Lithostratigraphy and petrography of the Upper Cambrian Maynardville Formation within the Copper Creek fault belt of East Tennessee.

Ever since the Maynardville Formation was first defined by c. R. L. Oder in 1934, it has been the subjeot of considerable controversy. While its age (Croixan) has never been seriously questioned, it has yet to be established definitely whether the Maynardville should be included within the alternating shales and carbonates of the subjacent Conasauga Group or within the overlying Knox Group, consisting almost entirely of limestone and dolomite. The purpose of this investigation was to subdivide the Maynardville Formation within the Copper Ridge strike belt into a laterally traceable vertical succession of parastratigraphic units. A parastratigraphic unit is defined by Krumbein and Sloss (1963, page 333) as a grouping of strata, identified by objective lithologic criteria, but lacking in-either mappability or lithologic homogeneity and constancy. Parastratigraphic units are lithostratigraphic units which are not formally named as formations, members, groups, etc. The effect of dividing the Maynardville Formation into parastratigraphio units is to delineate a grouping of subparallel bands traceable along strike, without proposing formal names for the lithostratigraphic divisions.