What are the geologic features of the Blue Ridge Mountains?
The Blue Ridge geologic province is a distinctive highland region that also exposes Virginia’s oldest rocks. In central and northern Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains rise dramatically to elevations above 1,200 m (4000’) with local relief up to 1000 m. In southern Virginia, the Blue Ridge forms a broad plateau-like upland...
What kind of rocks are on the Blue Ridge Parkway?
The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles (755 km) along crests of the Southern Appalachians and links two national parks: Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains. In many places along the parkway, there are metamorphic rocks ( gneiss) with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake.
Why are there so few farms in the Blue Ridge region?
Farms in the Blue Ridge regions are conspicuously absent when compared with the rest of the state on agricultural maps. There are, however, small areas of flat land that have fertile soils and can produce healthy agricultural production. These small pockets of healthy soil have long been supporting people who have settled in the mountains.
What is the Blue Ridge region?
The Blue Ridge geologic province is a distinctive highland region that also exposes Virginia’s oldest rocks.
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What kind of soil does the Blue Ridge Mountain have?
Taiga Soil Types Characterized by steep slopes and hard rocks, the soils of the Blue Ridge Mountains are not renowned for their agricultural fertility, but they do give rise to some of the most diverse flora in the nation.
What are the Blue Ridge Mountains made of?
These mountains are primarily made of highly deformed metamorphic rocks of Precambrian ages, including schists, slates, quartzites, and gneisses. Recent studies have found that the basement geology of the Blue Ridge is composed of gneisses and granitoids.
What type of soil is found in the mountain region?
Mountain Soils:Mountain soils are formed due to the accumulation of organic matter which is derived from the forest growth and is generally shallow, in-depth and immature. This type of soil is rich in humus but has poor lime, potash, and phosphorus content. It is usually sandy and has gravel.
What type of soil is in the Valley and Ridge?
Ridges are developed on resistant layers of sandstone or chert; valleys are underlain by shale or limestone. Sandstone and chert form thin acidic soils, which support wooded areas on the ridges' steep slopes. By contrast, shale and especially limestone provide thicker, more fertile lowland soils.
How are the Blue Ridge Mountains formed?
The Blue Ridge, part of the Appalachian range, was created by the uplifting of the Earth's tectonic plates 1.1 billion to 250 million years ago. At over 1 billion years of age, the Blue Ridge Mountains are among the oldest in the world, second only to South Africa's Barberton greenstone belt.
How was the blue Mountains formed?
The mountains were built from sediment deposited by ancient rivers. A movement in the earth meant that the quartzite landscape was flooded by a shallow sea from the east. Streams flowing into this sea carried huge amounts of sediment, which were deposited in horizontal layers.
Do mountains have deep fertile soil?
Mountain soils are usually less fertile than in lowlands and steep slopes accelerate erosion, with broad effects on larger downstream ecosystems. While mountain landscapes can be harsh habitats, the result of humans abandoning them can be adverse.
Is mountain soil thick or thin?
Soils range from thin and easily eroded mountain soils to deeper podzols in the valleys.
Where are red soils mostly found?
Approximately 10.6% of the total geographical area of India is covered by red soil, including Tamil Nadu, parts of Karnataka, southeastern Maharashtra, eastern Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Chota Nagpur (Jharkhand), south Bihar, West Bengal (Birbhum and Bankura), Uttar Pradesh (Mirzapur, ...
Is the Blue Ridge Mountains good for farming?
Traditional crops such as corn, tomatoes, apples, and peaches continue to be grown widely in the Blue Ridge mountains and foothills of North Carolina. For decades, burley tobacco has been a mainstay cash crop and a way of life for mountain farmers.
What state is known for red clay?
Not all Georgia soils are red, but many of them are. The State is well known for its abundance of "Georgia Red Clay". People often ask why the soils are red. The red color that is so evident in Georgia soils is due primarily to iron oxides.
Why is the Blue Ridge called Blue Ridge?
