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100-851: Portions pass through parts of Blount , Sevier , and Cocke counties. Large sections cross a series of high ridges running roughly parallel to the Tennessee boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park , and offer unobstructed views of the Great Smokies to the south and the Tennessee Valley to the north. The oldest unfinished highway project in Tennessee, the Foothills Parkway project has been continuously stalled by funding difficulties since Congress authorized its construction in 1944. As of 2018, just over one-half of

200-482: A freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed . About 5,000 residents were displaced from their homes within a two-mile (three-kilometer) radius. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 567 square miles (1,470 km ), of which 7.8 square miles (20 km ) (1.4%) are covered by water. The southern part of Blount County is part of the Great Smoky Mountains , and

300-694: A 71-mile (114 km) road connecting US-129 at Chilhowee Lake and I-40 along the Pigeon River. In 1945, the Tennessee state legislature authorized the Tennessee Highway Department to buy rights-of-way for the road, and a second bill in 1947 authorized the transfer of rights-of-way to the National Park Service. While the early bureaucratic hurdles had been cleared, the Tennessee Highway Department moved slowly in purchasing

400-460: A GSSP, but it is expected to be defined in strata marking the first appearance of trilobites in Gondwana . There was a rapid diversification of metazoans during this epoch, but their restricted geographic distribution, particularly of the trilobites and archaeocyaths , have made global correlations difficult, hence ongoing efforts to establish a GSSP. The Miaolingian is the third series/epoch of

500-457: A household in the county was $ 37,862, and for a family was $ 45,038. Males had a median income of $ 31,877 versus $ 23,007 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 19,416. About 7.3% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line , including 12.3% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those 65 or over. Like most of East Tennessee, Blount County has been a Republican bastion for decades. The last non-Republican to carry

600-400: A large ridge situated between Wears Valley to the west, Gatlinburg to the east, and Pigeon Forge to the north. The national park boundary traverses part of the crest of Cove Mountain. The mountain's elevation reaches 4,077 feet (1,243m) at its summit. 35°43′26″N 83°33′33″W  /  35.72396°N 83.55905°W  / 35.72396; -83.55905 Webb Mountain —

700-652: A long, narrow ridge stretching roughly from the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River in the west to the Cosby area in the east, a distance of roughly 10 miles (14 km). Webb Mountain dominates the view north of U.S. 321 between Pittman Center and Cosby. Its summit, near the middle of the ridge, is 3,100 feet (945m) above sea level. 35°47′08″N 83°21′03″W  /  35.78565°N 83.35071°W  / 35.78565; -83.35071 Green Mountain —

800-456: A low, bulky ridge between Miller Cove and Tuckaleechee Cove . Bates' highest point is just over 1,700 feet (520 m). Although Bates lacks the dramatic "backbone" formation of Chilhowee, a rocky gorge on its south flank cut by Carr Creek has presented numerous construction challenges for the parkway project. 35°43′22″N 83°45′06″W  /  35.7227°N 83.75161°W  / 35.7227; -83.75161 Cove Mountain —

900-619: A profound change in life on Earth ; prior to the Period, the majority of living organisms were small, unicellular and poorly preserved. Complex, multicellular organisms gradually became more common during the Ediacaran, but it was not until the Cambrian that the rapid diversification of lifeforms, known as the Cambrian explosion , produced the first representatives of most modern animal phyla . The Period

1000-507: A sliver of continental terrane rifted from Laurentia with the narrow Taconic seaway opening between them. The remains of this terrane are now found in southern Scotland, Ireland, and Newfoundland. Intra-oceanic subduction either to the southeast of this terrane in the Iapetus, or to its northwest in the Taconic seaway, resulted in the formation of an island arc . This accreted to the terrane in

1100-566: A small mountain stretching between Cosby to the west and the Pigeon River valley to the east. Its highest point is 2,785 feet (849m) above sea level. 35°48′44″N 83°12′05″W  /  35.8123°N 83.2014°W  / 35.8123; -83.2014 English Mountain , the highest of the Foothills at 3,629 feet (1,112m), stretches for nearly 15 miles (24 km) between the East Fork of

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1200-542: A subduction zone was closing the narrow seaway between the North West Kunlun region of Tarim and the South West Kunlun terrane. North China lay at equatorial to tropical latitudes during the early Cambrian, although its exact position is unknown. Much of the craton was covered by shallow seas, with land in the northwest and southeast. Northern North China was a passive margin until the onset of subduction and

1300-451: Is also unique in its unusually high proportion of lagerstätte deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells. By the end of the Cambrian, myriapods , arachnids , and hexapods started adapting to the land, along with the first plants . The term Cambrian is derived from the Latin version of Cymru ,

