The Inner Piedmont Belt of the Southern Crystalline Appalachians

Abstract

Research Article| July 01, 1971 The Inner Piedmont Belt of the Southern Crystalline Appalachians VILLARD S GRIFFIN, JR. VILLARD S GRIFFIN, JR. Department of Chemistry and Geology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information VILLARD S GRIFFIN, JR. Department of Chemistry and Geology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631 Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 20 Jul 1970 Revision Received: 11 Feb 1971 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Copyright © 1971, The Geological Society of America, Inc. Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared by U.S. government employees within the scope of their employment. GSA Bulletin (1971) 82 (7): 1885–1898. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1971)82[1885:TIPBOT]2.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 20 Jul 1970 Revision Received: 11 Feb 1971 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation VILLARD S GRIFFIN; The Inner Piedmont Belt of the Southern Crystalline Appalachians. GSA Bulletin 1971;; 82 (7): 1885–1898. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1971)82[1885:TIPBOT]2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract The Inner Piedmont belt probably represents the migmatitic infrastructural core of the southern crystalline Appalachians. This belt exhibits the widest area of high-grade metamorphic rocks in the southern Appalachians and is a broad zone separating structures overturned northwestward from those overturned toward the southeast. Three subparallel zones constitute the northeast-trending Inner Piedmont belt in South Carolina and northeastern Georgia. The Inner Piedmont core defines the axis and consists of an assemblage of sillimanite-grade rocks, including mica schist, biotite gneiss, granitoid gneiss, and minor amphibolite. The core is bounded by two flanks of kyanite-grade rocks of a similar character. Amphibolite and granitoid gneiss predominate within the flanks, and migmatizadon is locally intense.Low dips predominate throughout the entire terrane, but local zones of steep foliation occur. Recumbent/reclined folds appear to characterize the structural style on all scales, and nappes associated with tectonic slides probably represent the largest-scale structures.The Inner Piedmont is bounded on the northwest and southeast by narrow, intensely folded, highly sheared, and partially cataclastic belts of lower-grade rocks. The northwest belt is termed the Non-migmatitic-Brevard belt; the southeast belt is herein called the Kings Mountain-Wacoochee belt. These belts may be two aspects of the same tectonic feature, for they converge northeastward and southwest-ward. The Inner Piedmont belt, lying between these narrow belts, appears to converge to the northeast in Virginia and toward the southwest in Alabama. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.