A Study of the Rome Formation in the Valley and Ridge Province of East Tennessee

Purpose and Scope:

The purpose of the present study is to bring together newly derived information and earlier accounts of the varied characteristics of the Rome formation in order that they may be examined in an objective manner with a view toward a broader synthesis of information.

The present study consists, for the most part, of a detailed examination of three selected exposures of the Rome formation measured by the writer in the Valley and Ridge province of Tennessee. The newer data have been derived from field and laboratory studies of the lithology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy at the three exposures. The three measured sections have been compared with one another and with certain other exposures which have either been personally examined by the writer or described in the literature. The data from among these several exposures are correlated and the characteristics and geologic history of the formation is re-examined and summarized on the basis of the evidence presented.