1400-441: Is characterised by complex, sediment-penetrating Phanerozoic-type trace fossils , and its upper part by small shelly fossils. The second series/epoch of the Cambrian is currently unnamed and known as Cambrian Series 2 . It lasted from c. 521 Ma to c. 509 Ma. Its two stages are also unnamed and known as Cambrian Stage 3 , c. 521 Ma to c. 514 Ma, and Cambrian Stage 4 , c. 514 Ma to c. 509 Ma. The base of Series 2 does not yet have

1500-486: Is dotted by relatively isolated valleys known as Appalachian coves . The best known of these valleys, Cades Cove , is one of the most visited sections of the national park, and is noted for the remnants of the Appalachian community that occupied the cove prior to the park's formation, as well as an abundance of wildlife, especially white-tailed deer . Tuckaleechee Cove is occupied by the city of Townsend , and Millers Cove

1600-483: Is headquartered in the nearby city of Loudon . The service offers residents of any of the counties covered by ETHRA door-to-door pickup transportation across its service area by request only. ETHRA provides a large variety of services in Blount County and other parts of East Tennessee. TYS - McGhee Tyson Airport In addition to the federally operated Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which draws many visitors to

1700-562: Is home to two postsecondary educational institutions: Maryville College , a Presbyterian-related, liberal-arts college, founded in 1819 in downtown Maryville, and a satellite campus of Knoxville -based Pellissippi State Community College , referred to as Pellissippi State Community College, or PSCC, Blount County Campus. Blount County is served by the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency's Public Transit system. ETHRA operates in about 16 counties in eastern Tennessee, and

1800-404: Is occupied by the community of Walland . This part of the county is also home to two large caves: Tuckaleechee Caverns , a popular show cave, and Bull Cave, which at 924 feet (282 m), is the deepest in Tennessee. The Tennessee River forms part of Blount's border with Knox County to the northwest. This section of the Tennessee is part of Fort Loudoun Lake , an artificial lake created by

1900-539: Is protected by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park . The crest of the range forms the county's border with Swain County, North Carolina , and includes Blount's highest point, 5,527-foot (1,685 m) Thunderhead Mountain , and the 4,949-foot (1,508 m) Gregory Bald , a prominent grassy bald . The northern part of the county is part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians . The geologic boundary between

2000-602: Is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon . The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 485.4 Ma. Most of the continents lay in the southern hemisphere surrounded by the vast Panthalassa Ocean . The assembly of Gondwana during the Ediacaran and early Cambrian led to

2100-686: Is the first major geological structure visible when approaching the mountains via Lamar Alexander Parkway ( U.S. 321 ), and its eastern flank, known as "The Three Sisters", is visible from almost anywhere in Maryville . Geologically, the foothills largely consist of Cambrian Class III rocks of the Paleozoic period, a type known specifically as the Chilhowee Group. Chilhowee Group rocks, which are mostly sandstones , siltstones , and shales , range in age from about 300 million to 500 million years old. Thus,

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2200-553: Is visible to the east. On a clear day, the high peaks of the Eastern Smokies—; Mount Guyot , Mount Chapman , and Old Black — are visible farther to the east. Looking north from Look Rock, most of Blount and parts of Loudon and Monroe counties are visible. Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport presents as a long greenish strip to the north-northwest, and to the north the lights of Knoxville begin to appear around sunset . The Cumberland Plateau dominates much of

2300-627: The Altai-Sayan terranes. Some models show a convergent plate margin extending from Greater Avalonia, through the Timanide margin of Baltica, forming the Kipchak island arc offshore of southeastern Siberia and curving round to become part of the Altai-Sayan convergent margin. Along the then western margin, Late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian rifting was followed by the development of a passive margin. To

2400-572: The Arequipa-Antofalla block united with the South American sector of Gondwana in the early Cambrian. The Kuunga Orogeny between northern ( Congo Craton , Madagascar and India ) and southern Gondwana ( Kalahari Craton and East Antarctica ), which began c. 570 Ma, continued with parts of northern Gondwana over-riding southern Gondwana and was accompanied by metamorphism and the intrusion of granites . Subduction zones , active since

2500-501: The Civil War , author Sidney Lanier spent several summers at Montvale Springs. The Chilhowee Mountain area would be a major influence on the setting for his first novel, Tiger Lilies . In 1885, Mary Noailles Murfree , one of the first authors to popularize the natural wonders of the Smokies, wrote: ... Chilhowee Mountain, rising up, massive and splendid, against the west. The shadows of

2600-547: The Jiangshanian c. 494 Ma to c. 489.5 Ma, which have defined GSSPs; and the unnamed Cambrian Stage 10 , c. 489.5 Ma to 485.4 ± 1.9 Ma. The GSSP for the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary is at Green Point , western Newfoundland , Canada, and is dated at 485.4 Ma. It is defined by the appearance of the conodont Iapetognathus fluctivagus . Where these conodonts are not found the appearance of planktonic graptolites or

