Monday,
November 14, 2022
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Note: ETGS members will receive an email with info for logging into the meeting.
November
Presentation
Complete Presentation Here [10 mb]
Valley and Ridge to Blue Ridge Foothills: Transition from the Appalachian
Foreland Fold-Thrust Belt into the Outer Metamorphic Core of the Orogen.
Note: Associated Field Trip to be Held on Saturday, December 3rd. Details to
Follow.
By
Dr. Robert D. Hatcher, Jr.
Distinguished Scientist and Professor Emeritus
Earth and Planetary Sciences
UT-Knoxville
Abstract
The purpose of this field trip is
to observe geology in the field. We will be looking at the
transition from the external part of the orogen (Valley and Ridge
foreland fold-thrust belt) to the inner parts (metamorphic core
composed of a composite of North American and exotic pieces).
Similar--but not identical--transitions exist in other major
mountain chains in the world regardless of whether or not they
formed by continent-continent collision, like the Appalachians,
Alps, Caledonides, Urals, and Himalayas, or like the accretionary
North American Cordillera and Andes, which extend from Alaska to
southern Chile. Our primary purpose is to observe the differences in
the transition by visiting the individual exposures from Walland,
Tennessee, into the Townsend area to several along Chilhowee Lake in
southeastern Tennessee.
We will visit but one exposure of Valley and Ridge rocks, a long and
important exposure of Middle Ordovician Sevier Shale that is
terminated to the SE by the Great Smoky thrust, which has a
conservative 400 km of displacement. The Sevier Shale represents the
clastic wedge derived from the SE, from erosion of the rising
Taconic mountains. At the Great Smoky fault, Lower Cambrian
Chilhowee Group sandstones are thrust over the Sevier Shale. In
contrast to much of the literature, the Chilhowee is not
metamorphosed here, nor is the overlying Shady Dolomite, our second
stop. The Chilhowee Mountain block is juxtaposed against the Miller
Cove fault, and once we cross it toward Stop 3, we will be in low
grade metamorphic rocks of the Neoproterozoic Walden Creek Group,
where we will make several stops. Once we cross the first area of
Neoproterozoic rocks, we will enter Tuckaleechee Cove, where we will
look at a second exposure of the Great Smoky fault, then make a stop
in some of the Knox Group limestone in the Tuckaleechee Cove window.
We will then go the far East end of Tuckaleechee Cove window to a
third exposure of the Great Smoky fault, then return back to the
Foothills Parkway where we will drive SW, stopping for lunch along
the way (no looking at scenery permitted!), on our way to exposures
along US 129, which will contain some interesting folds and
sedimentological features (e.g., armored mudballs). The trip will
end at Chilhowee Dam.
.
Biography
Education: Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, Tennessee B. A. 1961 (majors: geology,
chemistry; minor math), M. S. 1962 (geology)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee Ph. D. 1965
(structural geology; two foreign languages required)
Professional Employment: Geologist, Humble Oil and
Refining Company (1965-66), Clemson University (1966-78, Assistant
Professor to Full Professor), Florida State University (1978-80,
Full Professor), University of South Carolina (1980-86, Full
Professor), and University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Oak Ridge
National Laboratory Distinguished Scientist (1986-2000), UT
Distinguished Scientist and Professor (2000-2018). University of
Tennessee Distinguished Scientist and Professor Emeritus 2018-
Present.
Research Interests: Primary research goal is to gain a
better understanding of the evolution of continental crust, mostly
through the study of mountain chains and mature crust. Most of my
research has been concentrated in the southern and central
Appalachians, but large amounts of time have been spent visiting and
studying other mountain chains, and Precambrian continental crust.
My primary interest is in the mechanics and kinematics of large
faults, which form a natural transition into a related long-term
interest in the geologic controls of petroleum occurrence in the
Appalachians, radioactive waste management, the causes of intraplate
seismicity and geologic evidence for determination of recurrence
intervals for intraplate earthquakes. While I am a structural
geologist, most of my research is interdisciplinary, integrating
stratigraphic, geochronologic, geochemical, and geophysical data
into structural studies. I am primarily a field geologist, however,
and field data form the basis for all other supporting studies. I
have been involved for many years with geophysicists and geologists
in other academic institutions and the USGS in the geologic
interpretation of seismic reflection and potential field
(aeromagnetic and gravity) data.
Research Support: Received over $5M in grants and
contracts from the National Science Foundation, Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of the
Interior, state geological surveys, and private industry.
Professional Service (Abbreviated): Editor (with W. A.
Thomas) Geological Society of America Bulletin (1982-88); President,
Geological Society of America (1993); President, American Geological
Institute (1996); Trustee, GSA Foundation (1999-2007), Chair of the
GSA Foundation Board (2005-07); National Academy of
Sciences/National Research Council Board on Radioactive Waste
Management (1990-96); Federal Advisory Committee on Nuclear Reactor
Safety Research (Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1993-96); Federal
Advisory Committee for the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping
Program (Department of the Interior, 1996-2006); Federal Advisory
Committee Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (2009-2015; have
also served on numerous committees of GSA, AAPG, AGU, and other
organizations. Fellow: AAAS, Geological Society of America,
Geological Association of Canada.
Medals and Awards: Geological Society of America
Distinguished Service Award (1988, the first ever awarded), AAPG I.
C. White Award (1997), honorary citizen of West Virginia (by the
Governor, 1998), John T. Galey Award by the Eastern Section of the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (2001), American
Geological Institute Ian Campbell Medal (2006), Geological Society
of America Penrose Medal (2006), and American Geological Institute
Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal (2014). The latter three
medals constitute the highest levels of career
recognition/achievement possible in my profession.
Publications: Author or co-author of >200 scientific
publications, including 10 books.
Graduate Students: 53 M. S. theses and 18 Ph. D.
dissertations completed since began working in graduate departments
in 1978.
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