How did an ancient geologic fault line form this 120 mile long valley?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 24 лис 2024
- Today's Appalachian Mountains are a product of long-term erosion interacting with much older geologic structures. The Sequatchie Valley is one of the best examples of how Appalachian landscapes are a product of erosional forces sculpting existing folds within the bedrock. One of the Sequatchie Valley's most interesting aspects is that a fault runs for most of its nearly 120 mile (200 km) length. The role of the fault in actually forming the valley is not immediately obvious, and a look at the landscape, along with a Microsoft Paint sketch, are necessary to see how the fault and the rocks interact to make one of the regions longest landforms.
I live in the Sequatchie Valley about 5 miles from the TN, Al line on the TN side I find quite a few fossils but mostly an ancient type of tree called the Lepidodendron also known as the scale tree which is estimated to have grown around 358.9 to 298.9 million years ago it's a beautiful fossil that looks exactly like the skin of a snake. Thank you for this video I have lived here all my life roamed through the mountains where in some places you can see the evidence of where the mountains have been pushed up especially when you run across patches of soft shell. I also know that in several areas in mountains where people live they have problems with water wells getting taken out because the ground underneath is still moving causing peoples wells to slide and collapse.
as someone with little to no geological knowledge, this channel is very very interesting, and it really helps that im from the area and can go explore all the stuff youre actually talking about.
I live along the gulf coast and have always understood the nice white sand comes from the erosion of the Appalachians. Hearing about these features being eroded down from a possible 8000ft-ish mountain really helps put that into perspective. Absolutely fascinating stuff, keep it coming 😊
Including the Atlantic coastal plains.
Can't be the mississippi part. Our beach area is gross all together 🤢
It's the quartz. Incredibly hard mineral, but when weathered down to granules it makes for fine whitesand beaches...
Wow never thought about that
@@Aromatic.Bleach The sediment load of the Mississippi river system is much younger largely fed by sediment coming from the western US the eastern drainages from the Sevier Laramide and modern Colorado plateau uplift which make up the various parts of the Rocky mountain system. As a young river delta system the stuff hasn't had the time to settle down and become densely compacted by earthquakes tectonics and geological timescales so it is still loose and largely unconsolidated.
That said I'm not sure what would make it "gross". Is it the high pollution loads from all the oil refineries and chemical factories agricultural run off and oil spills which have created huge dead zones? Or the brutal nearly constant heat and humidity of the gulf coast climate zone?
It’s really something else to watch you draw up such a vivid representation of what you’re explaining
One of the best channels on UA-cam (in my opinion ). Thank you brother from northern Indiana.
I am honored my friend!
Agreed 💯
Totally agree. These videos are so well done. I am learning so much!
I live in Cookeville TN just NW of this feature and have travelled through and across it many times. I’ve often wondered how it formed - now I know. Thanks!
I've visited the valley both fossil collecting and as a bicycle tourist. It's breathtaking in its every aspect.
you must be close to mcgiehomesteadadventures
I love driven thru this valley many times on I-24 and I-40 on the north end. Always wondered about this feature. Thank You for the video.
At the Northeast head of the Sequatchie valley is a large spring named Head of the Sequatchie. That is where the water reappears from the very large sinkhole just north of there called Grassy Cove. The entire cove is one large sinkhole. The water goes underground in Grassy Cove and flows along the fault under Brady Mountain. Just North of Grassy Cove but South of Crab Orchard is Bat Town Cove. It looks to be a newer version of Grassy Cove and may one day be a large sinkhole valley. Water also goes underground in Bat Town Cove, flows along the fault, and comes out at the Head of the Sequatchie.
I was playing with a web site that showed drainage paths. Drop a pin; it plots the local creek to the river to the ocean. It knew the path out of Grassy Cove, but it got stuck in Little Cove (the one to the northeast).
@@timothyconover9805 - if I remember right Little Cove drainage goes into a cave and then comes out of a cave in Grassy Cove. There is a small saddle ridge between Little Cove and Grassy Cove that this "short" cave cuts through. Water then flows above ground to join the main drainage in Grassy Cove, which flows into Mill Cave and under Brady Mountain.
Glad you mentioned that - it's an odd closed valley. Maybe the proffessor can discuss that and all the subsurface water flows. We live neat the Lost Sea and my wife always ask me if our house is gonna fall in some day.
@@timothyconover9805 can you post the drainage website?
I read somewhere that Grassy Cove is indicative of the formation of the entire valley. Whatever that was suggested the entire Sequatchie Valley was a series of sinkholes that opened up and eventually merged, Grassy Cove and Little Cove simply being more recent, geologically speaking, and therefore non-contiguous.
thank you for all these amazing videos. great diagrams. well spoken and too the point
The drive down (or up ) this valley is great. We have done it a few times and always enjoy it. Thanks for explaining how it formed.