2700-569: The Natchez Trace Parkway , which began in 1939, was not completed until 2005. Although no funding has been set aside for the remaining sections of the parkway between Wears Valley and Cosby, the NPS still owns the rights-of-way, and their completion has not been ruled out. In early 2007, the National Park Service began conducting an environmental impact assessment and collecting public input regarding section 8B (Pittman Center to Cosby). Much like

2800-525: The Tennessee Valley Authority . The Little Tennessee River , a tributary of the Tennessee, forms part of Blount's southern border with Monroe County , and includes three artificial lakes: Tellico , Chilhowee , and Calderwood (two others, Cheoah and Fontana , are located just upstream in North Carolina). Little River , another tributary of the Tennessee, flows northward from deep within

2900-614: The continental flood basalts of the Kalkarindji large igneous province (LIP) began to erupt. These covered an area of > 2.1 × 10 km across northern, central and Western Australia regions of Gondwana making it one of the largest, as well as the earliest, LIPs of the Phanerozoic. The timing of the eruptions suggests they played a role in the early to middle Cambrian mass extinction . The terranes of Ganderia , East and West Avalonia , Carolinia and Meguma lay in polar regions during

3000-564: The trilobite Jujuyaspis borealis can be used. The boundary also corresponds with the peak of the largest positive variation in the δ C curve during the boundary time interval and with a global marine transgression. Major meteorite impact structures include: the early Cambrian (c. 535 Ma) Neugrund crater in the Gulf of Finland , Estonia, a complex meteorite crater about 20 km in diameter, with two inner ridges of about 7 km and 6 km diameter, and an outer ridge of 8 km that formed as

3100-555: The 10th county established in Tennessee, when the Territorial Legislature voted to split adjacent Knox and Jefferson Counties. The new county was named for the governor of the Southwest Territory , William Blount , and its county seat, Maryville , was named for his wife Mary Grainger Blount. This establishment, however, did little to settle the differences between White immigrants and Cherokee natives, which was, for

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3200-682: The 19 km diameter Glikson crater (c. 508 Ma) in Western Australia; the 5 km diameter Mizarai crater (500±10 Ma) in Lithuania; and the 3.2 km diameter Newporte structure (c. 500 Ma or slightly younger) in North Dakota , U.S.A. Reconstructing the position of the continents during the Cambrian is based on palaeomagnetic , palaeobiogeographic , tectonic , geological and palaeoclimatic data. However, these have different levels of uncertainty and can produce contradictory locations for

3300-690: The 1930s, it was decided that no part of the parkway would pass through Tennessee (the goal of the parkway was to connect the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Shenandoah National Park ). Disappointed, Frank Maloney, who was vice-president of the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association , began lobbying for a parkway to connect the recreational areas on the Tennessee side of the Great Smokies. In 1944, after extensive lobbying by Congressman B. Carroll Reece , Congress authorized construction of

3400-439: The 42,667 households, 30.5% had children under 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.2% were not families, and 1,384 were unmarried partner households: 1,147 heterosexual, 107 same-sex male, 130 same-sex female. About 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size

3500-536: The Amazonia region of Gondwana with a narrow Iapetus Ocean that only began to open once Gondwana was fully assembled c. 520 Ma. Those not in favour of the existence of Pannotia show the Iapetus opening during the Late Neoproterozoic, with up to c. 6,500 km (c. 4038 miles) between Laurentia and West Gondwana at the beginning of the Cambrian. Of the smaller continents, Baltica lay between Laurentia and Gondwana,

3600-516: The Blue Ridge (which includes the Smokies) and Ridge-and-Valley provinces runs along Chilhowee Mountain , a long and narrow ridge that stretches across the central part of the county. Much of Blount's topography is characterized by elongate ridges and rolling hills— known locally as "The Foothills"— which emanate outward from the Smokies range. The mountainous southern portion of Blount County

3700-529: The Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive , the completed sections of the Foothills Parkway traverse what would be otherwise roadless ridge crests, allowing for extensive views of the surrounding areas. The Chilhowee Mountain section of the parkway has been open since 1966. There are four overlooks on its north side (looking into the Tennessee Valley), and eight overlooks on its south side (looking into

3800-509: The Cambrian and Early Ordovician. Gondwana was a massive continent, three times the size of any of the other Cambrian continents. Its continental land area extended from the south pole to north of the equator. Around it were extensive shallow seas and numerous smaller land areas. The cratons that formed Gondwana came together during the Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian. A narrow ocean separated Amazonia from Gondwana until c. 530 Ma and

