Rocky Face Fault

The Rocky Face Fault is a

geological fault Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

responsible, in part, for the location of

Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap is a Mountain pass, pass in the Eastern United States, eastern United States through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains and near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. At&n ...

at Cumberland Mountain and the Narrows gap at

Pine Mountain Pine Mountain may refer to: Natural formations Australia * Pine Mountain (Victoria), large monolith located in Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park United States * Pine Mountain Wilderness, a protected wilderness area in Prescott National Fore ...

in the southern

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 fact that these two gaps lined up enabled western migration across the Appalachians to Kentucky. Included along the fault are the towns of Middlesboro and

Pineville, Kentucky Pineville () is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Bell County, Kentucky, Bell County, Kentucky, United States. It is the county seat, seat of its county. The population was 1,732 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 cens ...

. The fault represents a crack in the Cumberland Overthrust Sheet, one of many remnant resistant strata pushed upwards to the northwest over the neighboring

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 ...

. The fault is named after Rocky Face, a prominent, cliff-lined mountain between Middlesboro and

. Appalachian Mountains Geography of Bell County, Kentucky Geology of Kentucky {{BellCountyKY-geo-stub