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Geological Society of America

Special Paper 222
1988

Critical evidence for southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge thrust

sequence
Nicholas B. Woodward and Jerry W. Beets
Department of Geological Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1410

ABSTRACT
Controversy is common concerning the sequence of thrust fault imbrication on the
scale of one or several quadrangles. Regional thrusting sequences in young orogenic
belts are generally from the hinterland to the foreland. This is contrary to the previously
proposed regional progression of thrusting for the southern Appalachian Valley and
Ridge province. This paper uses cutoff-line maps to systematically examine some of the
map patterns and cross-sectional interpretations used as evidence for the foreland-to-
hinterland sequence of thrusting. Idealized examples of cutoff-line maps and cross-
sectional patterns for both truncated structures and stair-stepped structures can be
compared with observed map patterns and previously proposed cross-sectional interpre-
tations. This provides critical evidence for interpreting the map data. Additional critical
observations can be made as to the extent that faults may be folded by underlying
structures, rather than truncating them.
Overall, the cutoff-line approach and the folded fault approach document that the
truncated folds expected in map-pattern for a foreland-to-hinterland thrust sequence do
not occur in the east Tennessee area. Folded faults and westward-younging cutoff-line
patterns indicate that later faults were in front of, and beneath, earlier ones in a
hinterland-to-foreland sequence.
INTRODUCTION
The subject of the Valley and Ridge thrust sequence (hinter- Three examples of common map patterns will be examined
land to foreland, or foreland to hinterland) remains a matter of to evaluate thrust sequences: (1) the south end of the Wallen
controversy (Milici, 1975; Harris and Milici, 1977; Roeder and Valley fault; (2) the north end of the Wallen Valley fault; and
others, 1978; Woodward, 1985; Lutz and Woodward, 1984). (3) the Pulaski thrust sheet in southwest Virginia.
This chapter examines the use of folded faults and cutoff-line
maps to interpret the geometry of thrust imbrication in east Ten- PATTERNS OF CUTOFF-LINE MAPS
nessee and southwest Virginia (Fig. 1). Both interpretive tools
support a hinterland-to-foreland progression of major thrusts. Rich (1934) and Douglas (1950, 1958) pioneered the con-
Typical cross-sectional representations of the imbricated se- cept that thrust faults take a stair-step path through the strati-
quences in fold-thrust belts give unique cutoff-line patterns in graphic section to form ramps and flats (Fig. 2). Douglas (1958)
map view because of the way the faults cut through the strati- also used the excellent exposures of folded thrusts in the Cana-
graphic sequence. Forward-propagating systems give a different dian Rockies to outline how the faults cut through the stratig-
pattern than do hinterland-propagating systems. Comparisons be- raphy in both the hanging wall and the footwall. This has been
tween theoretical and observed cutoff-line map patterns provide used as evidence that the stepped faults propagated upward
the opportunity to test a proposed sequence. Folding of structures through a previously undeformed stratigraphie wedge in which
by later ones also indicate a unique sequence of deformation the bedding anisotropy dominates the mechanics of faulting.
(Jones, 1971). Some exposures lack conclusive data for determin- Douglas' constructions and subsequent seismic investigations
ing the sequence of thrusting and, therefore, remain ambiguous. (Bally and others, 1966) showed that the steps in the hanging

165
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166 Woodward and Beets

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Figure la. Five areas in the southwest Virginia-Tennessee Valley and Ridge are examined in this paper
as examples of thrust timing. A = Rocky Valley thrust area; B = north end of the Wallen Valley thrust;
C = intersection of the Wallen Valley (WV), Hunter Valley (HV), and White Oak Mountain (WOM)
thrusts; D = Blacksburg area of the Pulaski (P) thrust; E = Draper Mountain area of the Pulaski thrust;
F = location of the U.S. Geological Survey seismic line from Harris (1976); G = two main seismic lines
from Tegland (1978); C = Chattanooga thrust; Ki = Kingston thrust; BV = Beaver Valley thrust; K =
Knoxville thrust; PMT = Pine Mountain Thrust; CC = Copper Creek thrust; S = Saltville thrust; BR =
Blue Ridge thrust; GS = Great Smoky thrust; N = Narrows thrust (modified from Rodgers, 1970).