3900-533: The Cambrian, Laurentia lay across or close to the equator.  It drifted south and rotated c. 20° anticlockwise during the middle Cambrian, before drifting north again in the late Cambrian. After the Late Neoproterozoic (or mid-Cambrian) rifting of Laurentia from Gondwana and the subsequent opening of the Iapetus Ocean, Laurentia was largely surrounded by passive margins with much of the continent covered by shallow seas. As Laurentia separated from Gondwana,

4000-710: The Cambrian, lasting from c. 509 Ma to c. 497 Ma, and roughly identical to the middle Cambrian in older literature [1] . It is divided into three stages: the Wuliuan c. 509 Ma to 504.5 Ma; the Drumian c. 504.5 Ma to c. 500.5 Ma; and the Guzhangian c. 500.5 Ma to c. 497 Ma. The name replaces Cambrian Series 3 and was ratified by the IUGS in 2018. It is named after the Miaoling Mountains in southeastern Guizhou Province , South China, where

4100-533: The Ediacaran Timanian Orogeny was coming to an end. In this region the early to middle Cambrian was a time of non-deposition and followed by late Cambrian rifting and sedimentation. Its southeastern margin was also a convergent boundary , with the accretion of island arcs and microcontinents to the craton, although the details are unclear. Siberia began the Cambrian close to western Gondwana and north of Baltica. It drifted northwestwards to close to

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4200-624: The Foothills Parkway at the southern city limit of Pigeon Forge. The parkways are managed by the National Park Service as part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Unlike other national parkways, they are not a separate unit of the national park system. As with other NPS roads, construction (including repaving ) is handled by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) through the Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP) partnership. The foothills of

4300-568: The GSSP marking its base is found. This is defined by the first appearance of the oryctocephalid trilobite Oryctocephalus indicus . Secondary markers for the base of the Miaolingian include the appearance of many acritarchs forms, a global marine transgression , and the disappearance of the polymerid trilobites, Bathynotus or Ovatoryctocara. Unlike the Terreneuvian and Series 2, all the stages of

4400-488: The Great Smokies consist of a series of low mountains and hills lying roughly between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the south and the flatlands of the Tennessee River and French Broad River valleys to the north. The most prominent of the foothills are characterized by long-but-narrow ridges, running parallel to the crest of the Smokies, similar to a circuit wall surrounding a medieval castle . Although

4500-599: The ICS ratify rock units based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype ) identifying the lower boundary of the unit. Currently the boundaries of the Cambrian System, three series and six stages are defined by global stratotype sections and points. The lower boundary of the Cambrian was originally held to represent the first appearance of complex life, represented by trilobites . The recognition of small shelly fossils before

4600-470: The Iapetus and from Gondwana by the Ran Ocean. It was composed of two continents, Fennoscandia and Sarmatia , separated by shallow seas. The sediments deposited in these unconformably overlay Precambrian basement rocks. The lack of coarse-grained sediments indicates low lying topography across the centre of the craton. Along Baltica's northeastern margin subduction and arc magmatism associated with

4700-455: The Little Pigeon and Newport, paralleling the shores of Douglas Lake . Hall Top  (Stone Mountain) rises prominently opposite Green Mountain above the Pigeon River valley. The parkway will not cross any part of English Mountain or Hall Top, however. The foothills of the Great Smokies were drawing tourists as early as the mid-19th century. Most visitors during this period came for

4800-419: The Miaolingian are defined by GSSPs . The olenellids , eodiscids , and most redlichiids trilobites went extinct at the boundary between Series 2 and the Miaolingian. This is considered the oldest mass extinction of trilobites. The Furongian , c. 497 Ma to 485.4 ± 1.9 Ma, is the fourth and uppermost series/epoch of the Cambrian. The name was ratified by the IUGS in 2003 and replaces Cambrian Series 4 and

4900-423: The Neoproterozoic, extended around much of Gondwana's margins, from northwest Africa southwards round South America, South Africa , East Antarctica , and the eastern edge of West Australia. Shorter subduction zones existed north of Arabia and India. The Famatinian continental arc stretched from central Peru in the north to central Argentina in the south. Subduction beneath this proto- Andean margin began by

5000-452: The Ran Ocean (an arm of the Iapetus) opening between it and Gondwana. Siberia lay close to the western margin of Gondwana and to the north of Baltica. Annamia and South China formed a single continent situated off north central Gondwana. The location of North China is unclear. It may have lain along the northeast Indian sector of Gondwana or already have been a separate continent. During

5100-542: The Sedgwick's "Upper Cambrian", claiming all fossilised strata for "his" Silurian series. Matters were complicated further when, in 1852, fieldwork carried out by Sedgwick and others revealed an unconformity within the Silurian, with a clear difference in fauna between the two. This allowed Sedgwick to now claim a large section of the Silurian for "his" Cambrian and gave the Cambrian an identifiable fossil record. The dispute between

