COHUTTA WILDERNESS, GEORGIA AND TENNESSEE AND HEMP TOP ROADLESS AREA, GEORGIA.

A survey has found little or no promise for the occurrence of metallic mineral-resources in the Cohutta Wilderness and the adjacent Hemp Top Roadless Area. The Cohutta Wilderness is located mainly in northern Georgia and extends a small distance into southeastern Tennessee; the Hemp Top Roadless Area borders part of the Cohutta Wilderness on the east and extends southward from the Georgia-Tennessee line. The study area is underlain by slightly metamorphosed folded and faulted sedimentary rocks of late Precambrian age. Detailed sampling in the vicinity of the known gold-bearing and tin-bearing samples might outline small areas of low-grade mineralization. The sedimentary rocks which are buried many thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Cohutta area have an unknown potential for oil and gas - probably gas at the inferred depth of burial and temperatures implicit at such depth. This potential could only be verified by a program of deep drilling.