The purpose of the 1993 Carolina Geological Society field trip is to discuss structural and stratigraphic relationships in the western Inner Piedmont in the Columbus Promontory, in the Hendersonville-Tryon area, North Carolina, and to compare this with other parts of the Inner Piedmont and southern Appalachians. The stratigraphy making up most of the core and SE flank of the belt consists of an assemblage of metagraywacke, aluminous schist, and amphibolite, deposited on an unknown basement. This stratigraphic assemblage resembles the widespread lower unit in the eastern Blue Ridge that in places overlies Gpenville basement, but mostly overlies an unknown—probably oceanic—basement. Overlying the lower assemblage on the NW and SE flanks of the Inner Piedmont is an upper sequence ofmetasiltstone/ metapelite, and amphibolite with some quartzite and marble (Poor Mountain and Chauga River Formations). The Henderson Gneiss, a 509 Ma granitoid, was probably tectonically emplaced onto the upper sequence in the western Piedmont near the metamorphic peak. These assemblages were intruded by numerous Paleozoic granitoids, along with some intermediate and mafic plutons. Metamorphism reached upper amphibolite grade conditions in the core and lower amphibolite grade conditions locally along the flanks. Guidebook edited by Robert D. Hatcher and Timothy L. Davis, 1993. 114 pages. Includes 1 plate.
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