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Manganiferous and Ferruginous Chert in Perry and Lewis Counties, Tennessee
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From abstract: Perry and Lewis Counties, east of the Tennessee River, in west-middle Tennessee, are underlain by nearly flat-lying rocks of Paleozoic age, with Mississippian cherty limestones forming the greater part of the surface of the western Highland Rim Plateau ridges. Near the summits of the ridges there is a fairly definite horizon in the chert that contains manganese and iron oxides in varying degrees of concentration. Weathering of the mineralized chert has produced widespread float on the hill slopes and in the beds of small spring branches, and the presence of this float, some of it rich enough for metallurgical manganese ore, has encouraged a search for promising deposits in place. In the present study 52 localities where the mineralized beds crop out or have been prospected were examined.