walls and footwalls had to match one another. Douglas (1958) the thin hanging wall creates a pattern of reentrants in the thrust
connected these points on the map where formation boundaries trace. The fault cuts up-section to the northwest in its upper plate
intersected the fault surface for several folded faults to illustrate and rides in the Ordovician of its footwall. The cutoff lines graph-
where the faults cut up-section laterally. Diegel (1986) discussed ically illustrate where, and over how short a distance, the fault cut
the topologic constraints on cutoff lines in more detail and can be through the stratigraphic package. Broadly spaced cutoff lines
consulted for further explanation. The cutoff points, where the indicate a relatively flat part of the thrust path, and closely spaced
fault-formation contact intersection line meets the erosion sur- cutoff lines indicate a relatively steep (ramp) part of the thrust
face, can be connected to reconstruct cutoff-line positions for path. In this case the structures is a simple northeast-trending
each of the stratigraphic horizons in either the hanging wall or hanging wall ramp anticline on a footwall flat horizon, which is
footwall. Cutoff lines are projected into the air in the same way breached by erosion.
that structure contours on a folded fault surface can be. These If we consider several idealized cross sections, we can pro-
cutoff-line maps show the locations and areal distributions of pose what different cutoff-line patterns will appear where faults
both frontal and lateral ramp segments. A cutoff-line map can be cut previously deformed beds rather than flat-lying ones. If a
prepared for either the hanging wall of a fault (this is what thrust cuts a previously undeformed section in a stair-step path,
Douglas drew) or for the footwall of the fault. The hanging wall the hanging wall and footwall cutoff lines will be regularly ar-
cutoff-line map can be considered a worm's-eye view up at the ranged in sequence from oldest to youngest (Fig. 2a). The cutoff
base of the upper plate (Bally, personal communication, 1984). lines will project to the surface as simple lines on the map,
The footwall cutoff-line map can be considered a subcrop map of roughly parllel to the frontal thrust trace and ramps. If, on the
the footwall units against the fault plane. other hand, the fault cuts through a previously folded and faulted
As an example, a cutoff-line map can be prepared for the sequence of rocks, the formation cutoff lines will alternate or
Rocky Valley thrust in east Tennessee (Fig. 3). Erosion through change positions in a repeating symmetric pattern, as the alternat-
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Evidence for southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge thrust sequence 176

THICKNESS COLUMNAR
AGE FORMATION [ metere ) SECTION DESCRIPTION
Sandstone, siltstone
SILURIAN ROCKWOOD Sr
FORMATION 152 shale, and limestone
SEQUATCHIE Siltstone, mudstone,
FORMATION 91 and l i m e s t o n e Os
REEDSV1LLE 6 1 - 7 6 Or
SH »T.P.
1-1 1- 1 1

I-L ' ' 1-

CHICKAMAUGA Limestone, shale,

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GROUP and o o l i t i c c h e r t

,
O R D O VICIAN I~I ' U
o o o o O
srs. /?/, / Cherty siliceous
MASCOT Oma
168

li'rfyf,
DOLOMITE O/ / ° / o dolomite

KINGSPORT Cherty s i l i c e o u s
107 Ok
FORMATION dolomite
a. "LONGVIEW 76 Very c h e r t y d o l o m i t e Ol
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if,»/,-/, /,»/,
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X CHEPULTEPEC / a/ o / o y /•, 9/.

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Very c h e r t y sili-
Oc
G DOLOMITE 213 ceous dolomite
o/ m/•
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COPPER RIDGE Cherty siliceous
DOLOMITE 305 /•/ /O/ /o dolomite Ccr
y/ • o / / * >y/ °^yO.

