Appalachian Plateau province of Appalachian division

The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged

dissected plateau A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded, and the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of fold (geology), ...

s located on the western side of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. The Appalachian Mountains are a range that run from Nova Scotia in Canada to Alabama in the United States. The Appalachian Plateau is the northwestern part of the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division of the United States, stretching from

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The plateau is a second level United States physiographic region, covering parts of the states of New York,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Geography and physical features

The formation of the plateau began during the Paleozoic Era. Regional uplift during this time caused the area to rise altogether without changing the topography of the land. The eastern side of the plateau appears as a mountain range. This false appearance is due to a very steep slope on the eastern side known as the

Allegheny Front The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and western Virginia. The Allegheny Front forms the boundary between the Ridge-an ...

. The eastern edge is the highest part of the Appalachian Plateau. In

, the elevation ranges from 1,750 to 3,000 feet and continues to rise toward

, where the elevation is around 4,800 feet. From West Virginia to

, the elevation lowers to 3,000 feet and continues slanting downward to 1,000 feet in

. On the western side of the plateau, the elevation is 1500 feet in

, increasing to about 4000 feet in

. From Kentucky the elevation drops down to 2000 feet in northwestern Alabama. The plateau has a slight slant towards the northwest, making it higher on the eastern side. A large portion of the plateau is a coalfield, which was formed approximately 320 million years ago during the Pennsylvanian Age. The plateau was subjected to glaciation during the Pleistocene ice age. As a result, the topography of this section of the plateau is relatively flat in comparison to the rest of the physiographic province. This portion of the plateau is marked with evidence of a glaciated past including

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

s, lakes, and small hills of sand and gravel. The topography of the rest of the plateau was created mainly from stream

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

. The result is a rugged landscape, unlike many other plateaus, that includes many narrow stream valleys surrounded by steep ridges. The region in Kentucky is known as the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield. It includes 35 counties and covers around 30% of Kentucky's land. Major sections include the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau ( ) is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. It is divided into the unglacia ...

, the

Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...

and the

Cumberland Mountains The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, southwestern West Virginia, the eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the ...

, with the highest peaks located in the Cumberland Mountains.

Physiographic regions

physiographic region Physiographic regions are a means of defining Earth's landforms into independently distinct, mutually exclusive areas, independent of political boundaries. It is based upon the classic three-tiered approach by Nevin M. Fenneman in 1916, that separ ...

is a large portion of land that is grouped by several factors. Each region has similar geology,

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

, and groups of plants and animals. There are eight physiographic regions in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Each region is divided into provinces, there are 25 provinces in the United States. Each region is then divided into sections, creating 85 different physiographic sections in the United States. The Appalachian Plateau is a province of the physiographic region of the Appalachian Highlands. The Appalachian Plateau province is divided into seven physiographic sections: Mohawk, Catskill, Southern New York,

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

, Kanawha,

, and the

. Each section is classified under the Appalachian Plateau province because of its similarities in geologic makeup, topography, and wildlife. Likewise, the Appalachian Plateau falls under the classification of Appalachian Highlands because of those similar characteristics.

Geology

The rock underlying the Appalachian Plateau consists of a base of

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

rock, overlain by

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

from the

Paleozoic Era The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

. On top of the basement is a thick layer, approximately 20,000 feet, of a mixture of

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

, and Middle

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

rock. This rock consists of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

, and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. Above this layer is the Upper Silurian

evaporate Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. A high concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when hum ...

basin, or basin of chemically formed sedimentary rocks. The Plateau fold belt consists of structurally complex Paleozoic strata which were

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. I ...

ed over the younger evaporates. When the Appalachian mountains were formed, the plateau was lifted. Ridges and valleys all die down underneath the plateau. There are multiple valleys throughout the region which consist of exposed areas of limestone and shale.

