Abstract
The petrology of coarse, moderately sorted to moderately-well sorted, sands was examined from six rivers in the south eastern Piedmont Province. The six rivers were the Altamaha River, the Ogeechee River, the Savannah River, the Santee River, the Pee Dee River and the Cape Fear River. The composition of fluvial sands from the Altamaha River, the Santee River and the Cape Fear River is characƠterized by: monocrystalline quartz, 42-72 percent; polycrystalline quartz, 1-23 percent; crystal line rock fragments, 1-15 percent; saprolite fragments, 1-8 percent; plagioclase, 0 -8 percent; potassium feldspar, 3-17 perƠcent; and "others" (including mica and heavy minerals), 0-16 percent. The majority of these sediments are sub-mature and their components are highly weathered. In a regional context, the gross lithology of these sands is remarkably uniform. However, trends in sediment composition do occur within rivers. Rock fragments increase in abundance with in coarse sands from the upper Piedmont towards the Fall Zone. Within the Coastal Plain, rock fragments and other unstable components decrease in abundance towards the coast. Feldspar contents with in the fine sand fraction may drop from above 15 percent to 2 percent. ...
Burnett, Thomas Lawrence (1971). Petrology of southeastern Piedmont river sands, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -175750.