The Blue Ridge, so named because its peaks and ridges often appear wrapped in a soft blue haze, consists of a nearly unbroken chain of mountains stretching from Virginia and North Carolina and extending nearly 100 miles into Georgia.
What are some physical features of Blue Ridge?
The Blue Ridge province is a mountainous belt stretching from Pennsylvania southwest to Georgia. The mountains are made of highly deformed metamorphic rocks of largely Precambrian ages. These include schists, gneisses, slates, and quartzites, and are extensively intruded by igneous bodies.
How are mountains formed?
How Are Mountains Formed? The world's tallest mountain ranges form when pieces of Earth's crust—called plates—smash against each other in a process called plate tectonics, and buckle up like the hood of a car in a head-on collision.
What formed the Great Smoky Mountains?
The new rugged highlands, the ancient ancestors of the Smokies, were subjected to intense erosion from ice, wind, and water. As mountain valleys were carved, tremendous quantities of eroded sediment were transported toward the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico by rivers and streams.
How were WV mountains formed?
Continents colliding along the eastern coast of North America built huge mountains that shed sediment into a shallow inland sea to the west. Thick wedges of sandstone, shale and limestone piled up, all folded by later collisions to the east.
What type of rock is found in the Blue Ridge Mountains?
Blue Ridge Mountains, viewed from Chimney Rock Mountain Overlook in North Carolina. Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic charnockites, metamorphosed volcanic formations, and sedimentary limestone.
Why are the Blue Ridge Mountains blue?
The Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere. This contributes to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color.
What was the name of the Blue Ridge?
A German physician-explorer, John Lederer, first reached the crest of the Blue Ridge in 1669 and again the following year; he also recorded the Virginia Siouan name for the Blue Ridge ( Ahkonshuck ).
What is the Blue Ridge basement?
The petrologic and geochronologic data suggest that the Blue Ridge basement is a composite orogenic crust that was emplaced during several episodes from a crustal magma source. Field relationships further illustrate that rocks emplaced prior to 1.078–1.064 billion years ago preserve deformational features.
What is the Flora of the Appalachian Mountains?
The Blue Ridge Mountains have stunted oak and oak-hickory forest habitats, which comprise most of the Appalachian slope forests. Flora also includes grass, shrubs, hemlock and mixed-oak pine forests. While the Blue Ridge range includes the highest summits in the eastern United States, ...
How long is the Blue Ridge Parkway?
The Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile (755 km) long scenic highway, connects the two parks and runs along the ridge crest-lines, as does the Appalachian Trail.
What are the national parks in the Blue Ridge Mountains?
Within the Blue Ridge province are two major national parks – the Shenandoah National Park in the northern section, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the southern section. The eight national forests include George Washington and Jefferson, Cherokee, Pisgah, Nantahala and Chattahoochee. The Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile (755 km) ...
What is the soil of the Blue Ridge Mountains?
The soils of the Blue Ridge Mountains support a rich ecosystem of diverse plants and animals. The soil is loamy, a mixture of clay, silt, and sand. It is acidic, well drained, and brown in color. The region is primarily composed of low- to high-grade metamorphic rock.
What type of soil is found on the Appalachian Plateau?
The soils of the Appalachian Plateau are generally thin and acidic, making them unsuited for farming.
How does soil affect the ecosystem?
Maintaining a good soil cover in forests and croplands facilitates the retention of organic matter and the cycling of nutrients within the ecosystem. These activities occur through the process of decomposition, which drives complex food webs in the soil. Decomposition begins when dead organic litter, representing 80 to 90 percent of the new plant growth previously produced by an ecosystem, is returned to the soil. The litter, consisting of leaves, roots, and wood from trees, as well as organic residues from agricultural fields, is decomposed on or in the soil, and the nutrients contained within it are recycled for use by living plants.
Why is it important to maintain a good soil cover?
