A SPLENDID TEACHING OUTCROP IN THE SAURATOWN MOUNTAINS: HOGAN CREEK FORMATION NEAR DANBURY, NC

This outcrop of the Hogan Creek Formation is located near Danbury in the Sauratown Mountains Window. The pleasant, short hike to the outcrop follows Flat Shoals Creek, where students can observe a variety of stream processes. The stop is easily integrated into a field trip to Hanging Rock State Park. We present a field guide, maps, and learning activities suitable for high school through college students.

The outcrop is an unusually large and well exposed overhanging cliff face cut by Flat Shoals Creek near the Dan River. It contains several different metamorphic rocks, each with different mechanical properties, making it is an excellent place for students to identify rocks and see obvious examples of structural deformation.

The Hogan Creek Formation interlayers a variety of metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks, including muscovite biotite gneiss (metagraywacke), muscovite schist, biotite schist, granitic gneiss, amphibolite, marble, and quartzite. In this one outcrop, we see a number of these lithologies. This outcrop provides a wonderful opportunity to observe the clear contrasts in the competency of different rock types. Some lithologies show very little resistance to deformation, while other rocks in the same outcrop exhibit tight folds, gentle folds, and faults.