1907-2007 Indian Trail Centennial
Indian Trail Centennial Book — Indian Trail: The First 100 Years
Excerpt from Indian Trail: The First 100 Years
The Carolina Slate Belt
Union County geologically is included in The Carolina Slate Belt. The Carolina Slate Belt is a geological belt of heated and deformed sedimentary rocks that begins at the Virginia North Carolina Line and stretches across the Piedmont area of the Carolinas to the Georgia South Carolina Line (see diagram at bottom of the previous page). It was the site of a series of ocean volcanic Islands that merged with the existing earth plate about 550-650 Million years ago. The existence of metals found in the Carolina Slate Belt is a function of the existence of metal composition of magna deposits you can get around an erupting volcano. The belt is known for its numerous abandoned gold mines and prospects.
The geologist definition of a formation is a body of rock identified on the basis of rock type and strategic position, which means the order which it was geologically deposited. Union county contains seven rock types or formations that are subsets of the Carolina Slate Belt and they are:
A TILLERY FORMATION
B MCMANUS FORMATION
C GRANITE OR GRANODIORITE
D UNHAIRRE FORMATION
E GOEISS SCHIST
F YADKIN GRAYWACKE
G TRIASSIC ROCK UNDIFFERENTIATED
The Tillery Formation is very monotonously laminated, very thinly bedded sedimentary rock. Indian Trail is centrally located on this rock formation. The soil does not perk or support building foundations well without reinforcement.
The McManus Formation is mainly silty mudstones with up to 40 or 50 percent interbeds and interlaminations of siltstone and fine-grained sandstone. The majority of Union County soils are identified with this formation.
Granite or Granodiorite makes up the predominate rock in this formation.
The Unhairre Formation is almost all volcanic rock or volcanic related rock.
Geoeisse Schist includes hornblende gneiss and mica gneiss and schist
Yadkin Graywackie is mainly a poorly sorted, interbedded sequence of sands and silts of volcanic origin. Interbedded in this sequence are layers of well-sorted quartzite
sandstone.
Triassic Rock Undifferenated has conglomerates, shales, siltstone. Coal, diabase intrusions (materials that date to the Triassic period 248-206 million years ago)
The most significant analysis is that the Union County Gold Mines were located on the western edge of the junction of The Unhairre Formation and The Tillery Formation. This is very apparent when you compare the Composite Geology Map of Union County to the Union County Gold Mine Map.
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