SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL APPALACHIANS 



115 



Carolina consists of a complex of contorted gneisses, containing granite 

 plutons and satellitic offshoots, swarms of small ultrabasic intrusives, and 

 narrow zones of metasedimentary rocks. The boundary of the Piedmont 

 and Rlue Ridge provinces is here indistinct on the basis of bedrock 

 geology. The dominant unit of this complex is the Carolina gneiss. It 

 consists of quartz, feldspar, mica, gneiss, and hornblende gneiss and these 

 are considered to be originally sedimentary and volcanic rocks but altered 

 incident to the batholithic intrusions. King (1951) points out that no 

 clear break exists between the gneiss complex and the Ocoee and Tal- 

 ladega series in the Great Smokies to the northwest, and a considerable 



part of it may be a highly altered phase of these late Precambrian 

 geosynclinal deposits. 



Metamorphism 



As noted by King (1951, 1959) the metamorphism increases progres- 

 sively southeastward from the Great Valley across the Blue Ridge, into 

 the Piedmont province, and climaxes with the development of silimanite 

 in the central part of the Piedmont between the Brevard and Kin-js 

 Mountain belts (see Fig. 7.2). Southeast of the silimanite zone the meta- 

 morphism is less intense. The belt of decreased metamorphism is marked 



: 



T r i a s s i c Lowland province 



HookMfn. Wafchun? Mb. Palisades 

 Sch oo ley p e n e p I 



Manha tt a n prong 

 New England Upland prov. 



Ma nhattan island 



Coastal Plain province 

 Long Island 



/./:> -,V^ .C . R Y $ T A L- LI N *E .. R '0 C K v S£.W-«^}£/r>^ 



Miles 



KITTATINNY MOUNTAIN 

 St 



GODFREY RIDGE 



Brodhead 



SECTION 30 



J M.le 



Fig. 8.21. Upper section across Triassic basin and Manhattan Island to Long Island, N. Y. Re- 

 produced from Johnson ef a/., 1933. No. 31, Fig. 7.1. Lower section through Delaware Water 

 Gap. Johnson et a/., 1933, after Willard. Om, Martinsburg shale; St. Tuscarora ss.; Scl, 



Clinton ss.; Shf, High Falls sh.; Spi, Paxono Island sh.; Dhb, Helderberg Is.; Do, Onondago ss.; 

 De, Esopuc grit; Don, Onondago Is.; Dm, Marcellus shale; Dh, Hamilton ss. No. 26, Fig. 7.1. 



