GRANITES OF NORTH CAROLINA 395 



Madison county, North Carolina, and the contiguous part of Cocke 

 county, Tennessee. 



LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS. 



The Unakite area. — The unakite area in Madison county, North 

 Carohna, and Cocke county, Tennessee, is the type locahty first 

 described by Bradley in 1874. I quote in full Bradley's description r'^ 



This name [Unakite] is proposed for a member of the granitic series, from the 

 Great Smoky Mountains, a portion of the Unaka range of the Blue Ridge, which 

 range forms the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina. The speci- 

 mens thus far seen are from the slopes of the peaks known as "The Bluff," "Wal- 

 nut Mountain," and "Max's Patch," Cocke county, Tenn., and Madison county, 

 N. C. The rock is said to occur also in Yancey county, N. C, but in a compara- 

 tively inaccessible region. 



The character relied upon for the separation of the species is the constant 

 replacement of the mica of common granite, or the hornblende of syenite, by 

 epidote. The amount of this ingredient present is quite variable, in some cases 

 even exceeding one-half of the whole mass. The feldspar present is orthoclase, 

 of various shades of pink, forming from one-fourth to perhaps one-third of the 

 whole. The quartz is mainly white, but occasionally smoky; its isolated portions 

 form but a small part, say one-fourth, of the mass; it is veined in structure, but 

 this is probably not a constant character. Small grains of magnetite are scat- 

 tered through the rock, but not so thickly as in many granites. No other ingredi- 

 ents have as yet been detected. Mr. G. W. Hawes has determined the specific 

 gravity at 2.79. The rock is very compact and takes a high polish, and will 

 doubtless prove to be a valuable material for ornamental architecture. 



The deep weathering of all the rocks of the Southern Appalachians has 

 caused the covering of most of these mountain slopes with deep beds of debris, 

 which conceal most of the solid outcrops; and the dimensions of the bodies of 

 uanakyte are therefore as yet unknown. Apparently forming part of the same 

 series, there are heavy beds of specular iron ore; and the whole series is referred 

 with little doubt to Archaean age. 



The outcrops of the granite over the surface, as traversed by me, 

 indicate an area of about twenty-four square miles, lying mostly in 

 Madison county. North Carolina, beginning about five miles south- 

 west of Hot Springs. Further detailed work will probably extend 

 the boundaries of the area considerably beyond those mentioned 

 here. 



Two types of the granite occur in the area, both of which contain 

 epidote. The bulk of the granite or main body of the rock is a dark 



I American Journal of Science, Vol. CVII (1874), pp. 519, 520. 