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D.
O

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MAYNARDVILLE
LIMESTONE 122 Shaley limestone Cmn

Cl
o CONASAUGA 366 Siltstone, shale, Ces
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SHALE and l i m e s t o n e
CAMBRIAN —
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otS
FORMATION

Sandstone, siltstone
UPPER i M 11111 shale, limestone, Cru
274-335
ROUE and d o l o m i t e
HOME

LOWER Shale, s i l t s t o n e ,
ROME 122-183
— ~
and s a n d s t o n e Cri

Figure lb. The stratigraphic section appearing on the maps and in the cross sections is summarized in
this diagram from Beets (1985). The Conasauga Group becomes dominantly carbonate rock (Honaker
and Elbrook Formations) in southwest Virginia.
 Downloaded from specialpapers.gsapubs.org on June 5, 2015

168 Woodward and Beets

FLAT < 2 0 °

FOOTWALL HANGING WALL

CUTOFFS CUTOFFS
d'C

Figure 2. a—The stair-stepped thrust path presumes that the fault cuts
up-section forward during propagation controlled by the stratigraphie
layering. The cutoff pattern we see in a cross section view of a stair-
stepped fault is a systematic array of cutoff lines in stratigraphie order,
younging in the transport direction. Where such faults are exposed by
erosion, the same pattern is expected in the map pattern. Hanging wall
F W FLAT FW FLAT cutoff lines are offset from those in the footwall, but the systematic
FW RAMP pattern is present in both. 2b—If truncated folds are exposed along a
thrust, the cutoff lines will systematically and symmetrically reflect the
fault cutting both up-section and down-section. 2c—This is the map
FW FLAT
pattern expected if a truncated hanging wall anticline were breached by
erosion. The dotted cutoff lines form closed loops.

c
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Figure 3. a—The Rocky Valley thrust (Bridge, 1945) underlies a shallowly southeast-dipping sheet over
most of its length. The Rocky Valley sheet dips more steeply southeast on its trailing edge beneath the
Knoxville thrust. 3b—This is a cutoff-line map of the Rocky Valley thrust that illustrates how the fault
surface intersects formation contacts in the hanging wall. The two reconstructed cutoff lines are those
marking the boundaries between the Cambrian Maryville and Nolichuckey Formations (Cm-Cn), and
between the Cambrian Copper Ridge Formation and Ordovician Chickamauga Group (Ccr-Och). The
anticlinal fold in the upper plate overlies the area where the cutoff-line spacing is close together as shown
in Figure 2.
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170 Woodward and Beets

