Slaty cleavage exposed in the fine-grained metasediments of western Ocoee Gorge, Tennessee is characterized by zones enriched in cleavage-parrallel white mica (P domains), alternating with zones enriched in quartz and feldspar and in which phyllosilicates are bedding-parallel (Q domains). This domainal fabric appears to develop by growth of new mica from mica components carried in a moving fluid. Solid state recrystallization of clays and mica may also have contributed to the development of the fabric, but little, if any, mechanical rotation or passive concentration of mica grains occurred. Both P domain morphology and mineralogical differences between P and Q domain phyllosilicate populations suggest that nucleation and growth of P domains may involve the expulsion of fluids, during diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism.