal 44ff, 45

Reserves, Lookout Mount a in 46 Reserves, Sand .luourrt a in 51 Coke 44

l
f
I

Cole City 44, 46

!

Cole City Creek 6, 50

Cole City Mines 48

Compcsita cf. C. Trinuclea (F~ll) 24 Cooper Heights 11, 13, 17, 22, 28, 35, 42,
62

I

Coosa Peneplane 5

Cornulites spe 12

Correla:tions 9

Crawfish Creek 7

Cumberland Peneplane 4

Cumberland Plateau 4, 5, 9

Cycloceras sp. 23, 25

t

Dade County 52, 56 Dade Seam 47, 50, 51 Dalmanella eleeantula (DalwAn) 13, 14 Deerhead Cove 6

i
I

Devonian System 9, 16ff

Daiphragmas e1egans (Norwood and Pratten)

20, 23, 28

Dictyonema gracilis Rall 12, 16

Draina.iioe 6

Dug Gap 21

Durham, Georgia 32,

Durham ~nd Company 36

Durham Seam 44

Economic Products 44 Edmonia sp 25 Enterclasma b~ometricum Foerste 13 Eospirifer sp. 13 Etna Seam 46, 47, 49, 50, 51

.
I
J

67

FenestellE. elege.ns Hall 12, 14 Fenestella serratula Ulrich, 24 Fenestella sp., 22, 23, 28 Fenestella tenax Ulrich 23, 27 Ferndale Mine, 48 Fern Glen 20 Flagstone 59ff Floyd Shale 9, 30 Fort Oglethorpe ~uadrangle 1 Fort Payne, Alabama 20 Fort Payne Chert 5, 9, 17, 20ff
20, 21 Fox Mountain 6, 51, 39

Gasper formation 25 Geomorphology 4 Gizzard Shale 33, 36 Glen Dean Horizon 24, 26 Golconda Shale 24, 25 Gulf Creek 7

Harrisburg Peneplane 5
Hartselle Sandstone 21
Hayes, c. W. 1, 4, 16, 30
He:matite 11, 56 Hickory Nut Seam 16 Higdon Creek 6 Hi gh.land Rim Peneplane 5
Hooker Quadrangle 1 Hurricane Creek 7

Introduction 1 Iowan Series 9 Iron Ore 56ff

Johnson's Crook 7, 11, 37, 39, 40 56, 58

Keokuk 19 Kinderhook Group 9, 19
Knox Dolomite 9 10

Lafayette, Georgia 1 Lenoir Formation 9 Lepidodendron spe 36 Leptaena rhamboidalis (Wilckens)
Limestone 61 Limestone Cavern 64 Lingula melie Hall 17 Lithostrotion proliferum 26 Lookout Creek 4, 6, 39

11, 14

Lookout Creek Anticline 11, 36, 39, 57, 61
Lookout Mountain 1, 4, 5, 7, 11, 15, 21, 24, 25, 31, 36, 37, 40, 41, 44, 59
Lookout Sandstone 31, 32, 41, 42, 42
McCallie's Gap 7, 32 McLamore Cove 36, 41 l!B.ury Shale 17 Maynard, T. P. 3, 63 Maysville 9 Medina Group 9 Mera.mec Group 9 Mississippian System 9, 16, 19 Morganville, Georgia 14 Mountain Limestone 21 Murfreesboro Formation 9 Murphy Mountain 37
Newala Formation 9 Niagaran Series 9 Nickajack Cove 37, 47 New Salem Church 22, 26 New Salem School 34 New South Wales Mine 48 Number Four Seam 44, 45, 47
Old Dade Mine 48 Orbiculoidea sp. 27 Ordovician System 9, 8ff Orthis flabellites Foerste 16 Orthotetes kaskaskiensis McChesney 27 Orthocere.s sp. 25 Osage Group 9, 19
Parker Mine 48 Pennington Formation 9, 21, 24, 26ff Pennsylvania Gap, Virginia 2& Pentamerus ob1ongus Sowerby 12, 16 Pennsylvanian System 9, 30 Pentremites godoni (DeFrance) 24 Pentremites hambachi Ulrich 23, 24 Pentremites obesus Lyon 25 Pentramitas okawensis Weller 23 Pentramites platybasis Weller 23 Pentramites pyramidatus Ulrich 23 Phaenopora ensiformis Hall 12 Pigeon Mountain 4, 11, 13, 37 1 42 Platystrophia cf. P. daytonensis
Foerste 14 Polypora sp. 23, 25, 27

-

--

~

'

'

-



' f

-

- <-

..

,

-



':.

'

~ ..

'

.

~ ~ ~' ,

' . '', ; ",. .,._ '

' ..

68

Pope Creek 7, Portland Cement 62 Pottsville Formation 7, 9, 21, 26, 30ff
37, 41, 45, 52, 59 Procteria alabamense Butts 12
Raccoon Mine . 48 Raccoon Seam 47 Rattlesnake lline 47, 48 Rattlesnake Seam 47, 50 Red Ash Se~~ 47, 51 Red Mountain Formation 5, 9, 11
16, 63 Ridgetop Shale 17 Ringgold Folio 1 Ringgold Sheet 1 Rising Fawn, Georgia 11, 21, 22, 24, 26,
56, 57 Road Material 62 Rock Creek 7 Rockmart Shale 9
Rockwood Formation 16
Round Mountain 32, 40, 44, 45
Sand MOuntain 1, 5, 5, 6, 11, 16, 21, 31,
33, 37' 46, 60
Schooley Peneplane 5 Sequatchie Formation 9 Sewanee Conglomerate 31 Shale 63 Shellmound, Tennessee 6 Shellmound Quadrangle 1 Silurian System 9, llff, 39 Sitton Branch 7 Sitton Gulf 7 Slag 57 Slag Wool- 57 Slope Mine 48

Slygo Church 14

Slygo Cove 37 Srr.ith, E. A. 11, 19, 21 Smith_, R. W. 63 Somerville Peneplane 5

I
I

Southern Iron and Steel Company 63

f

Sowerbyells. trt:.!:sversa.lis ("J','ahlenbert;)

14

S:rencer, J. W. 3

Spirifer increbeacens Hall 26, 27

Spirifer feokuk 25

Spirifer leidyi 25

Spirifer lo~ni Hall 21

Spiriferina spinosa (Norwood and
~ Pratten) Z5

Squirrel To~n Creek 7

St. Louis Limestone 25

Stevenson Folio 1

Stevenson Sheet 1

Strat~craphy 8

Stricklandinia triplesiana Foerste

14, 16

Strophonella striata F~ll 14

Structure 36f'f

Surface 4

Tatum Uountain 37 Tellico Formation 9 Tennessee 1, 10, 18, 24, 25, 31 Tennessee River. 6 Tennessee Valley Authority, 1 Tov.n Creek, 7 Trenton, Georgia 1, 21, 34, 50, 58 Trenton Format ion 9, 61 Trenton Quadrangle 1 Turner Eranch 7

Walden Ridge 31, 37, 39
Walden Sandstone 30, 31, 47 V1dker County, Geor;ia 52, 56, 57 Yv'bi te Oak Gap 52 Wildwood, Geor;;ia 62 Wills Creek A.~ticline 11, 36, 59~
56, 57

Zaphrentis spinulosa Edwards and Haime 22, 23