A Resource for Information on the Commonwealth's Geology
Nottoway Falls in the Piedmont of south-central Virginia. photo by C. M. Bailey
Nottoway Falls is an impressive set of cascades along the Nottoway River in the south-central Piedmont. Here the Nottoway River forms an impressive knick zone, dropping ~30 meters (~100′) in less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mi.). A strongly lineated granitic gneiss is well-exposed during low water conditions. The origin of this knick zone is poorly understood.
This exposure in a pasture near Cuckoo exposes a poly-deformed hornblende and plagioclase-rich gneiss. Foliation in the gneiss has been refolded. Another interesting feature is the presence of garbenschiefer or “feather amphibolite.” This unusual texture is defined by stellate and featherlike hornblende clusters in the plane of foliation. Three amphibole species occur in this rock […]
Many of the highest peaks in Shenandoah National Park (including Hawksbill, Stony Man, and Hightop Mountain, just to name a few) are underlain by distinctive bluish-green rocks that were once ancient lava flows (Virginia is for Lavas!), and are part of a geologic unit known as the Catoctin Formation. From the presidential retreat at Camp David to Jefferson’s […]