However, in the area east and southeast of Cartersville, the location and very existence of the fault have been questioned. The purpose of this field trip is to examine the area in question and throw what light is possible on the problem.

The Cartersville fault is exposed near the powerhouse at the base of Carters Dam located in southeastern Murray County, approximately 60 miles (96 km) north-northwest of Atlanta on the Oakman 7½-minute Quadrangle (Fig. 1).

Carters Dam is an earthen embankment dam located south of Chatsworth in Murray County and west of Ellijay in northwestern Georgia, United States, that creates Carters Lake. The dam is 445 feet (136 m) tall and is situated 26.8 miles (43.1 km) above the mouth of the Coosawattee River. The drainage area is 376 square miles (970 km2). [1]

southeast of the Emerson fault (formerly part of the Cartersville fault) or east of the Carters Dam fault (formerly part of the Cartersville fault or the Great Smoky fault) in Georgia (fig. 2).

Apr 13, 2024 · Earhart was asked about the dam's constructi­on, and if — as some have speculated — it was built with earth and rock instead of concrete because of the Cartersvil­le Fault Line that runs under the area where metamorphi­c rock meets sandstone. “There is a fault line over there,” he said.

Below the dam that formed Carter’s Lake, you will find a view of the Carter’s Dam Fault. At this fault, the Western Blue Ridge rock meet the rocks of the Great Valley. The rocks of the valley rocks are sedimentary while the Blue Ridge rocks are metamorphic.

Mar 27, 1977 · The Russell dam would be in a seismic area, and the Orme dam is said to be in a geologic fault zone. Dam supporters argue that locations can be changed and safer design features incorporated.

Construction of the dam, and the filling in of the lake, destroyed the site of Coosa. That town was the seat of a paramount chiefdom of the Mississippian culture in 1540 when De Soto and his men visited the site on their expedition. [4]

A large area near the dam on the south shore has been developed by a concessionaire as the Blue Ridge Mountain Marina Resort. In a road cut below the dam one can see the Cartersville–Great Smoky Fault where Western Blue Ridge rocks rest …

The Carters Dam was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in a gorge on Coosawatee River in northern Georgia. It opened in the early 1970s, after ten years of construction, primarily to control flooding in the river valley below.