LINVILLE GORGE WILDERNESS AND ADDITIONS, NORTH CAROLINA.

The Linville Gorge Wilderness and additions (here called study area) comprise approximately 17 sq mi in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. During a mineral-resource survey little evidence for the occurrence of metallic mineral resources was identified. Rock suitable as small-size building stone and crushed aggregate for construction use is abundant, but similar material is more readily accessible outside the wilderness. Recent seismic data indicate that the Proterozoic and Cambrian metamorphic rocks exposed at the surface are underlain at a depth of about 8000 to 10,000 ft by Paleozoic sedimentary rocks 15,000 to 20,000 ft thick which could have a resource potential for gaseous hydrocarbons and metallic sulfide ores, but further studies are needed to evaluate this potential.