Tectonic stylolites in the ‘undeformed’ Cumberland Plateau of southern Tennessee

Numerous tectonic stylolites (i.e. stylolitic planes), most of which are nearly vertical and strike about N30E. cut through otherwise undeformed carbonates in the Cumberland Plateau of southeastern Tennessee. These stylolites confirm previous arguments that tectonic stylolites should form in flat-lying strata in front of foldthrust belts. The uniform trend of the teeth of the stylolites at N50W to N70W suggests that they formed as the result of Alleghanian compression, but the stylolites lie beyond the geographic limits of other, larger-scale. Alleghanian structures. Field evidence shows that the Monteagle stylolites, which are evenly spaced, formed along pre-existing fractures, illustrating that even spacing is not necessarily evidence of self-organization.