ing limbs of the truncated folds or the faults in an overridden fault creation of the Powell Valley anticline (Rich, 1934; Harris and
block are crossed. In map view, truncated folds (Fig. 2b, c) will Milici, 1977).
have closed loops in their cutoff lines. The hanging wall cutoff lines at the north end of the fault
If a duplex occurs beneath a fault (Boyer and Elliott, 1982), support the hypothesis that the sequence of thrusting was from
there will be systematic alternations in the cutoffs preserved, but hinterland to foreland. The cutoffs are systematically arrayed
there will not be closed cutoff lines on a single fault surface (in from youngest to oldest from northwest to southeast. The foot-
map view). Cutoff lines for formations within individual horses wall cutoffs, likewise, are arranged from youngest to oldest from
will occur in stratigraphic order, and repetitions will occur as northwest to southeast.
each fault between horses is crossed (Fig. 4a). The pattern that
occurs when a higher fault truncates an imbricate fan will also be EXAMPLE 2: SOUTHWEST END OF THE WALLEN
systematic, but it will demonstrate that the thrust is cutting down- VALLEY THRUST
section in the transport direction (Fig. 4b), and therefore is easily
distinguished from the pattern of a duplex. An important question is whether the Wallen Valley thrust
If a late fault cuts steeply upward through a flat or homocli- sheet was emplaced first and then overridden by the White Oak
nal panel of a thrust sheet from its basal decollement to the Mountain-Hunter Valley sheet, as maintained by Milici (1975),
surface, the cutoff lines will be relatively closely spaced and also or whether the Wallen Valley fault is a footwall diverging splay
arranged from oldest to youngest. Conclusive evidence for the according to a forward-thrusting sequence similar to that pictured
order of thrust emplacement is probably not available in this case. by Boyer and Elliott (1982). Milici (1975) proposed that the
W e can, however, also examine the entire thrust trace for areas merger of the Wallen Valley thrust and the White Oak Mountain
where more conclusive cutoff-line or folded fault evidence may thrust was an A-type branching pattern. He considered that such
be available. a pattern indicated that a higher, younger thrust overrode a lower,
older one. The basis for his conclusion was that if the lower fault
EXAMPLE 1: NORTH END OF THE WALLEN was younger it should cut up through the older higher sheet, or
VALLEY THRUST should fold it. In this area the White Oak Mountain-Hunter
Valley sheet has a relatively uniform 30 to 50° southeast dip. It
The Wallen Valley fault follows the southeast limb of the overlies a more shallowly dipping Wallen Valley sheet to the
Powell Valley anticline for most of its length. This limb of the northeast and a major horse composed of Ordovician Knox
anticline is a gently dipping homoclinal panel of rock (Tegland, Group and Chickamauga Group strata to the southwest (Fig. 6a).
1978) that flattens out at depth above basement. The Wallen If the upper fault truncates the lower one, then all formation
Valley thrust sheet, which overlies the fault, is a parallel or contacts in the footwall of the later thrust should also be
slightly more steeply dipping homoclinal panel. At its north end, truncated.
the fault's trace swings around to a northwestern strike and then Beets (1985) remapped the intersection area, including part
back to the northeast (Fig. 5). This curve in the fault trace is of the footwall beneath the White Oak Mountain thrust (Fig. 6).
coincident with the Sandy Ridge anticline (the northeastern ex- He divided the Rome into upper and lower members using a
tension of the Powell Valley anticline) in the footwall rocks, persistent carbonate horizon. This horizon was also mapped in
although the fault continues in the same stratigraphic horizon the White Oak Mountain-Hunter Valley sheet and thus appears
throughout the curved segment. As the main fault trace swings to be regionally persistent. The Rome-Conasauga cutoff line
back to the northeast, it cuts up-section through footwall rocks in (B) occurs on the top of the Wallen Valley thrust sheet as
its transport direction. Rocks from Cambrian through Silurian expected in the truncation model. The upper Rome-lower Rome
age occur in the Powell Mountain anticline (Harris and Miller, cutoff line (A) in the Wallen Valley sheet occurs against the
1958, 1963), which occurs in the hanging wall on the southeast Wallen Valley fault rather than against the White Oak Moun-
side of the swing in the fault trace. Beds on the northwest limb of tain-Hunter Valley fault. Thus the Wallen Valley fault is cutting
the Powell Mountain anticline and the fault plane itself are both up-section to the southwest along its trace as the branch line is
warped by the Sandy Ridge anticline, with the result that the beds approached. This is not predicted by the truncation model and
are overturned to the northwest. A down-plunge view of this argues against it as the simplest explanation for the origin of the
structure parallel to the cutoff lines (Mackin, 1950) suggests that structure.
the Powell Mountain anticline is a hanging wall ramp anticline The diverging-footwall-splay interpretation of the intersec-
that has been folded with a flat segment of its footwall (the fault tion can accommodate all of the mapped geometries (Fig. 6b).
and bedding are nearly parallel) by the later Sandy Ridge (Powell The White Oak Mountain-Hunter Valley sheet moved first, plac-
Valley) anticline. Because the fault is cutting up-section at a small ing lower Rome Formation above Rome Formation ( T l ) and
angle to bedding, the fold curvature in the footwall beds is greater then above both upper Rome and lower Conasauga rocks (T2) in
than the curvature of the fault plane. The folding of the Wallen its footwall (a shallow, up-to-the-northeast lateral ramp). A foot-
Valley fault surface dates the Wallen Valley fault as being em- wall splay diverged from the earlier sheet at the shallow lateral
placed before emplacement of the Pine Mountain thrust and ramp, cutting down-section to the northeast to move within the
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Evidence for southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge thrust sequence 180

