Reprocessing and enhanced interpretation of the initial COCORP Southern Appalachians traverse

Reprocessing of the 1978–1980 COCORP Southern Appalachian seismic reflection data has produced improved images of structures related to the emplacement of the Blue Ridge–Inner Piedmont allochthon. The results enhance and extend the interpretation presented previously that the Blue Ridge and Inner Piedmont are allochthonous above a shallow, and shallow dipping, detachment that can be followed from outcrop at the Blue Ridge/Valley and Ridge transition to at least beneath the Carolina terrane. The continuity of reflections in the new images supports the interpretation that the southern Appalachian detachment is not rooted on the east side of the Inner Piedmont, but rather projects as a low-angle detachment (or zone of decoupling) to beneath the Coastal Plain. An implication of this geometry is that terranes, such as the Carolina terrane, between autochthonous North America and the Alleghanian suture beneath the Coastal Plain are detached, thin flakes.