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.
Cumberland Gap, elevation 506 m (1,660′), in the far southwestern corner of Virginia is a wind gap near the geographic triple point* between Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The gap has long been an important crossing point through the Appalachian Mountains, and lies at the western edge of the Valley & Ridge province with the Appalachian Plateau province […]
On July 1, 2016, Governor Terry McCauliffe signed a bill into law that made nelsonite the first official state rock of Virginia. The initiative for this project was led by students from Piedmont Virginia Community College. Michelle Stanislaus and her classmates from their Historical Geology class and Government class ran the petition for this law starting […]