Late Paleozoic clastic wedges, arrayed from north to south along the western edge of the Appalachian tectonic welt, differ in age as well as spatial relations. The northern, Catskill, wedge is the oldest and apparently was derived from the north, whereas the succeeding Warrior-Arkoma wedge was apparently derived from a southern or Ouachita source. The youngest, Pocahontas and Dunkard, wedges are located between the older two and were derived from only a relatively small area in the central Appalachian Blue Ridge and Piedmont. Although the style of sedimentation differs among these large sedimentary prisms, all were governed by similar tectonic controls of differential subsidence and growth faulting. Significantly, the trend of tectonic complexes from which the sediments w re derived is nearly at right angles to most of the present structures and suggests predrift tectonic connection.

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