Date of Graduation

Spring 2022

Degree

Master of Science in Geospatial Sciences

Department

Geography, Geology, and Planning

Committee Chair

Matthew McKay

Abstract

The southern Appalachian Mountains have experienced multiple deformation events having undergone two full Wilson cycles. The foreland Valley and Ridge province is composed of sedimentary Paleozoic rock that range in age from earliest Cambrian to Middle Pennsylvanian. This sedimentary basin was intensely folded and faulted during the collision of Gondwana during the Middle to Late Carboniferous Period. From previous geologic structural mapping that has taken place, some large-scale structures in the Valley and Ridge Province seem to be out of sequence. To better understand the relationships in these structures, geologic mapping in high detail at the 1:24,000 scale coupled with detrital zircon U—Pb and (U—Th)/He data can provide a better insight into the sequence of these structures as well as sediment routing during the transition from a passive margin to an active convergent plate boundary and on to full continent on continent collision. For this study the Jacksonville East 7.5minute quadrangle was studied due because of its exposure of Cambrian siliciclastic strata as well as its proximity to the Talladega-Cartersville fault which separates the sedimentary rocks of the Valley and Ridge Province and the metamorphic rocks of the Inner Piedmont Province.

Keywords

Geology, Zircon, Geochronology, Geologic Mapping, Alabama, Appalachians

Subject Categories

Geology | Sedimentology | Tectonics and Structure

Copyright

© Derek L. Spurgeon

Download

Open Access

Share

COinS