Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Petrography Of The Buck Creek Dunite Body, Clay County, Nc: Implications About Its Origin And Emplacement, Trista L. Thornberry

Honors Papers

The Buck Creek dunite body, which is part of the Chunky Gal mafic and ultramafic complex, is well exposed on Corundum Knob in Clay County, North Carolina. These ultramafic rocks are surrounded here by mafic schists and gneisses. Gradational geochemical / mineralogical contacts between the mafic and ultramafic rocks of the this complex imply the same protolith for both rock types. They may have originated as distinct parts of an ophiolitic suite beneath a mid-ocean spreading ridge. The metamorphic history of these ophiolitic rocks suggest further that they were subdued to depths of -18km before being emplaced along fault zones …