94 JOURNAL OF THE 



ON THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF CER- 

 TAIN TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES 

 EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE. 



COLLIER COBB. 



The peculiar forms of the topoofraphic outliers of 

 the Blue Ridg-e. extending- across North Carolina from 

 Kinof's Mountain on the south to Pilot Mountain on the 

 north, attracted my attention when a boy, and in May, 

 1892, I visited the region and beg-an a study of the 

 King-'s Mountain district under the direction of Profes- 

 sor N. S. Shaler. The entire summer was spent on 

 the field, as well as the larg-er portion of the follow- 

 ing- summer and two of my winter vacations. 



The precipitous faces of the mountains, lying- at two 

 well-marked levels, sug-g-ested to me wave action, and 

 I beg-an mv work upon the hypothesis that these out- 

 liers had been islands in a sea of no g-reat depth, at a 

 date comparatively late, when the ag-e of the rocks com- 

 posing- the mountains Is taken into consideration. The 

 accompanying- g-eologfical section, from what was form- 

 erly known as Bird's Quarry, in the present villag-e of 

 King-'s Mountain, westward across the mountain, I have 

 adapted from Lieber, putting- in the quartzite which 

 forms the crest of the mountain, lying* above Lieber's 

 " mica slate." The order of succession of these rocks 

 is, beg-inning- with the newest, limestone, talc-schist, a 

 white sandstone passing- into a slig-htly flexible variety, 

 micaceous shale, diorite-schist, talc-schist, quartzite, 

 and micaceous shale, the last resting- on a g-ranitic 

 rock which outcrops on Crowder's creek at the eastern 

 foot of the mountain. 



