ABSTRACT Rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa Formation (Cenomanian) and Eutaw Formation (Santonian) in southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama record an interval of fluvial and nearshore marine deposition. In the vicinity of Columbus, Georgia, basal units of the Tuscaloosa Formation consist of a residual paleosol built on crystalline rocks of the Appalachian Piedmont covered by conglomeratic sandstones deposited in braided stream systems flowing across the mid-Cenomanian Coastal Plain unconformity. The unconformity, which separates Cretaceous detrital rocks from underlying metamorphic rocks and residual paleosols built on those metamorphic rocks, lies primarily within the Tuscaloosa Formation in this region and is marked at the modern surface by the geomorphic Fall Line. Mapping of the unconformity across the region reveals areas of significant paleorelief associated with a number of distinct paleovalleys incised into the mid-Cenomanian surface. The most distinct of these lie immediately east of the Alabama-Georgia state line, within 15 km of the modern Lower Chattahoochee River Valley. Spatially, these distinct paleovalleys lie immediately north of a Santonian estuarine environment recorded in the Eutaw Formation, disconformably above the Tuscaloosa Formation. Collectively, paleo-valleys in the mid-Cenomanian surface, the fluvial nature of the Tuscaloosa Formation in southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama, and the estuarine environment in the younger Eutaw Formation suggest a persistent (~10 m.y.) paleodrainage system that may be a forerunner to the modern Chattahoochee River.

ABSTRACT The Appalachian Mountains expose one of the most-studied orogenic belts in the world. However, metamorphic pressure-temperature-time ( P-T-t ) paths for reconstructing the tectonic history are largely lacking for the southernmost end of the orogen. In this contribution, we describe select field locations in a rough transect across the orogen from Ducktown, Tennessee, to Goldville, Alabama. Metamorphic rocks from nine locations are described and analyzed in order to construct quantitative P-T-t paths, utilizing isochemical phase diagram sections and garnet Sm-Nd ages. P-T-t paths and garnet Sm-Nd ages for migmatitic garnet sillimanite schist document high-grade 460–411 Ma metamorphism extending south from Winding Stair Gap to Standing Indian in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. In the Alabama Blue Ridge, Wedowee Group rocks were metamorphosed at biotite to staurolite zone, with only local areas of higher-temperature metamorphism. The Wedowee Group is flanked by higher-grade rocks of the Ashland Supergroup and Emuckfaw Group to the northwest and southeast, respectively. Garnet ages between ca. 357 and 319 Ma indicate that garnet growth was Neoacadian to early Alleghanian in the Blue Ridge of Alabama. The P-T-t paths for these rocks are compatible with crustal thickening during garnet growth.

The 2021 GSA Northeastern, Southeastern, joint North-Central/South-Central, and Cordilleran Section Meet-ings were held virtually in spring 2021 during continued restrictions on travel and large gatherings due to COVID-19. Eleven groups put together field guides, taking participants on treks to states from Connecticut to Nevada in the United States, to Mexico, and to Italy, and covering topics as varied as bedrock geologic map-ping, geochemistry, paleodrainage, barrier islands, karst, spring systems, a southern Appalachian transect, Ordo-vician and Mississippian stratigraphy, high-energy events, Cretaceous arc granites and dextral shear zones, and Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks. This volume serves as a valuable resource for those wishing to discover, learn more about, and travel through these geologically fascinating areas.