Download Guidebook as .pdf (29.1 Mb) - Carolina Geological Society
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Allen J. Dennis and Others<br />
and a number of pegmatite and granite dikes. In thin sections<br />
the m<strong>as</strong>sive rocks have relict igneous hypautomorphic-granular<br />
texture, strongly modified by replacement of original<br />
minerals by fine-grained, greenschist facies minerals such <strong>as</strong><br />
actinolite, chlorite, epidote and albite. The texture, chemical<br />
composition, and relict crystals of hornblende, pyroxene,<br />
and calcic plagiocl<strong>as</strong>e indicate that the rocks w<strong>as</strong> originally<br />
hornblende gabbro or gabbro-norite. Regional metamorphism<br />
here w<strong>as</strong> under greenschist facies conditions, in contr<strong>as</strong>t<br />
with regional amphibolite facies conditions in most of<br />
the Charlotte belt.<br />
Near the southern end of the railroad cuts and about 80<br />
meters north of SC-9, there are several low exposures of<br />
residual boulders of unmetamorphosed olivine gabbro. The<br />
gabbro is very different from rocks farther north in the outcrop,<br />
although there are no clear differences in soil and<br />
saprolite in between that would define a contact. The gabbro<br />
is similar to rocks that make up the Chester gabbro pluton,<br />
about 1.4 km to the west along SC-9. The gabbro is mediumgrained<br />
and composed of plagiocl<strong>as</strong>e, olivine, augite, hypersthene,<br />
hornblende, and opaque minerals, with small<br />
amounts of biotite and spinel. This occurrence of gabbro is<br />
interpreted to be a dike or a small plug related to the Chester<br />
pluton, but it could be part of a larger body underlying the<br />
covered area south of the outcrop. These outcrops illustrate<br />
the difficulties of mapping gabbro versus metagabbro.<br />
STOP 4: CHARLOTTE BELT INTRUSIVE COM-<br />
PLEX AT NEAL SHOALS DAM, ON THE<br />
BROAD RIVER IN WESTERN CHESTER<br />
COUNTY (FIG. 6, LEEDS QUADRANGLE)<br />
LOCATION<br />
The outcrops are just below the e<strong>as</strong>tern abutment of<br />
Neal Shoals Dam on the Broad River, at the end of National<br />
Forest Road 304, Sumter National Forest. The Neal Shoals<br />
Dam is owned by South <strong>Carolina</strong> Electric and G<strong>as</strong> Company.<br />
DESCRIPTION<br />
Below the dam, there are excellent outcrops of fresh<br />
rock and saprock swept clean by periodic overflow. The<br />
main outcrop area is about 100m long by about 60 m wide.<br />
The rocks range in composition from felsic to mafic. The<br />
oldest rocks are inclusions of hornblende gneiss, amphibolite<br />
6