DescriptionThunderhead Sandstone (Neoproterozoic; The Sinks, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, USA) 11 (36869169051).jpg
Sandstone in the Precambrian of Tennessee, USA.
This photo shows the Little River flowing by outcrops of Thunderhead Sandstone, a unit in the ~50,000 feet thick Ocoee Supergroup. The Ocoee has considerable deposits of sandstone and shale originally deposited as sands and muds in an ancient ocean trench. Trenches form along subduction zones, where a tectonic plate composed of thin, heavy oceanic lithosphere dives down into the mantle below another tectonic plate of either oceanic lithosphere or thick, lightweight continental lithosphere.
The Thunderhead Sandstone in this area consists of coarse-grained sandstone with granules. It has quartz and potassium feldspar - it's an arkosic sandstone. Subangular grains appear to dominate. Some phyllite interbeds are present - these were originally shales, but have been metamorphosed.
Stratigraphy: Thunderhead Sandstone, Great Smoky Group, Ocoee Supergroup, Neoproterozoic
Locality: "The Sinks" along the Little River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, southwestern Sevier County (next to the Blount County line), eastern Tennessee, USA (35° 40’ 09.38" North latitude, 83° 39’ 44.57” West longitude)
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