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5200-446: The Smokies and traverses the central part of the county. The river's confluence with its Middle Prong forms a popular swimming area known as the "Townsend Wye", which is located just inside the park south of Townsend. As of the 2020 United States census , 135,280 people, 50,813 households, and 35,299 families were residing in the county. As of the census of 2000, 105,823 people, 42,667 households, and 30,634 families were residing in

5300-467: The Smokies). The highest point on the western section of Chilhowee Mountain is 2,650 ft (808 m) at a knob known as Look Rock. An observation tower has been erected there, allowing a 360-degree view of Blount County and the Western Smokies. The parking area for Look Rock is just off the parkway, with a half-mile trail leading to the tower. The Rich Mountain/Cades Cove Mountain massif dominates

5400-761: The Welsh name for Wales, where rocks of this age were first studied. It was named by Adam Sedgwick in 1835, who divided it into three groups; the Lower, Middle, and Upper. He defined the boundary between the Cambrian and the overlying Silurian, together with Roderick Murchison , in their joint paper " On the Silurian and Cambrian Systems, Exhibiting the Order in which the Older Sedimentary Strata Succeed each other in England and Wales ". This early agreement did not last. Due to

5500-576: The area's mineral -rich mountain springs , which were thought to have health-restoring qualities. Resort hotels quickly sprang up throughout the foothills, becoming popular summertime destinations for Knoxville 's upper class. The most successful of these resorts were Montvale Springs and Alleghany Springs at the base of Chilhowee Mountain, Kinzel Springs in Tuckaleechee , Line Springs in Wears Valley, and Carson Springs near Newport. Just before

5600-531: The average elevation of the foothills is relatively low, a high topographic prominence is not uncommon among these ridges, due to their detachment from the main crest of the Smokies. English Mountain (3,629 ft), one of the highest of the foothills, is the fifth most prominent mountain in Tennessee, and dominates the view south of Interstate 40 for a considerable stretch between Sevierville and Newport . Chilhowee Mountain, located mostly in Blount County

5700-475: The clouds flecked the pure and perfect blue of the sunny slopes with a dusky motling of purple. The original plan for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park included much of the foothills within the proposed park boundaries, although by the time the park opened in 1934, the boundary had been moved south of Townsend and Wears Valley. When Congress authorized the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway in

5800-616: The community goals of reducing air, water, and land pollution in order to reduce particulate matter and smog, and to improve the overall health of local parks and preserved ecosystems in Blount County, as well as surrounding areas, of East Tennessee. These organizations and companies are appreciated by thousands of East Tennesseans due to their honorable work in the Blount County community. 35°41′N 83°56′W  /  35.69°N 83.93°W  / 35.69; -83.93 Cambrian The Cambrian ( / ˈ k æ m b r i . ə n , ˈ k eɪ m -/ KAM -bree-ən, KAYM - )

5900-401: The congestion, while others say it will help relieve congestion by drawing off some of the park's traffic. Furthermore, because parkways always seem to rank low in budgetary priorities, it will likely take several more decades to complete the entire parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway, the major influence for Foothills Parkway, had taken over five decades to complete in 1984; likewise, construction on

6000-605: The county each year, Blount County operates numerous smaller community parks and recreation centers, primarily in the cities of Alcoa and Maryville. Some of these facilities include: An integral part of keeping the parks and other parts of Blount County beautiful is the organization called Keep Blount Beautiful. This organization works in coordination with other companies including The City of Alcoa Residential Recycling Pick Up Service and Blount County HGS Trash and Recycling Same Day Residential Pick Up Service, as well as many other recycling resources in Blount County, to work towards

6100-452: The county was Theodore Roosevelt , during his third-party run in 1912. In 1976, Jimmy Carter took 46% of the vote. In 1992, George H. W. Bush was held to 48.9% of the vote—the only time in over a century that a Republican has failed to win a majority in Blount County. The current elected members of the Blount County government are: Most of the early European-American settlers were of little means; they were subsistence farmers throughout

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6200-545: The county. Denso Manufacturing Tennessee Inc., a division of Denso Global , is the county's largest employer, with about 3,000 employees. Public schools in Blount County are part of the Blount County Schools system, with the exception of schools in the cities of Maryville and Alcoa , both of which operate separate, independent school systems. Private schools located in the county include Maryville Christian School and Clayton-Bradley STEM school. Blount County

6300-404: The county. The population density was 190 people per square mile (73 people/km ). The 47,059 housing units had an average density of 84 per square mile (32/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 94.73% White, 2.91% Black, 0.29% Native American , 0.72% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. About 1.06% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Of