Figure 4. a—In the simplest duplex (Boyer and Elliott, 1982), the cutoff-line patterns change systemati-
cally on each horse, going from older to younger along each fault in the transport direction. There are
few cutoff lines intersecting the roof thrust, and those are at the trailing edge of the duplex. 4b—In
contrast, the simplest pattern of an overriding thrust truncating earlier imbricates has systematic cutoff
lines for both the hangingwall and the footwall of the overriding sheet. In both, the cutoff lines show that
the thrusts cut down-section forward (after Boyer and Elliott, 1982).
 —]
N>

Figure 5. Geologic map of the northeast end of the Wallen Valley thrust. The northeast end of the fault is
hooked, but the cutoff lines (dashed footwall cutoffs, dotted hanging wall cutoffs) all trend parallel to
regional strike. In the hanging wall, the ramp occurs from the Copper Ridge Formation to the Sequat-
chie Formation, forming the Powell Mountain anticline in the hanging wall of the fault. The fault
follows the Hancock Formation in its footwall for most of the distance around the hook. It ramps across
several formations (up to the Devonian Chattanooga Shale) as it curves from its northwest trend back to
a northeast trend (from Harris and Miller, 1958, 1963; Miller, 1965; Miller and Roen, 1971).
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Evidence for southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge thrust sequence 182

NE Ce SW

A....... A_ A A C r l A A A T 1

Figure 6. a—The Wallen Valley, Hunter Valley, and White Oak Mountain faults merge in a single area
near Clinton, Tennessee. The White Oak Mountain sheet to the southwest is continuous with the Hunter
Valley sheet to the northeast; the sheets are separately named because they overlie faults named in
separate areas, although they are now known to be continuous. The Wallen Valley thrust sheet ends to
the southwest as the Wallen Valley thrust intersects with the White Oak Mountain-Hunter Valley
thrust. In this case lower structures are not truncated by higher ones. Instead, the Wallen Valley sheet
thins from northeast to southwest both at the top and the bottom. The structures in the Wallen Valley
footwall continue across the intersection and are also not truncated. 6b—This is a hanging wall
sequence diagram illustrating the order of formation of the structures seen at the southwest end of the
Wallen Valley thrust sheet.
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174 Woodward and Beets