Maintaining a good soil cover in forests and croplands facilitates the retention of organic matter and the cycling of nutrients within the ecosystem. These activities occur through the process of decomposition, which drives complex food webs in the soil.
How are soils formed?
Soils are relatively thin zones (less than one meter or one yard in depth) formed by the physical-chemical and biological weathering of the earth’s land surface. Soil types are influenced by many factors, including climate, parent material, the extent of the topography’s slope and aspect (or relief), and the presence of organisms. Such major ecosystem processes as plant growth, decomposition, and nutrient recycling further contribute to the development of unique soil types in each of the state’s geographic regions.
What are the elements that make up the soil?
Soils, which are composed of minerals, organic material, water, and air, serve as the foundation for terrestrial ecosystems. The rates at which nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients are released into the soil and transported to plants drive several major processes within an ecosystem, including respiration, nutrient recycling, and the production of plants, animals, and microbes.
What are soils made of?
Soils, which are composed of minerals, organic material, water, and air, serve as the foundation for terrestrial ecosystems. The rates at which nitrogen, phosphorus, and…
How high is the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia?
In central and northern Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains rise dramatically to elevations above 1,200 m (4000’) with local relief up to 1000 m. In southern Virginia, the Blue Ridge forms a broad plateau-like upland that rises over 500 m from the Piedmont along the prominent Blue Ridge escarpment.
What county is the Blue Ridge Mountains in?
Blue Ridge. The Blue Ridge Mountains rise steeply in Nelson County. The Priest (high point on the right side of the image) tops out at 1,237 meters (4,056′). The Blue Ridge geologic province is a distinctive highland region that also exposes Virginia’s oldest rocks.
What is the highest mountain in Virginia?
In the southwestern Virginia Blue Ridge, Mt. Rogers (1,746 m), forms Virginia’s highest peak. The Blue Ridge forms a massif with Mesoproterozoic igneous and metamorphic basement rocks at its core and Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic cover rock on its flanks.
What was the name of the massif that was thrust over layered rocks of the Valley and Ridge during the collision between?
During the late Paleozoic, the Blue Ridge massif was thrust over layered rocks of the Valley & Ridge during the collision between Africa and North America that lead to the formation of Pangea.
When did granites intrude into basement rocks?
Two hundred and fifty million years later Neoproterozoic (750-700 Ma) granites intruded older basement rocks during an early phase of continental rifting that also produced basins into which coarse- to fine-grained sediment accumulated.
Is Blue Ridge a fault?
Rocks in the Blue Ridge province are allochthonous, as they were faulted and displaced many kilometers to the northwest over Paleozoic rocks of the Valley & Ridge province.
Why is the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge more rugged?
The eastern edge of the Blue Ridge is consistently more rugged and steep than the western edge due to the direction of uplift during the creation of the mountains. Because of this, the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge have more rugged river drainage, evidenced by Linville Gorge (Milepost 316) and Rockcastle Gorge (Milepost 169).
How many species of animals are there on the Blue Ridge Parkway?
This information-packed, pocket-size field guide features more than 200 species of mammals, birds, insects, fish, wildflowers, mushrooms and more in a convenient, portable package.
What is the geological history of the mountains?
The geological history of the mountains is a determining factor in all of the flora and fauna protected in the park. Plant and animal communities can change dramatically depending on the direction a particular ridge is facing, the elevation, soil type, and exposure to the elements.
Who created the Blue Ridge Parkway Guide?
The Blue Ridge Parkway Guide is a privately owned website authored by Joe Veler and Sarah Cooke , who began work on the site after discovering their shared love of the Parkway. It is a part of the Virtual Blue Ridge Network, which aims to share the Parkway experience with long-distance viewers and to enhance it for visitors and residents. To read more about the Virtual Blue Ridge Network, the history of this project, and what you can expect to find on the Blue Ridge Parkway Guide, click here.
What is the mountain building process?