6400-604: The development of new convergent plate boundaries and continental-margin arc magmatism along its margins that helped drive up global temperatures. Laurentia lay across the equator, separated from Gondwana by the opening Iapetus Ocean . The Cambrian was a time of greenhouse climate conditions, with high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and low levels of oxygen in the atmosphere and seas. Upwellings of anoxic deep ocean waters into shallow marine environments led to extinction events, whilst periods of raised oxygenation led to increased biodiversity . The Cambrian marked

6500-416: The development of the Bainaimiao arc in the late Cambrian. To its south was a convergent margin with a southwest dipping subduction zone, beyond which lay the North Qinling terrane (now part of the Qinling Orogenic Belt ). South China and Annamia formed a single continent. Strike-slip movement between it and Gondwana accommodated its steady drift northwards from offshore the Indian sector of Gondwana to near

6600-402: The early Cambrian, and high-to-mid southern latitudes by the mid to late Cambrian. They are commonly shown as an island arc-transform fault system along the northwestern margin of Gondwana north of northwest Africa and Amazonia, which rifted from Gondwana during the Ordovician. However, some models show these terranes as part of a single independent microcontinent , Greater Avalonia, lying to

6700-471: The early years of the county's establishment. The first industry to make its mark on Blount County, as in other neighboring counties, was that of lumber. It was the massive development of this industry in the mountains of east Blount that, in part, led to the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park . It includes the southeastern portion of the county. Today, manufacturing has replaced lumber in importance, with over 100 manufacturing plants located in

6800-552: The east. While the mountain is 35 miles (56 km) long, it rarely reaches a width of more than 3 or 4 miles (6.4 km). Little River cuts a large gap in the middle of the mountain (near Walland ), dividing it into eastern and western sections. The highest point on eastern section is 2,843 feet (866m) and the highest point on the western section is 2,650 feet (807m) at a knob known as Look Rock . 35°43′50″N 83°49′12″W  /  35.73047°N 83.81993°W  / 35.73047; -83.81993 Bates Mountain —

6900-403: The eastern flank of Cove Mountain between the north end of Gatlinburg and the national park, connecting to the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway at each end, is also considered part of the parkway. The Great Smoky Mountains Parkway ( U.S. 441 ) from Gatlinburg north to Pigeon Forge is also National Park Service land, connecting the bypass to the right of way for future sections (8D and 8C) of

7000-501: The equator as the Ægir Ocean opened between it and Baltica. Much of the continent was covered by shallow seas with extensive archaeocyathan reefs . The then northern third of the continent (present day south; Siberia has rotated 180° since the Cambrian) adjacent to its convergent margin was mountainous. From the Late Neoproterozoic to the Ordovician, a series of island arcs accreted to Siberia's then northeastern margin, accompanied by extensive arc and back-arc volcanism. These now form

7100-443: The first trilobites, and Ediacara biota substantially earlier, has led to calls for a more precisely defined base to the Cambrian Period. Despite the long recognition of its distinction from younger Ordovician rocks and older Precambrian rocks, it was not until 1994 that the Cambrian system/period was internationally ratified. After decades of careful consideration, a continuous sedimentary sequence at Fortune Head, Newfoundland

7200-513: The globe that corresponded to the base of the Cambrian. An early date of 570 Ma quickly gained favour, though the methods used to obtain this number are now considered to be unsuitable and inaccurate. A more precise analysis using modern radiometric dating yields a date of 538.8 ± 0.2 Ma. The ash horizon in Oman from which this date was recovered corresponds to a marked fall in the abundance of carbon-13 that correlates to equivalent excursions elsewhere in

7300-428: The initial progress in the 1960s, the project again stalled in the 1970s due to funding cuts. By 1978, less than one-third of the proposed parkway had been completed. Construction on the two sections between Walland and Wears Valley finally began in 1984, but after some progress, was halted due to erosion and other environmental issues, specifically the spilling of sulfuric acid into nearby streams. The corridor's route

7400-540: The late Cambrian, triggering southeast-dipping subduction beneath the terrane itself and consequent closure of the marginal seaway. The terrane collided with Laurentia in the Early Ordovician. Towards the end of the early Cambrian, rifting along Laurentia's southeastern margin led to the separation of Cuyania (now part of Argentina) from the Ouachita embayment with a new ocean established that continued to widen through

7500-592: The late Cambrian. Along the northern margin of Gondwana, between northern Africa and the Armorican Terranes of southern Europe, the continental arc of the Cadomian Orogeny continued from the Neoproterozoic in response to the oblique subduction of the Iapetus Ocean. This subduction extended west along the Gondwanan margin and by c. 530 Ma may have evolved into a major transform fault system. At c. 511 Ma