lower Rome Formation (the regional decollement) over most of pied by two large-amplitude folds, which overlie the Tract Moun-
its length (dashed fault in T2). The Wallen Valley thrust sheet tain thrust and underlie the Pulaski sheet (Fig. 8). The Tract
was thus accreted to the front of the moving White Oak Moun- Mountain thrust merges with the Pulaski thrust at lateral branch
tain-Hunter Valley hanging wall relatively early in its motion lines in the northwestern half-window (Cooper, 1961). The anti-
(T3). Subsequent slip on the combined thrust sheet brought it up cline that overlies the Tract Mountain thrust folds the Pulaski
to the Ordovician level where the horse of Knox and Chicka- fault, which again rides consistently in a single horizon (the Mis-
mauga Group rock was accreted (dashed fault in T3), and to the sissippian) of the footwall. The more southeasterly Draper Moun-
Ordovician-Silurian level where the Sequatchie-Rockwood slices tain anticline also folds the Pulaski fault. The evidence for the
northwest of the combined sheet were pushed forward in front of folding of the fault is, again, the fact that the shape of the fault
it (T4). The steepness of the dips in the Hunter Valley sheet mimics the shape of the beds even where they are folded. The
indicates that it overlies the trailing ramp of the Wallen Valley Pulaski fault systematically cuts up-section to the northwest from
sheet, not that it may be a later, high-angle, truncated fault. Cambro-Ordovician to Mississippian strata around the Draper
Although a thorough analysis of all A-type intersections in Mountain anticline. The cutoff-line pattern gives evidence that
this region is beyond the scope of this paper, several conclusions the Pulaski thrust rode over an undeformed footwall in a stair-
can be drawn from this example. (1) A simple classification of step path both in the Pulaski and Blacksburg areas, and was then
fault branches cannot be used to decide immediately on the im- folded by formation of footwall horses such as the Tract
brication sequence. (2) The Wallen Valley fault was probably Mountain-Draper Mountain sheet on lower stair-stepping faults
emplaced after the White Oak Mountain-Hunter Valley sheet, (Fig. 7b). Compare the cutoff-line map pattern for the truncated
and the changes in fault position in the stratigraphy relate to a folds and folded stepped faults in Figures 2 and 7 or 8. Because
shallow lateral ramp both at the top and bottom of the Wallen the Pulaski sheet is folded into a dome and basin pattern region-
Valley sheet. (3) N o significant folding of the overlying sheet ally, we suggest that it is the roof thrust to an irregular-roof
should be expected even by a lower younger thrust where it was a duplex, similar to the one described by Perry (1978) farther north
thin slice of rock, and all are warped by the imbrication in the in West Virginia.
White Oak Mountain-Wallen Valley footwall.
USE OF SEISMIC LINE DATA FOR EXAMINING
EXAMPLE 3: PULASKI THRUST SHEET IN THE THRUST SEQUENCE
SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA
Harris (1976) and Milici and others (1979) used their inter-
The deformation sequence for the emplacement of the Pu- pretations of several seismic lines in east Tennessee as evidence
laski thrust in southwestern Virginia is also in question. Lowry for a foreland-to-hinterland sequence of thrust emplacement. The
(1979) and Bartholomew (1981) maintained that the Pulaski U.S. Geological Survey seismic line from Kingston to Dixie Lee
sheet was emplaced after deformation in its footwall and that the Junction (Fig. 9; Harris, 1976) is nearly perpendicular to strike
windows in the sheet are cored by truncated folds. Cooper (1961) for only its western one-third. Its eastern two-thirds are at a low
presented mapping of the Draper Mountain and Tract Mountain angle to strike and show the stacked trailing edges of three thrust
areas (based on Cooper, 1939). He concluded that the Pulaski sheets. Therefore, the statement that the thrusts never cut all the
thrust sheet was emplaced late in the deformational sequence. He way down to the basal detachment in the eastern part of the line,
also presented compiled mapping of the Blacksburg area. which has been used in support of the break-back sequence, is not
Woodward and Gray (1985) constructed sections through the a proper interpretation of what the line does show. They may or
area based on an alternative approach. In these sections the Pu- may not cut all the way to the basal detachment, but the eastern
laski was shown as folded by footwall horses, and all thrusts in part of the line will not prove it because it is not a cross section.
the Pulaski's footwall cut up-section forward, suggesting a Milici and others (1979) and Harris and Milici (1977) used the
hinterland-to-foreland emplacement sequence. These areas were stacked reflectors in the eastern part of this section to support
examined using cutoff-line maps of the footwalls to test the earlier their interpretation of a "broken formation zone" as a strati-
hypotheses of truncated folds. Figure 7a presents the generalized graphic horizon that was progressively abandoned as the thrusts
cutoff-line map for the Blacksburg area. The cutoff lines again broke back in a west-to-east sequence. Although this may be so,
show a simple linear pattern with younger rocks appearing sys- the seismic line does not provide evidence for it.
tematically to the northwest in successive windows. This indicates The Tennessee Division of Geology seismic lines (Fig. 1,
to us that the footwall rocks were most likely undeformed prior lines G; Tegland, 1978) depict many reflectors that cut both up-
to the emplacement of the Pulaski fault. There are no closed and down-section. Milici and others (1979) used these lines as
looping cutoff lines as suggested in a truncated fold model (Fig. evidence for a foreland-to-hinterland thrusting sequence because
2c). Because the cutoff information appears only within windows of the apparently truncated underlying structures. Because the
in a folded thrust sheet, it is not possible to relate the footwall lines follow a sinuous road network, the interpreted sections are
geometry directly to the folding of the fault here. nearly twice as long as true cross sections. Careful examination of
The Draper Mountain and Tract Mountain areas are occu- the areas where faults cut up- and down-section shows that these
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Evidence for southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge thrust sequence 175