History

Native Americans

Archaeologists have evidence that

Native Americans in the United States Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the Contiguous United States, lower 48 states and A ...

lived in the Appalachian region more than 12,000 years ago; however, it is hard to say exactly when the occupants first inhabited the land. Human artifacts were collected near the

Meadowcroft Rockshelter The Meadowcroft Rockshelter is an archaeological site which is located near Avella in Jefferson Township, Pennsylvania. The site is a rock shelter in a bluff overlooking Cross Creek (a tributary of the Ohio River), and contains evidence that the ...

in southern

that were at least 16,000 years old. Because the early Native Americans were hunter-gatherers living off the land, they left little material traces of their lives behind them. This is why it is so hard for researchers to determine when they settled in this area. Much like many historic Native American tribes, the early Appalachian inhabitants survived as nomads, following their food on a seasonal basis. Around this period, North America was still recuperating from its last glacial period, and the climate was very different from the present. The climate and habitat more closely resembled a

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

, with lower temperatures, numerous conifer trees, and large mammals, such as mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. Eventually, the climate began to warm up again, the large mammals started to disappear, and the vegetation seen more often today began to flourish. These climatic changes made life more sustainable for the Native Americans. They continued to invent new weapons and made advancements in agriculture until the Europeans arrived in North America.

European settlement

Europeans settled in North America beginning in the seventeenth century. In 1749, Jacob Martin and Steven Sewell were the first Europeans known to settle the Appalachian Plateau, specifically in what is now

Pocahontas County, West Virginia Pocahontas County is a county located in the eastern part of the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,869. Its county seat is Marlinton. The county was established in 1821. It is named after the daughter o ...

. European colonization and competition with the Native Americans resulted in high mortality due to new diseases, as well as more deaths and social disruption due to warfare. After pushing out the Native Americans, the European American settlers developed much of this land for agriculture. From 1861 to 1865, the Appalachian Plateau suffered from the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, but in comparison to many other parts of the country, little damage was done. During the war, Union forces gained control over a majority of the plateau, and afterwards that possession was not challenged. Only three noteworthy battles occurred in the plateau region during the war, so not much of the land was destroyed. After the war, the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

industry boomed. Many counties in the Appalachian Plateau region, such as

McDowell County, West Virginia McDowell County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state, State of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,111. Its county seat is Welch, West Virginia, Welch. McDowell County is the ...

, became dominated by coal mining. Coal mining towns were created, and many immigrants were attracted to the region for work. Although mining was good for the economy, deaths were high in the harsh work of the mines. Among the terrible coal incidents was the Monongah mining disaster of 1907.

Protected lands

Protecting the Appalachian Region from damage of human influence has been important in the modern era. Conservationists have been fighting to preserve the wildlife in the Appalachia region. The region has proved that with good care, the flora and fauna can be very resilient. However, back in 1890, the destruction of the Appalachian region's forest was at full-scale with the invention of the railroad, saw-mills, and clear-cutting of trees. This caused major flooding and wildfires to the region and destroyed keystone species across the region. Realizing that the destruction of the forest was becoming a major issue, the government passed the

Weeks Act The Weeks Act is a federal law (36 Stat. 961) enacted by the United States Congress on March 1, 1911. Introduced by Massachusetts Congressman John W. Weeks and signed into law by President William Howard Taft, the law authorized the United Stat ...

of 1911, which allowed the federal government to purchase private land in order to protect rivers and watersheds in the eastern United States. The first purchase under this act was the

Pisgah National Forest Pisgah National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The P ...

. In 1964, the

Wilderness Act The Wilderness Act of 1964 () is a federal land management statute meant to protect U.S. Wilderness Area, federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. It was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Socie ...

expanded protections for millions of acres of federal land, such as the

Shining Rock Shining Rock is a mountain in western North Carolina, United States. The mountain is one of the Great Balsam Mountains which are a part of the Blue Ridge Mountains within the Appalachian Mountains. It is the 38th tallest mountain in the eastern ...

and Linville Gorge. The 1975 Eastern Wilderness Act created expanded protected areas in North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Today, close to 21% of the region is protected. Conservation groups that are dedicated to preserving the Appalachian Plateau region include the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition and the Northern Forest Alliance. Ultimately, experts and researchers say the best way to continue protecting the Appalachian region is to incorporate conservation into public education so that people understand and support the benefits of conserving the lands.

Wildlife

Plants

The Appalachian region is home to a wide variety of plant and animal life due to its vast array of climate and conditions giving the Appalachian Plateau region great biodiversity. To the north are many conifers, such as red spruce and balsam fir which can be seen growing at the northernmost latitudes of the Appalachian region. In the northern sections of the plateau at lower elevations you can find northern hardwoods, such as

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the ...

and

white oak ''Quercus'' subgenus ''Quercus'' is one of the two subgenera into which the genus ''Quercus'' was divided in a 2017 classification (the other being subgenus ''Cerris''). It contains about 190 species divided among five sections. It may be calle ...

