A Resource for Information on the Commonwealth's Geology
This image illustrates part of the geological map of Highland County, Virginia in the Valley & Ridge province. Note the linear belts Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that are repeated by folding. From oldest to youngest these include O1 = lower Ordovician strata, O2 = upper Ordovician strata, S1 = Silurian strata, SD = Silurian-Devonian strata, D1 […]
Yorktown became a famous locale in 1781 after the surrender of the British troops which effectively ended the Revolutionary War. British forces in and around Yorktown dug a number of defensive earthworks that were sieged by American and French troops over a three-week period prior to the surrender on October 19th, 1781. In the early 21st […]
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 […]