Pulaski Thrust Pulaski Thrust

7 — j - T \ ^\
0
D „
V*
1 v
^ — x
/
— ' ^ ^ — — N v . 3 N v

b
Figure 7. a—The Pulaski thrust sheet in the Blacksburg, Virginia, area (area D on Fig. 1) places
Cambrian rocks over a footwall of Cambrian through Mississippian rocks, as seen in the several
windows. The formation cutoff lines in the footwall rocks young successively northwestward, suggesting
that the fault took a stair-step path through a previously undeformed stratigraphy. The cutoff lines
shown are those of the Cambrian-Ordovician, Ordovician-Devonian, and Devonian-Mississippian
contacts. 7b—Woodward and Gray (1985) depicted the folded Pulaski sheet as a roof thrust to a
duplex with each horse block being plucked successively from the stepped footwall.

are the areas where the lines are farthest from the dip direction primarily on our different cross sections based on the same map
and least representative of the actual thrust geometries in cross data. Cutoff-line maps provide essential data for systematically
section. The seismic evidence, therefore, does not support a constraining our interpretations, because different thrust se-
foreland-to-hinterland sequence of faulting as claimed by Milici quences give different cutoff patterns. In this paper w e have used
and others (1979) or Bartholomew and others (1980). W h e n true comparisons between cutoff-line patterns drawn on real maps
cross sections are drawn using seismic information, they are ba- and those that would be produced from different interpretative
lancable and restorable (Woodward, 1985) and support a sections. Truncated folds should give looping cutoff-line patterns,
hinterland-to-foreland thrust sequence. whereas a stair-stepped thrust path should give regularly climbing
cutoff lines. In any terrain, whether folds are truncated or not, the
DISCUSSION hanging wall should match the footwall of a fault; so, the exist-
Differences in interpretations of thrust sequences depend ence of truncated structures in one requires their existence in the
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176 Woodward and Beets

Figure 8. The Pulaski, Virginia, area shows a doubly curved reentrant in the Pulaski fault's trace (area E
in Fig. 1). Each warp of the sheet reflects a fold in its footwall, and the footwall folds overlie the Tract
Mountain thrust. The Tract Mountain fault merges with the Pulaski fault both to the southwest and
northeast; we interpret it to be part of the sub-Pulaski duplex. (Modified from Butts, 1933, after Cooper,
1961.)

other. Similarly, the presence of a stepped path in one requires it it is an attempt to approach several well-mapped areas with old
in the other. Thus, when the cutoff lines in the Pulaski footwall (folded faults) and new (cutoff-line maps) tools to test hypotheses
follow a regular progression, it is reasonable to assume that they of thrust emplacement. Unlike some segments of the Cordillera,
did so in the hanging wall. Based on such comparisons, w e have the southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge preserves little or no
shown that a hinterland-to-foreland progression of thrusting is a synorogenic sediment related to thrust emplacement to retain
simpler, and w e believe better, interpretation of the thrust se- biostratigraphic evidence of fault motions. Erosion is deep
quence in the southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge. enough to have removed most hanging wall cutoffs, thus render-
Folded faults also remain good evidence that a fault was ing their shapes problematic over most of the area. Using new
folded after emplacement. The alternative explanation might be and old tools, w e conclude that the Pulaski sheet was emplaced
that the fault followed weak beds in a curved path. Wiltschko over a previously undeformed footwall with a stair-step path. It
(1981) analyzed the energy absorbed during folding of a thrust was subsequently folded by emplacement of footwall horses,
sheet over a single footwall ramp. Mitra and Boyer (1986) which form a sub-Pulaski duplex. The Saltville thrust did not
examined the energy absorbed by emplacement of horses in a truncate structures in its footwall in east Tennessee, as suggested
duplex zone. In both cases they concluded that the warping of the by Milici and others (1979). Rather, it was emplaced with a
sheets was a major resistance to further movement. For a later, stair-step path over an undeformed footwall. The White Oak
more hinterlandward, thrust to follow curved weak beds in its Mountain-Hunter Valley thrust sheet probably moved prior to
footwall would require it to fold and unfold its sheet a number of any motion on the Wallen Valley thrust, although the Wallen
times. Each folding and unfolding would absorb energy and Valley sheet was accreted to its front early during motion. The
probably cause the sheet to cease motion. This argues against White Oak Mountain-Wallen Valley fault then accreted footwall
faults with major displacement following strongly curved weak slices of Ordovician carbonates and Silurian clastic rocks. Finally
beds while being emplaced over a previously folded footwall. the Wallen Valley fault was emplaced along a stair-step path (as
seen at its northern end, where the hanging wall cutoffs are pre-
CONCLUSIONS served), prior to folding of its footwall associated with motion of
the Pine Mountain thrust. Overall, these examples argue that the
This is not a review of all fault intersections or folding regional progression of thrusting was from the hinterland to the
patterns in the Tennessee and Virginia Valley and Ridge. Rather, foreland, in a fashion similar to other fold and thrust belts.
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CLINCHPORT COPPER CREEK BEAVER VALLEY