7600-531: The lower boundary of the Cambrian at the base of the Tommotian Stage, characterized by diversification and global distribution of organisms with mineral skeletons and the appearance of the first Archaeocyath bioherms. The Terreneuvian is the lowermost series/ epoch of the Cambrian, lasting from 538.8 ± 0.2 Ma to c. 521 Ma. It is divided into two stages: the Fortunian stage, 538.8 ± 0.2 Ma to c. 529 Ma; and

7700-436: The major continents. This, together with the ongoing debate around the existence of the Neoproterozoic supercontinent of Pannotia , means that while most models agree the continents lay in the southern hemisphere, with the vast Panthalassa Ocean covering most of northern hemisphere, the exact distribution and timing of the movements of the Cambrian continents varies between models. Most models show Gondwana stretching from

7800-630: The morning and later in the evening. Part of the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway (U.S. 441/321, often just called "Parkway") is considered a " spur " of the unbuilt part of the Foothills Parkway. The entire route is in Sevier County . Blount County, Tennessee Blount County is a county located in the East Tennessee Grand Division of the U.S. state of Tennessee . As of the 2020 census , its population

7900-533: The most part, not accomplished until an 1819 treaty. Like a majority of East Tennessee counties, Blount County was opposed to secession on the eve of the Civil War. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Blount Countians voted against secession by a margin of 1,766 to 414. Residents of pro-Union Cades Cove and pro-Confederate Hazel Creek (on the other side of the mountains in North Carolina) regularly launched raids against one another during

8000-485: The northern horizon. Foothills Parkway crosses Green Mountain in diagonal fashion, traversing the southwest and northeastern flanks of the mountain. From the southwest section, Mount Cammerer and the Eastern Smokies dominate the view. From the northeast section, English Mountain presents as a large ridge to the northwest, and Hall Top rises in peak-like fashion to the east. The lights of Newport are visible early in

8100-432: The parkway has been completed and opened to vehicular traffic, although the right of way for the full length has been acquired. Sections 8E & 8F (including the "Missing Link") of the parkway was announced completed on November 8, 2018 and opened to the public on Saturday, November 10, 2018, adding 16.1 finished miles. Previously, the longest open section (8H and 8G) consisted of a 16.9-mile (27.2 km) leg traversing

8200-465: The result of an impact of an asteroid 1 km in diameter; the 5 km diameter Gardnos crater (500±10 Ma) in Buskerud , Norway, where post-impact sediments indicate the impact occurred in a shallow marine environment with rock avalanches and debris flows occurring as the crater rim was breached not long after impact; the 24 km diameter Presqu'ile crater (500 Ma or younger) Quebec , Canada;

8300-468: The road's rights-of-way. In 1956, park superintendent Edward Hummel managed to get the Foothills Parkway project included in the National Park Service's Mission 66 program, assuring early construction funds. Shortly thereafter, Governor Frank G. Clement authorized the THD to begin buying rights-of-way. Construction finally began in 1960. The original plan for Foothills Parkway called for eight sections: After

8400-533: The rocks of the foothills are much younger than the billion-year old Precambrian Ocoee Supergroup rocks that form the crest and higher ridges of the Great Smokies range. The most prominent of the foothills include: Chilhowee Mountain — a narrow ridge stretching between the Little Tennessee River (specifically the river's Chilhowee Lake impoundment) and the Little Pigeon River valley to

8500-409: The scarcity of fossils, Sedgwick used rock types to identify Cambrian strata. He was also slow in publishing further work. The clear fossil record of the Silurian, however, allowed Murchison to correlate rocks of a similar age across Europe and Russia, and on these he published extensively. As increasing numbers of fossils were identified in older rocks, he extended the base of the Silurian downwards into

8600-568: The south of North China. To the south of these the Tarim microcontinent lay between Gondwana and Siberia. Its northern margin was passive for much of the Paleozoic, with thick sequences of platform carbonates and fluvial to marine sediments resting unconformably on Precambrian basement. Along its southeast margin was the Altyn Cambro–Ordovician accretionary complex, whilst to the southwest

8700-465: The south polar region to north of the equator. Early in the Cambrian, the south pole corresponded with the western South American sector and as Gondwana rotated anti-clockwise, by the middle of the Cambrian, the south pole lay in the northwest African region. Laurentia lay across the equator, separated from Gondwana by the Iapetus Ocean . Proponents of Pannotia have Laurentia and Baltica close to

8800-670: The then north, Siberia was separated from the Central Mongolian terrane by the narrow and slowly opening Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean . The Central Mongolian terrane's northern margin with the Panthalassa was convergent, whilst its southern margin facing the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean was passive. During the Cambrian, the terranes that would form Kazakhstania later in the Paleozoic were a series of island arc and accretionary complexes that lay along an intra-oceanic convergent plate margin to

