A Resource for Information on the Commonwealth's Geology
Aerial view (to the southeast) towards the mouth of the Rappahannock River. Photo by C. M. Bailey
The Rappahannock River forms a broad estuary as it flows to towards the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia’s Coastal Plain province. To the south the Piankatank River is also visible. The Rappahannock and Piankatank rivers are tidal estuaries.
Finding bedrock outcrop in the Piedmont of Southside Virginia can be challenging. Much of the terrain is covered by soil and saprolite, and geologists interested in this region must search high and low for outcrop. The image above illustrates a ‘good’ natural outcrop in the Piedmont, likely the result of a relatively resistant rock that […]
When large quantities of magma intrude and solidify in the Earth’s crust they form bodies of intrusive igneous rock known as plutons. The featured image nicely illustrates the edge (geologic contact) of a granitic pluton in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. The granite is part of the 706 ± 4 million year old […]