Roadside Geology of Tennessee

Tennessee, extending 500 diagonal miles between Bristol and Memphis, cuts across numerous rock types, from the deformed gneiss of the Blue Ridge along the North Carolina border to the young sediments exposed in the Chickasaw Bluffs that rise 100 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain. The state s more than 1 billion years of geologic history includes continental collisions that built enormous mountains and rifting forces that almost split the ancient continent apart. The geologic processes are still at work in Tennessee, with sinkholes claiming land in areas of limestone, rivers eroding sediment and shifting channels, and some of North America s largest earthquakes occurring every 500 years on the ancient rift faults near Reelfoot Lake.

Learn about unusual meteor impact sites on the Highland Rim of Middle Tennessee, the world-famous fossils in the Coon Creek Formation, and the source of saltpeter used for gunpowder in the Civil War. An extensive section on Great Smoky Mountains National Park includes guides to nine roads, some extending in to North Carolina. With Roadside Geology of Tennessee as your guide, explore the geologic significance of many of the stat s natural and historic sties such as Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harpeth River State Park, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

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Roadside Geology of Tennessee

Tennessee, extending 500 diagonal miles between Bristol and Memphis, cuts across numerous rock types, from the deformed gneiss of the Blue Ridge along the North Carolina border to the young sediments exposed in the Chickasaw Bluffs that rise 100 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain. The state s more than 1 billion years of geologic history includes continental collisions that built enormous mountains and rifting forces that almost split the ancient continent apart. The geologic processes are still at work in Tennessee, with sinkholes claiming land in areas of limestone, rivers eroding sediment and shifting channels, and some of North America s largest earthquakes occurring every 500 years on the ancient rift faults near Reelfoot Lake.

Learn about unusual meteor impact sites on the Highland Rim of Middle Tennessee, the world-famous fossils in the Coon Creek Formation, and the source of saltpeter used for gunpowder in the Civil War. An extensive section on Great Smoky Mountains National Park includes guides to nine roads, some extending in to North Carolina. With Roadside Geology of Tennessee as your guide, explore the geologic significance of many of the stat s natural and historic sties such as Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harpeth River State Park, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

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Roadside Geology of Tennessee

Roadside Geology of Tennessee

by Marcy Davis
Roadside Geology of Tennessee

Roadside Geology of Tennessee

by Marcy Davis

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Overview


Tennessee, extending 500 diagonal miles between Bristol and Memphis, cuts across numerous rock types, from the deformed gneiss of the Blue Ridge along the North Carolina border to the young sediments exposed in the Chickasaw Bluffs that rise 100 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain. The state s more than 1 billion years of geologic history includes continental collisions that built enormous mountains and rifting forces that almost split the ancient continent apart. The geologic processes are still at work in Tennessee, with sinkholes claiming land in areas of limestone, rivers eroding sediment and shifting channels, and some of North America s largest earthquakes occurring every 500 years on the ancient rift faults near Reelfoot Lake.

Learn about unusual meteor impact sites on the Highland Rim of Middle Tennessee, the world-famous fossils in the Coon Creek Formation, and the source of saltpeter used for gunpowder in the Civil War. An extensive section on Great Smoky Mountains National Park includes guides to nine roads, some extending in to North Carolina. With Roadside Geology of Tennessee as your guide, explore the geologic significance of many of the stat s natural and historic sties such as Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harpeth River State Park, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780878426911
Publisher: Mountain Press
Publication date: 04/01/2019
Series: Roadside Geology Series
Pages: 400
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author


Marcy Davis earned an MS in geology at the University of Texas in Austin in 2001. She currently works as a research scientist associate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, supporting field science teams working in such far-flung regions of the world as Antarctica, Greenland, New Zealand, the Arctic and Caribbean Oceans, and the western and southern United States. Marcy is also a prolific science writer with contributions to Polar Field Resources Field Notes as well as to the Earth and Sky radio series. While researching her family history, Marcy traveled the back roads of Tennessee and became fascinated with the state s geology. Marcy lives and works in Austin along with her husband, Dan, and their cat, Lucille