The mountain-building process here is one of both creation and destruction. The creation, perhaps hundreds of millions of years in the geologic past, was both violent and dramatic. The destruction goes on before our very eyes today, at a seemingly slow and steady pace.
Mountain Topography and Geomorphology
- The formation of the highly weathered mountain range began with mountain building in the Proterozoic Era that continued in the Paleozoic Era through Permian Period (between about 1 billion and 265 million years ago). Uplift renewed during the Cenozoic Era about 65 million years ago, and the modern landscape began to form. The range now consists of gneiss and schist bed…
Soils
- Soils are the products of natural processes occurring on or near Earth’s surface. Water accumulation and movement, oxygen levels, plant and animal life, underlying rock types, and varying temperatures on rock materials determine the nature and quality of soils. Soils vary from place to place according to the materials and processes that form them. More than 180 soil seri…
Mountain Flora & Blue Ridge Fauna
- Monongahela silt loam comprises a small portion of the farm soil and is comprised of old sandstone alluvium. The soil layer is about 40-71 inches thick, and the soils are moderately drained with moderate permeability and varied runoff. The soil texture is a fine granular silt that is dark grayish brown in color. South Mountain, area of the Blue Rid...
Georgia Overview
- The Cumberland Plateau | The Ridge and Valley Province | The Blue Ridge Province | The Piedmont Province | The Coastal Plain Province. The Cumberland Plateau can be found in the ultimate northwestern corner of Georgia. It offers Lookout, Pigeon, and Sand Mountain tops. The province is mainly forested, mainly with mixed oak and oak-hickory communities. The geologic s…
Blue Ridge Province
- The Blue Ridge province is a mountainous belt stretching from Pennsylvania southwest to Georgia. The mountains are made of highly deformed metamorphic rocks of largely Precambrian ages. These include schists, gneisses, slates, and quartzites, and are extensively intruded by igneous bodies. To the west, the Blue Ridge province is structurally divided from the Valley and …
Overview
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which …
Geography
Although the term "Blue Ridge" is sometimes applied exclusively to the eastern edge or front range of the Appalachian Mountains, the geological definition of the Blue Ridge province extends westward to the Ridge and Valley area, encompassing the Great Smoky Mountains, the Great Balsams, the Roans, the Blacks, the Brushy Mountains (a "spur" of the Blue Ridge) and other mountain ra…
Geology
Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic charnockites, metamorphosed volcanic formations, and sedimentary limestone. Recent studies completed by Richard Tollo, a professor and geologist at George Washington University, provide greater insight into the petrologic and geochronologic history of the Blue Ridge basement suites. Modern studies ha…
History
The English who settled colonial Virginia in the early 17th century recorded that the native Powhatan name for the Blue Ridge was Quirank. At the foot of the Blue Ridge, various tribes including the Siouan Manahoacs, the Iroquois, and the Shawnee hunted and fished. A German physician-explorer, John Lederer, first reached the crest of the Blue Ridge in 1669 and again the following year; he al…
Flora and fauna
The forest environment provides natural habitat for many plants, trees, and animals.
The Blue Ridge Mountains have stunted oak and oak-hickory forest habitats, which comprise most of the Appalachian slope forests. Flora also includes grass, shrubs, hemlock and mixed-oak pine forests.
Population centers
The largest city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains is Roanoke, located in Southwest Virginia, while the largest Metropolitan Area is the Asheville metropolitan area in Western North Carolina. Other notable cities in the Blue Ridge Mountains include Charlottesville, Frederick, Hagerstown, Chambersburg, Greenville, Johnson City, and Lynchburg.
In music and film
• The song "Take Me Home, Country Roads," popularized by its co-author John Denver in 1971, prominently mentions the Blue Ridge Mountains along with the Shenandoah River and West Virginia. While the mountains and river are mostly beyond that state's borders, both are partly found in its Eastern Panhandle. West Virginia named the popular hit its fourth official state song in 2014.
See also
• Appalachian balds
• Appalachian bogs
• Appalachian temperate rainforest
• Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests