Abstract
The Ocoee Series is an upper Precambrian clastic wedge that forms most of the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. The Wilhite Formation of the Walden Creek Group, Ocoee Series, has the greatest variety of rock types of the Ocoee sequence; it is the only formation that contains an appreciable amount of carbonate rock. The rock types of the Wilhite include quartz-pebble conglomerate, feldspathic sandstone, siltstone, shale, and carbonate rocks. The carbonate rocks on this section compare favorably with modern shallow-water carbonate rocks and have been broken down into shallow-subtidal, intertidal-supratidal, and subaerial deposits. Interbedded clastic sediments were probably deposited in shallow-water to neritic coastal-plain environments. This interpretation contrasts with the suggestion by some previous workers that at least part of the Wilhite interval was deposited by turbidity currents in deep water. The facies relations of the Wilhite to the feldspathic and immature Ocoee sedimentary rocks to the east imply that the Wilhite is a seaward equivalent to landward deposits to the east. This facies arrangement suggests that the Ocoee sedimentary rocks had an eastern source.
