Cades Cove is located within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park approximately 7 miles west of the intersection of TN 73 and Laurel Creek Road near Townsend, TN (Figure 1).  An 11 mile route (Loop Road), traverses the nearly oval-shaped boundary to the Cades Cove geologic window.

Figure 1  Location map indicating location of Cades Cove within the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee (Image Credit: USGS, 1997).

Cades Cove geologic window is composed primarily of rocks from the Precambrian Ocoee Supergroup.  These rocks are metamorphosed clastic sedimentary rocks originally derived from the erosion of the 1 Ga granitic gneiss that now makes up the basement in the area (King et. al, 1968; Southworth et. al, 2000).  The Ocoee Supergroup is composed of four units -- the Metcalf Phyllite of the Snowbird Group (Zm on Bedrock Map - Figures 2 and 3), the Elkmont Sandstone (Ze) and the Cades Sandstone (Zc) of the Great Smoky Group, and the Shields Formations (Zs) of the Walden Creek Group.  All of these units overlie the 450 Ma Jonesboro Limestone (Oj on the Bedrock Map -- Figures 2 and 3) of the Knox Group that makes up the floor of the cove (King et. al, 1968; Southworth et. al, 2000).  Rocks of the Ocoee Supergroup were initially deposited in a deep water basin that formed as Laurentia rifted apart to form the Iapetus Ocean.  During the Alleghanian orogeny (ca. 250 Ma ago), the Iapetus closed, and the North American and Eurasian plates collided (Southworth et. al, 2000).  As a result, the rocks of the Ocoee Supergroup were folded and metamorphosed, and subsequently faulted and transported westward along the low-angle Great Smoky Thrust Fault (Southworth et. al., 2000).  Later erosion by Abrams Creek exposed the younger Jonesboro Limestone and created the Cades Cove geologic window.  The exact timing of the formation of the Cove is uncertain, and is constrained only by the 1 Ga granitic gneiss basement and the 545 Ma fossiliferous Cambrian rocks that overly the Ocoee Supergroup (Southworth et. al, 2000).
	Figure 2  Bedrock geology of the Cades Cove geologic window (Image Credit: Southworth et. al, 2000).
	Figure 3  Geologic cross-sections of the Cades Cove geologic window area (Cross-section locations indicated in bedrock geology map) (Image Credit: Southworth et. al, 2000).

At Cades Cove Campground, we observed localized boulders of Elkmont Sandstone.  This sandstone is very coarse grained (granule size) and has been metamorphosed to quartzite.  In addition, several small scale quartz veins were noted.  Cades Cove represents an erosional window, created as the Great Smoky Thrust Fault was eroded, thereby exposing the younger rocks beneath the older thrust sheet (Figure 4).  Topographic relief due to thrust faulting and erosion was evident as we traversed Loop Road through Cades Cove.  The floor of the cove is approximately 1750 feet above sea level, while the surrounding peaks reach and elevation of 4948 feet.	Elkmont Sandstone (click on image for larger view)
	Quartz veins in Elkmont Sandstone (click on image for larger view)
Topographic relief in Cades Cove geologic window.	Figure 4  Schematic diagram of Cades Cove geologic window (Moore, 1988). (Click on image for larger view)