The structure, stratigraphy, tectonostratigraphy, and evolution of the southernmost part of the Appalachian Orogen

The southernmost part of the Appalachian Orogen is composed of three stacks of folded thrust sheets, which preserve rocks formed in a variety of environments that virtually spanned the Iapetus Ocean. All of the metamorphism, deformation, and plutonism in the southernmost Appalachians can be related to the movement of the thrust sheets and stacks. Thrusting took place continuously from Early Ordovician through Carboniferous time. An account is given of the origins, assembly, transport, and arrival of the thrust sheets and stacks.