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You are browsing the archive for Appalachia Archives - The Field.

August 28, 2020

The Geo Models: Landslides associated with historic iron mining in the Virginia Valley and Ridge

The sharpness of these landslide features suggests they may still be slowly moving, but very little disruption to vegetation is visible in satellite imagery, so movement is probably very slow. Since their maximum age is known (the time of mining; late 1800s-1920s), they offer interesting comparison to older, natural landslides in the area, which tend to have softened, rounded features due to weathering and erosion.

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September 28, 2019

Searching for the “biggest” mountain in the Appalachians…and why is “biggest” in quotes?

A recent visit to Cattail Peak (6,583 ft/2,006 m), a summit in North Carolina’s Black Mountains, left me wondering where the most topographically prominent peaks and biggest possible summit climbs in the Appalachians are located.

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March 7, 2019

The Breaks rock slide: Revisiting Schultz and Southworth (1989) 30 years later

By Philip S. Prince, Virginia Division of Geology and Mineral Resources (Scroll down for summary video link) The Breaks rock slide, a large slide feature at the western edge of the Appalachian fold-thrust belt, was first described 30 years ago in Schultz and Southworth (1989). In an impressive display of imagery analysis and general geologic know-how, the authors successfully identified several large but topographically subtle ancient landslide features without the …

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March 9, 2017

A Virtual Field Trip Through Appalachian Geology

A tour of Appalachia, as reconstructed Virginia Tech Active Tectonics and Geomorphology Lab.

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