Readings in Georgia Geology

On some topics, if you question five geologists you will probably receive five or more variant answers. Much of geology is interpretational. Usually we can identify a rock's minerals and describe the processes that may have formed that rock; in many cases we can accurately determine its age. It is much more difficult to compile those details into a picture of a region's geologic history, and to describe how a region's geology fits into Earth's history of 4.5 billion years.

Geologists interpret old, complex, and corrupted evidence. Particularly, metamorphic rock is difficult to assess. Sedimentary rock may show consistent sequential layers with datable fossils; igneous rock often allows precise geochemical analysis and gives accurate radiometric dates. Metamorphic rock may have been so changed that we can only estimate its original form, or the processes that changed it. Of course, most rock in Piedmont and Blue Ridge Georgia is metamorphic.

Over time, geologists learn (we would hope), and geologic worldviews change; our picture of Earth's history is today much different from 50 or 100 years ago. References listed below illustrate how our understanding of Georgia geology has changed since advancement of plate tectonic theory in the 1960's, and how it continues to change.

I have listed publications of which I have direct knowledge. These sources have many other publications.

• Professional Paper 1475, The Structure, Stratigraphy, Tectonostratigraphy, and Evolution of the Southernmost Part of the Appalachian Orogen
• Bulletin 1822, Stacked Crystalline Thrust Sheets and Episodes of Regional Metamorphism in Northeastern Georgia and Northwestern South Carolina -- A Reinterpretation
• Bulletin 1883, Geology, Geochemistry, and Mineral Resource Assessment of the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and Adjacent Roadless Areas, Rabun and Towns Counties, Georgia, and Clay and Macon Counties, North Carolina
• Geologic Map of the United States

• Bulletin 58, Geology of the Crystalline Rocks of Georgia
• Bulletin 61, Geology of the Stone Mountain - Lithonia District, Georgia
• Bulletin 62, Contributions to the Paleontology of Northwest Georgia
• Bulletin 62, Stratigraphy, Structure, and Mineral Resources of the Mineral Bluff Quadrangle, Georgia
• Bulletin 68, The Geology and Mineralogy of Graves Mountain, Georgia
• Bulletin 75, The Murphy Syncline in the Tate Quadrangle, Georgia
• Bulletin 77, The Geology of the Brevard Lineament near Atlanta, Georgia
• Bulletin 85, Ultramafic and Related Rocks in the Vicinity of Lake Chatuge
• Bulletin 92, Minerals of Georgia
• Bulletin 96, Geology of the Greater Atlanta Area
• Bulletin 100, The Geology of the Northeastern Portion of the Dahlonega Gold Belt
• Bulletin 114, The Natural Environments of Georgia
• Bulletin 130, Revision of Stratigraphic Nomenclature in the Atlanta, Athens, and Cartersville 30'x60' Quadrangles, Georgia
• Information Circular 54-A, Latest Thinking on the Stratigraphy of Selected Areas in Georgia
• Information Circular 82, Geology of Selected Mafic and Ultramafic Rocks of Georgia, a review
• 1980 GSA Guidebooks, Excursions in Southeastern Geology
• State Map 3, Geologic Map of Georgia
• Geologic Guide series for state parks

• 1983, v. 3, no. 1, Geology of Paleozoic Rocks in the Vicinity of Rome, Georgia
• 1988, v. 8, no. 1, Geology of the Murphy Belt and Related Rocks, Georgia and North Carolina
• 1989, v. 9, no. 1, Excursions in Geolgia Geology
• 1989, v. 9, no. 2, The Geology of the East End of the Pine Mountain Window and Adjacent Piedmont, Central Georgia
• 1989, v. 9, no. 3, Geology of the Eastern Blue Ridge of Northeast Georgia and the Adjacent Carolinas
• 1996, v. 16, no. 1, The Cartersville Fault Problem: Revisited
• 2002, v. 22, no. 1, Geologic Features of Eastern Pickens, Dawson, and Western Lumpkin Counties, Georgia
• 2007, v. 27, no. 1, Tectonics of the Georgia Blue Ridge . . .

• American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)'s Geologic Highway Map, Southeastern Region
• AAPG's Tectonic Map of North America
• Peterson Field Guide: Geology of Eastern North America, David Roberts
• Mountain Press: Roadside Geology series (regrettably, none for Georgia)
• Shaping the Earth; Tectonics of Continents and Oceans (readings from Scientific American), Eldridge Moores, editor
• Underfoot: a Geologic Guide to the Appalachian Trail, V. Collins Chew
• Geological Cross-Section Through Part of the Southern Appalachian Orogen, American Geophysical Union
• The Georgia Conservancy's Guide to the North Georgia Mountains
• The Field Guide to Geology, David Lambert and the Diagram Group
• Teach Yourself Geology, David A. Rothery
• Field Geology Illustrated, Terry Maley
• The Practical Geologist, Dougal Dixon
• Chemical Fundamentals of Geology, Robin Gill
• The Origin of Continents and Oceans, Alfred Wegener, available from Dover Publications
• Rocks and Minerals, Chris Pellant (Dorling Kindersly Eyewitness Handbook)
• Minerals, Rupert Hochleitner, Barrons (Field guide with photographs; organized by streak color and hardness)
• John McPhee's books on geology and geologists of the United States:
  • Basin and Range, 1981
  • In Suspect Terrain, 1983
  • Rising from the Plains, 1986
  • Assembling California, 1993
  • Annals of the Former World, 1998 (A compilation of the four volumes above, with substantial new material.)