26-5 New Compiled Geologic Map of the Henderson and Western Portion of the Roanoke Rapids 30x60-Minute Quadrangles, North Carolina Eastern Piedmont

Session: Geologic Maps, Geophysical Maps, 3-D Geologic Models, Digital Mapping Techniques, Map Derivatives, and Digital Map preparation (Posters)

Presenting Author:

Authors:

Abstract:

We present a bedrock geologic map for the Henderson and westernmost portion of the Roanoke Rapids 30’x60’ quadrangles in the North Carolina eastern Piedmont. U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program support to the NC Geological Survey under STATEMAP and M.S. thesis support to the University of North Carolina Wilmington under EDMAP funded the mapping deliverables. Whole-rock geochemical and Sm-Nd isotopic analyses and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U-Pb zircon geochronology analyses enhanced our efforts.

We constructed the map for interstate bedrock correlation with the long-range goal of seamless transition between the South Boston (Horton et al., 2022a and 2022b) and Henderson 30’x60’ geologic maps across the VA-NC state line and to support the USGS US Geoframework Initiative (USGI) vision for a nation-wide, seamless geologic map.  NCGS open-file reports and Blake et al. (2012) include map data, references, and local to regional tectonic overviews. The map layout (Index to Workers, Plate 1) provides specific sources. Descriptions of Map Units (DMUs) presented in the accompanying pamphlet link to the open file reports. Descriptions generally correspond with the youngest-to-oldest and west-to-east spatial display of Correlation of Map Units (CMUs; Plate 2).

The bedrock map depicts metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous lithodemic, lithostratigraphic, and plutonic lithologic units across nine third-order lithotectonic elements that are, from west to east, the Carolina terrane, Deep River Triassic rift basin, and easternmost Carolina, Falls Lake, Crabtree, Raleigh, Warren, Spring Hope, and Roanoke Rapids terranes. Ductile right-slip strands of the Eastern Piedmont fault system separate the suprastructural (Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Carolina, easternmost Carolina, Spring Hope, and Roanoke Rapids) from infrastructural (Neoproterozoic Falls Lake, Crabtree, Raleigh, and Devonian Warren) terranes. These structures are, from west to east, the Falls Lake-Nutbush Creek, Neuse River, Lake Gordon, Macon, and Hollister mylonite/fault zones. Syn-kinematic to post-kinematic, Mississippian to Pennsylvanian-Permian granitoid plutons intrude fault strands and terranes. Brittle-ductile normal faults overprinting terranes, fault strands, and plutons are, from west to east, the Fishing Creek, Jonesboro, and Upper Barton Creek faults. Jurassic diabase intrudes all pre-existing units.

Coastal Plain sediments only overlay older crystalline units in the northeastern portion of the Roanoke Rapids quadrangle surrounding Littleton, North Carolina. Older alluvium and modern floodplain deposits are present along major drainages. These sediments are not displayed on the bedrock map.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 1, 2026

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