EXPLANATION

Precambnan Home Formation (Lower and Conasauga Group (Middle Chickamauga Group ( M i d d l e and Upper Ordovrcian to M i s s i s s i p p i
basement Middle Cambriani C r and Upper Cambriani Ce Upper Ordovicianl Och and Knox
Group (Upper Cambrian and
l o w e r Ordovicianl O C k

E X P L A N A T I O N

-y—»—» » r-
Line of section Thrust fault Contact
See Figure 2
I—^—^^ . 1
0 5 MILES

5 KILOMETRES

Figure 9. a—The U.S. Geological Survey seismic line (line F on Fig. 1) described by Harris (1976) and
Harris and Milici (1977). 9b—Harris's (1976) interpretation of the line does not reflect a true cross-
sectional interpretation of the thrust structure because of its low angle to strike over most of its length, as
seen in 9c. The shallow reflector dips are the apparent dips of steeper reflectors.
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178 Woodward and Beets

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS , 1963, Geology of the Stickleyville Quadrangle, Virginia: U.S. Geological
Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map, GQ-238, scale 1:24,000.
W e would like to thank Steve Wojtal and Gautam Mitra for Jones, P. B., 1971, Folded faults and sequences of thrusting in Alberta foothills:
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 55, p. 292-306.
inviting our participation in the symposium for which this paper Lowry, W. D., 1979, Nature of thrusting along the Allegheny front near Pearis-
was prepared. W e would also like to thank Robert Milici, Steven burg and of overthrusting in the Blacksburg-Radford area of Virginia;
Marshak, Richard Groshong, Charles Lutz, Peter Regan, and Guidebook for the 11th Annual Virginia Geological Field Conference: Vir-
James C. Bolton for their reviews. This work was supported by ginia Tech Department of Geological Sciences Guidebook 8, 66 p.
the Professors Honor Fund of the Department of Geological Lutz, C. T., and Woodward, N. B., 1984, The Copper Creek, Beaver Valley,
Saltville transition; Analysis of a transfer zone in the southern Appalachians:
Sciences, University of Tennessee, by grants to J. W. Beets from Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 16, p. 580.
the Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America Mackin, J. H., 1950, The down-structure method of viewing geologic maps:
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1:24,000. MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED BY THE SOCIETY OCTOBER 29,1987

Printed in U.S.A.
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Geological Society of America Special Papers

Critical evidence for southern Appalachian Valley and Ridge thrust
sequence
Nicholas B. Woodward and Jerry W. Beets

Geological Society of America Special Papers 1988;222; 165-178

doi:10.1130/SPE222-p165

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Notes

© 1988 Geological Society of America