The Roanoke Rapids complex of the Eastern slate belt, Halifax and Northampton Counties, North Carolina

Abstract

The site is located at Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, along the tailrace below Roanoke Rapids dam on the Roanoke River, in the northeast quadrant of the Roanoke Rapids 7½-minute quadrangle (Fig. 1), 4.3 mi (7 km) south of the Virginia state line. This hydroelectric dam and the tailrace are owned by North Carolina Power. Most geologic features exposed along the tailrace can be observed by traversing the south side, which is open to the public “at your own risk.” The north side of the tailrace and the adjacent riverbed north of it show similar features and can be reached, with permission, by walking across the lower part of the dam. Permission can be requested from officials at the North Carolina Power station at the north end of Oakwood Avenue (Fig. 1).

Surficial geologic map of the Roanoke Rapids 30' x 60' quadrangle, North Carolina

“…Roanoke Rapids terrane felsic metavolcanic rocks near Princeton, N.C., have yielded a Cambrian rubidium-strontium whole-rock age (P.D. Fullagar, cited in Horton and Stoddard, 1986), which is in accord with the fossil evidence. This complex suite of metamorphic, igneous, and cataclastic rocks is shown on this map only as an undifferentiated basement complex.…”

Puncoviscana folded belt in northwestern Argentina: testimony of Late Proterozoic Rodinia fragmentation and pre-Gondwana collisional episodes

“…Rocks of similar affinity have been identified in several areas along the eastern board of the Goochland and Carolina terranes. The Roanoke Rapids terrane has transitional characteristics between marginal marine-shelf deposits and volcanogenic sequences (Horton and Stoddard 1986). The rocks associated with the Spring Hope terrane are representative of a volcanic arc (Boltin and Stoddard 1987) and presumably result from subduction by the convergence of the Hatteras terrane against the Roanoke Rapids-Spring Hope belt during the Acadian orogeny (see Figs.…”