Table of Contents

Preface viii

Acknowledgments xii

Tennessee's Landscape 1

Earth's Layers and the Formation of Continents 2

Minerals and Rocks 5

Water's Role in Weathering and Erosion 9

Caves and Springs 12

Mapping Tennessee 15

Geologic Structures 17

Tennessee's Geologic History 21

Precambrian 22

Proterozoic Eon: 2,500 to 541 million years ago 22

Paleozoic Time 26

Cambrian Period: 541 to 485 million years ago 28

Ordovician Period: 435 to 444 million years ago 30

Silurian Period: 444 to 419 million years ago 35

Devonian Period: 419 to 359 million years ago 36

Mississippian Period: 359 to 323 million years ago 38

Pennsylvanian Period: 323 to 299 million years ago 42

Permian Period: 299 to 252 million years ago 45

Mesozoic Time 45

Cretaceous Period: 145 to 66 million years ago 46

Cenozoic Time 50

Paleogene Period: 66 to 23 million years ago 50

Neogene Period: 23 to 2.6 million years ago 51

Quaternary Period: 2.6 million years ago to present day 52

Geology and Humans in Tennessee 54

East Tennessee-Appalachian Highlands 59

Blue Ridge 60

Valley and Ridge 62

Cumberland Plateau 66

Tennessee's Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas 69

Great Smoky Mountains National Park 73

Cades Cove Loop Road 77

Cataloochee Valley 81

Clingmans Dome Road 82

Foothills Parkway 84

Eastern Segment 84

Western Segment 86

Laurel Creek Road 89

Little River Gorge Road/Fighting Creek Gap Road 90

US 321: Maryville-Gatlinburg-Cosby 94

US 441 (Newfound Gap Road) 97

Road Guides in East Tennessee

I-24: Monteagle-Chattanooga 102

Chattanooga Geolgy 114

I-26: Kingsport-Johnson City-North Carolina State Line 119

I-40: North Carolina State Line-Dandridge (I-81) 125

I-40: Dandridge-Knoxville 129

Knoxville Geology 132

I-40: Knoxville-Rockwood 137

I-40: Rockwood-Crossville-Cookeville 140

I-75: Chattanooga (East Ridge)-Farragut 146

I-75: Knoxville-Jellico (Kentucky State Line) 150

I-81: I-40 Junction-Bristol 159

US 25E: Morristown-Cumberland Gap 162

Cumberland Gap National Historic Park 168

US 64/US 74/TN 40: Cleveland-Ducktown 170

US 127: Chattanooga-Dunlap-Crossville 177

Fall Creek Falls State Park 188

US 321/US 19E: Johnson City-Roan Mountain 191

Roan Mountain State Park and the Roan Highlands 194

US 421: Bristol-Mountain City-North Carolina State Line 197

TN 52: Livingston-Jamestown 205

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area 208

TN 68: Ducktown-Sweetwater 211

TN165 (Cherohala Skyway): Tellico Plains-North Carolina State Line 217

Middle Tennessee:-Interior Low Plateaus 221

The Central (Nashville) Basin 221

The Highland Rim 224

Western Iron Belt 227

Impact Craters 229

Road Guides in Middle Tennessee

I-24: Clarksville-Nashville 233

Dunbar Cave State Park 236

I-24: Nashville-Murfreesboro-Monteagle 239

I-40: Cookeville-Lebanon-Nashville 248

Burgess Falls State Park 251

Cedars of Lebanon State Park 257

Nashville Geology 259

I-40: Nashville-Dickson-Tennessee River 263

Harpeth River State Park 265

I-65: Alabama State Line-Columbia-Nashville 269

I-65: Nashville-Kentucky State Line 278

TN 52: Portland-Livingston 280

Natchez Trace Parkway: Nashville-Alabama State Line 285

West Tennessee-Gulf Coastal Plain 289

West Tennessee Uplands 290

West Tennessee Plain 291

Mississippi River Valley 294

New Madrid Seismic Zone 297

Road Guides in West Tennessee

I-40: Tennessee River-Jackson 301

I-40: Jackson-Memphis 306

Memphis Geology 308

US 51: Memphis-Dyersburg 316

US 641/TN 69: Parsons-Camden-Paris 320

Ball Clay at Paris and Gleason 329

TN 22: Samburg-Dresden 332

TN 78: Dyersburg-Kentucky State Line 337

Reelfoot Lake State Park 342

Museums and Nature Centers 345

Glossary 347

Cited References 361

Index 366

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