Ore deposits of the northern parts of the Carolina slate belt, North Carolina

Abstract

Modelers of the Carolina state belt (CSB) have come to view the province as a remnant of a late Precambrian-earlyPaleozoic island arc. Thus the metallogeny and tectonic setting of the stratabound massive sulfides, iron/manganese formations, and barite deposits, of the Au, W, and Cu veins, of disseminated Cu and Mo porphyry-like deposits, and of the kyanite-andalusite-pyrophyllite deposits are of considerable significance. On the basis of a characterization of these deposits and their regional setting, it can be concluded that (1) the eastern parts of the CSB in North Carolina were dominated by subaerial to shallow marine conditions with volcaniclastic debris shed westward into a deepening back-arc basin, (2) the major folds of the area were syndepositional, (3) the nonfoliated, postmetamorphic granites are typical of those related to post-tectonic plutonism, (4) the Kings Mountain belt appears to have developed in a similar tectonic setting to the CSB, (5) the aluminosilicate deposits mark significant linear zones of subaerial to shallow submarine volcanism which terminate basinward in volcanic centers, and (6) the western parts of the CSB were dominated by relatively deep water, quiet conditions, distal to volcanic centers. MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED BY THE SOCIETY JULY 8, I9S2 Typeset by CGE Services, Denver, Colorado Printed in U.S.A. by Malloy Lithographing, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan on July 15, 2015 specialpapers.gsapubs.org Downloaded from