. In southern Appalachia, growth of

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

, and

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''. Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...

trees are common. It is estimated that there is around 2,000 species of flora within the Appalachia region. Flowers vary due to elevation and climate of the area of Appalachia region. Different types of flowers in the northern and southern sections of the Appalachia. Flowers such as

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

azalea Azaleas ( ) are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Rhododendron sect. Tsutsusi, Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and ''Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate ...

and mountain laurel can be found in southern regions while up north trees will bear serviceberry, redbud, sourwood, and many others.

Animals

Fauna such as

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

and

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

used to be native to the Appalachian region but have vanished. Elk have been reintroduced in some regions, having died out due to overhunting and

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

previously. Throughout all of the Appalachian Plateau region there is an abundance of fox, raccoon, wild boar, black bears, white-tailed deer, and beaver. Researchers also found there to be over 200 species of game and songbirds including wild turkey, heron, geese, hawks, ducks and many more. Fungi are also prominent in the Appalachia region. Abundant

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

can be found including chanterelle,

oyster mushroom ''Pleurotus'' is a genus of Gill (mushroom), gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, ''Pleurotus ostreatus, P. ostreatus''. Species of ''Pleurotus'' may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are ...

and rock tripe.Stephenson, Steven L. ''A Natural History of the Central Appalachians''. Morgantown: West Virginia UP, 2013. Print. (pg. 130–211)

Natural resources

The Appalachian Plateau has a vast array of natural resources throughout its rugged landscape. Within these resources, there are many sedimentary substances. In the valleys of the Appalachian Plateau there is an abundance of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. This limestone is still mined for cement and aggregate. Due to excessive mining over time, limestone fields are depleted in many areas but some are still relatively plentiful.

Ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

and

are also among the plentiful natural resources found. In different regions of the Appalachian Plateau, enough plant debris accumulated to form peat, which upon burial, compaction and heating was made into the coal of the Appalachian coalfields. Due to the abundant coal in the Appalachian Plateau,

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

has been a staple of the area and has proved to be a very successful mining hub.

Iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

was once an extremely abundant natural resource but due to the thin layer of iron, over time it was mostly depleted. A very well-known natural resource of the Appalachian Plateau is its land and soil. The soil is rich and it is ideal for farmland. Within the limestone found throughout the Appalachian Plateau there are many fossilized substances such as old plant and stems, which may help to explain why the plateau also has a rich amount of natural gases and petroleum.

Landmarks and state parks

The Appalachian Plateau has many landmarks and public spaces to camp out, go hiking, and sight see.

Allegany State Park Allegany State Park is a state park in western New York State, located in Cattaraugus County, New York, Cattaraugus County just north of the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. The park is divided into two sections: The Red House Area a ...

in New York, Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania, Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio, Cooper's Rock State Forest in West Virginia, and Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia are notable state parks on or along the edge of the plateau; there are many more state parks and state forests throughout the region, and

Wayne National Forest The Wayne National Forest is located in the Appalachian part of the US state of Ohio, in the Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. It is the first and only national forest in Ohio. Forest headquarters are located between The Plains and Nelsonville, ...

and Allegheny National Forest lie on the Appalachian plateau as well.

References

{{WikidataCoord, display=t Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Ohio Eastern United States Escarpments of the United States Geography of Appalachia Landforms of Alabama Landforms of Kentucky Landforms of New York (state) Plateaus of Ohio Landforms of Maryland Landforms of Pennsylvania Landforms of Tennessee Landforms of West Virginia Carboniferous United States Pennsylvanian (geology) Pennsylvanian North America Physiographic provinces Physiographic regions of the United States Plateaus of the United States Regions of Alabama Regions of Kentucky Regions of New York (state) Regions of Maryland Regions of Pennsylvania Regions of Tennessee Regions of the United States Regions of West Virginia

Geography and physical features

Physiographic regions

Geology

History

Native Americans

European settlement

Protected lands

Wildlife

Plants

Animals

Natural resources

Landmarks and state parks

See also

References