8900-559: The traditional "Upper Cambrian". The GSSP for the base of the Furongian is in the Wuling Mountains , in northwestern Hunan Province , China. It coincides with the first appearance of the agnostoid trilobite Glyptagnostus reticulatus , and is near the beginning of a large positive δ C isotopic excursion. The Furongian is divided into three stages: the Paibian , c. 497 Ma to c. 494 Ma, and

9000-717: The two geologists and their supporters, over the boundary between the Cambrian and Silurian, would extend beyond the life times of both Sedgwick and Murchison. It was not resolved until 1879, when Charles Lapworth proposed the disputed strata belong to its own system, which he named the Ordovician. The term Cambrian for the oldest period of the Paleozoic was officially agreed in 1960, at the 21st International Geological Congress . It only includes Sedgwick's "Lower Cambrian series", but its base has been extended into much older rocks. Systems , series and stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation,

9100-553: The unnamed Stage 2, c. 529 Ma to c. 521 Ma. The name Terreneuvian was ratified by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in 2007, replacing the previous "Cambrian Series 1". The GSSP defining its base is at Fortune Head on the Burin Peninsula, eastern Newfoundland, Canada (see Ediacaran - Cambrian boundary above). The Terreneuvian is the only series in the Cambrian to contain no trilobite fossils. Its lower part

9200-518: The view immediately to the east. Gregory Bald rises like a giant dome to the south-southeast. To the southwest, the Yellow Creek section of the Unicoi Mountains is visible, along with a dramatic view of Chilhowee's western ridgeline. Several of the highest mountains in the Smokies can be seen from Look Rock. Kuwohi and Thunderhead Mountain are visible to the southeast, and Mount Le Conte

9300-592: The war. Throughout its history, the boundaries of Blount County have been altered numerous times, most notably in 1870, when a large swath of western Blount was split into Loudon and portions of other counties. Also, the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1936, while not affecting the legal boundaries of Blount County, has significantly impacted the use of southeastern Blount County. Blount County has been served by The Daily Times , currently published in Maryville, since 1883. On July 2, 2015,

9400-415: The west of Baltica and aligned with its eastern ( Timanide ) margin, with the Iapetus to the north and the Ran Ocean to the south. During the Cambrian, Baltica rotated more than 60° anti-clockwise and began to drift northwards. This rotation was accommodated by major strike-slip movements in the Ran Ocean between it and Gondwana. Baltica lay at mid-to-high southerly latitudes, separated from Laurentia by

9500-565: The western flank of Chilhowee Mountain in Blount county, connecting U.S. 129 along the Chilhowee Lake impoundment of the Little Tennessee River with U.S. 321 in the town of Walland . The other open section (8A) is a 5.6-mile (9.0 km) stretch traversing Green Mountain in Cocke county, connecting U.S. 321 in Cosby with I-40 in the Pigeon River valley. The Gatlinburg Bypass , which traverses

9600-497: The world, and to the disappearance of distinctive Ediacaran fossils ( Namacalathus , Cloudina ). Nevertheless, there are arguments that the dated horizon in Oman does not correspond to the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, but represents a facies change from marine to evaporite-dominated strata – which would mean that dates from other sections, ranging from 544 to 542 Ma, are more suitable. *Most Russian paleontologists define

9700-512: Was 135,280. The county seat is Maryville , which is also the county's largest city. Blount County is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area . What is today Blount County was for many thousands of years Indian territory, passed down to the Cherokee tribe that claimed the land upon the arrival of White settlers in the late 18th century. Shortly thereafter, on July 11, 1795, Blount County became

9800-563: Was 2.43, and the average family size was 2.88. In the county, the age distribution was 22.8% under 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 25.40% from 45 to 64, and 14.10% who were 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.80 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 90.80 males. As verified by 2000 U.S. Census, for every 100 females under 65, there were 98.7 males, for every 100 females under 55 there were 99.5 males, and for every 100 females under 20 there were 105 males. The median income for

9900-418: Was redesigned, and construction began again in 1994. Tennessee Congressmen John Duncan, Jr. and James Quillen were instrumental in obtaining federal funding for the project from the 1980s until the 2010s. In recent years, the Foothills Parkway project has become controversial due to the already-high volume of vehicular traffic that passes through the Smokies each year. Some argue that the parkway will add to

10000-502: Was settled upon as a formal base of the Cambrian Period, which was to be correlated worldwide by the earliest appearance of Treptichnus pedum . Discovery of this fossil a few metres below the GSSP led to the refinement of this statement, and it is the T. pedum ichnofossil assemblage that is now formally used to correlate the base of the Cambrian. This formal designation allowed radiometric dates to be obtained from samples across

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