View looking west from the Brushy Mountains, NC, to the Blue Ridge escarpment and highlands of the Blue Ridge. The high jagged peak toward the left side of the photo is Grandfather Mountain and is covered by a winter snow.
Arthur Merschat
Arthur Merschat is a Research Geologist at the USGS Florence Bascom Geoscience Center.
"I have worked for the USGS from 2006 until present, a period that includes a SCEP appointment during my Ph.D., and as a Research Geologist (2009–present). My research is focused on (1) the structure and tectonics of the Appalachian orogen; (2) the provenance of the different crystalline terranes of the Blue Ridge and Piedmont; and (3) the thermochronologic evolution of the orogen. I have integrated geologic mapping, structural analysis, SHRIMP U-Pb geochronology, petrology, and geochemistry into my research. Currently, I am involved with bedrock geologic mapping projects in the Blue Ridge — Mount Rogers area, VA–NC–TN, and Roan Mountain, NC–TN — and in New England — southwest NH and parts of VT."
Science and Products
Blue Ridge and Inner Piedmont Geologic Mapping
Piedmont and Blue Ridge Project
Uranium-lead isotopic data from the New Hampshire Plutonic Suite and metasedimentary rocks of the New Hampshire Sequence in the Bronson Hill anticlinorium from the Bellows Falls 7.5- x 15-minute quadrangle, Vermont and New Hampshire
Preliminary Landslide Inventory for Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Helene (September 2024)
Geochemistry of mafic and ultramafic rocks in the Eastern Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina
Cosmogenic Al-26/Be-10 Isochron Burial Data for the Sparta, NC Area
Whole rock geochemistry data from the Ordovician Bronson Hill arc and Silurian and Devonian Connecticut Valley - Gaspé trough, Vermont and New Hampshire
Database for the geologic map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, Tennessee and North Carolina
Photoluminescence Imaging of Whole Zircon Grains on a Petrographic Microscope - An Underused Aide for Geochronologic Studies
GIS and Data Tables for Focus Areas for Potential Domestic Nonfuel Sources of Rare Earth Elements
Bedrock geologic map of the Springfield 7.5- x 15-minute quadrangle, Windsor County, Vermont, and Sullivan County, New Hampshire
Bedrock geologic map of the Worcester South quadrangle, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Geologic map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, Tennessee and North Carolina
View looking west from the Brushy Mountains, NC, to the Blue Ridge escarpment and highlands of the Blue Ridge. The high jagged peak toward the left side of the photo is Grandfather Mountain and is covered by a winter snow.
View looking east from the Virginia Blue Ridge across the Rock Castle Creek gorge to the rolling hills of the Piedmont.
View looking east from the Virginia Blue Ridge across the Rock Castle Creek gorge to the rolling hills of the Piedmont.

Panoramic view (~270 degrees) looking across the Blue Ridge of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee (from left to right). The Valley and Ridge is in the distance (gap between mountains).
Panoramic view (~270 degrees) looking across the Blue Ridge of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee (from left to right). The Valley and Ridge is in the distance (gap between mountains).
Panoramic view looking southeast across the Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina. The mountains in the distances are underlain by amphibolite of the eastern Blue Ridge.
Panoramic view looking southeast across the Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina. The mountains in the distances are underlain by amphibolite of the eastern Blue Ridge.
Mesoproterozoic to Paleozoic tectonics, Pleistocene landforms, and Holocene seismicity in the Blue Ridge: Results from integrated studies of the 9 August 2020, Mw 5.1 earthquake area near Sparta, North Carolina, USA
Geology of the Mount Rogers area, revisited: Evidence of Neoproterozoic continental rifting, glaciation, and the opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean, Blue Ridge, VA–NC–TN
Preliminary map of the surface rupture from the August 9, 2020, Mw 5.1 earthquake near Sparta, North Carolina—The Little River fault and other possible coseismic features
Tectonics, geochronology, and petrology of the Walker Top Granite, Appalachian Inner Piedmont, North Carolina (USA): Implications for Acadian and Neoacadian orogenesis
Defining the timing, extent, and conditions of Paleozoic metamorphism in the southern Appalachian Blue Ridge terranes of Tennessee, North Carolina, and northern Georgia
Don't judge an orogen by its cover: Kinematics of the Appalachian décollement from seismic anisotropy
Implementation plan of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program strategy — Appalachian Piedmont and Blue Ridge Provinces
Photoluminescence imaging of whole zircon grains on a petrographic microscope—An underused aide for geochronologic studies
Geochronology of the Oliverian Plutonic Suite and the Ammonoosuc Volcanics in the Bronson Hill arc: Western New Hampshire, USA
Kinematic, deformational, and thermochronologic conditions along the Gossan Lead and Fries shear zones: Constraining the western-eastern Blue Ridge boundary in northwestern North Carolina
Temporal and spatial distribution of Paleozoic metamorphism in the southern Appalachian Blue Ridge and Inner Piedmont delimited by ion microprobe U-Pb ages of metamorphic zircon
Linkages and feedbacks in orogenic systems: An introduction
Science and Products
Blue Ridge and Inner Piedmont Geologic Mapping
Piedmont and Blue Ridge Project
Uranium-lead isotopic data from the New Hampshire Plutonic Suite and metasedimentary rocks of the New Hampshire Sequence in the Bronson Hill anticlinorium from the Bellows Falls 7.5- x 15-minute quadrangle, Vermont and New Hampshire
Preliminary Landslide Inventory for Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Helene (September 2024)
Geochemistry of mafic and ultramafic rocks in the Eastern Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina
Cosmogenic Al-26/Be-10 Isochron Burial Data for the Sparta, NC Area
Whole rock geochemistry data from the Ordovician Bronson Hill arc and Silurian and Devonian Connecticut Valley - Gaspé trough, Vermont and New Hampshire
Database for the geologic map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, Tennessee and North Carolina
Photoluminescence Imaging of Whole Zircon Grains on a Petrographic Microscope - An Underused Aide for Geochronologic Studies
GIS and Data Tables for Focus Areas for Potential Domestic Nonfuel Sources of Rare Earth Elements
Bedrock geologic map of the Springfield 7.5- x 15-minute quadrangle, Windsor County, Vermont, and Sullivan County, New Hampshire
Bedrock geologic map of the Worcester South quadrangle, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Geologic map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, Tennessee and North Carolina
View looking west from the Brushy Mountains, NC, to the Blue Ridge escarpment and highlands of the Blue Ridge. The high jagged peak toward the left side of the photo is Grandfather Mountain and is covered by a winter snow.
View looking west from the Brushy Mountains, NC, to the Blue Ridge escarpment and highlands of the Blue Ridge. The high jagged peak toward the left side of the photo is Grandfather Mountain and is covered by a winter snow.
View looking east from the Virginia Blue Ridge across the Rock Castle Creek gorge to the rolling hills of the Piedmont.
View looking east from the Virginia Blue Ridge across the Rock Castle Creek gorge to the rolling hills of the Piedmont.

Panoramic view (~270 degrees) looking across the Blue Ridge of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee (from left to right). The Valley and Ridge is in the distance (gap between mountains).
Panoramic view (~270 degrees) looking across the Blue Ridge of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee (from left to right). The Valley and Ridge is in the distance (gap between mountains).
Panoramic view looking southeast across the Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina. The mountains in the distances are underlain by amphibolite of the eastern Blue Ridge.
Panoramic view looking southeast across the Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina. The mountains in the distances are underlain by amphibolite of the eastern Blue Ridge.