Try it on a Bacchetta Strada recumbent bicycle sometime. Or a conventional wedgie bike, for that matter. Gives you a whole different perspective.
Man I'd love to see you talk about my home city Sudbury, it's an impact crater with multiple faults and is a super interesting area geologically. Another great video!
I knew the answer before I watched, I spend a lot of time up on Lookout Mountain, which is a syncline and used to be a valley floor between the ridge that is now Sequatchie Valley and another to the east. It also has several thrust faults along the eastern side, which is why you find a number of caves there that have developed/eroded out of the fault.
There are wave ripples in the sandstone caprock on the bluff edge on the west side of the Lookout Mtn just south of Burkhalter Gap road where it meets Scenic Hwy- as it turns out, an excellent place to launch a hang glider or paraglider. It seems it was once beach front property.
@@Richard-xu4cj Indeed, over 300 million years ago. An environment probably not entirely unlike the Georgia coast today, with different flora and fauna of course. Some of the marshy bits ended up as coal around there; there are spoil heaps left over from mining still on the mountain where you can find plant fossils in the bits of coal spoilage.
Massively enjoy these videos and learning about what’s going on under ground! Fantastic models too!
I am a Native Chattanoogan who has been living in the Sequatchie Valley for more than 15 yrs now. I've always wondered how the valley got its significant straight line. It is very beautiful here, I love living in the area. I am north of Pikeville in the Cold Springs area, and the closer you get to the north end of the Valley, the more beautiful it gets, in my opinion. Also, I have what I call coal granules in my front yard.
I used to go camping a lot near Cumberland MD, and there are a couple of features around there which may make an interesting video.
The first is Sideling hill and specifically where I 68 cuts right through the hill. The cut for the highway exposes this very neat U shaped layering that makes up the hill. Unintuitively the mouth of the U is aligned towards the peak of the hill instead of the base as one might expect.
The second feature which is just outside of Cumberland itself, is the Cumberland Narrows. The Narrows are a saddle cut right through a ridge westish of Cumberland and it's what the modern Wills creek flows through as it makes it way to the North Branch of the Potomac.
Love the videos!
Phenomenal diagrams here, brother. Immediately subscribing. The transparency w which you’re able to explain the motion and process creating the landforms really reminds me of Prof. Nick Zentner up in Washington. The man who explained inverted topography to me!
I have flown over this area in a private plane. It’s an interesting thing to see. There are houses on the plateau and sheer cliffs to the valley below.
That's got to be the best geologic time diagram I've ever seen
I've spent my whole life passing through the valley, this is very cool to learn.
Interesting information. I’m a 1983 Geology graduate from Georgia State University. This brings back memories from those days.
I've always wondered about this, so thank you for explaining it. I've lived in the plateau ridge in my entire life, and it's amazing how you can find Carboniferous fossils near the top, such as fern impressions in slate, or petrified segments of giant tree ferns and what seem to be ginkos, and near the bottom there are lots of different types of clam shells and cone shells in the limestone.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have seen that valley on the map and wondered what the feature was, and here you explained it.
Sequatchie Valley is a favorite. Gorgeous area. Thanks for the interesting info.
Awesome! As a chattanooga native I always wondered about this geology. Thanks for sharing
All of your vids are super fascinating. We take long interstate journeys through so many of these places.
Glad you're enjoying them!
Can you please make a video about the off shore oil and gas around India. Its super interesting that a lanmass with so many rivers especially the ganges doesnt have a hude oil and has deposit off shore. Really love your vids!!
Appalachians have always fascinated me because you can see what was the inside of huge mountains on the surface today. Do a few more then maybe the new madrid fault structure.
I love your videos man. It’s definitely cool to see how the area I live in has changed through time. I live right where Ohio, WV, and Kentucky come together and there are so many sedimentary layers you can see in the hills where they went through with the roads.
I was thinking of the Sequatchie Valley after watching your previous video of the process of eroding the anticline in the Virginia ridge and valley province. When I was first told about the Sequatchie Valley I could not get my mind around how a long hump can essentially be eroded into a trough. One explanation I found was that the peak of the fold often has faulting blocks, like keystones in an arch, that provide a pathway for water to trickle into the underlying limestone and hollow out the base into which some of the sandstone cap falls, then the process continues widening the gaps between the blocks and breaking down the blocks. But that would imply some detrital blocks of sandstone might be left behind in the base of the valley, but I'm not sure that is the case. I would really enjoy if you explore the great mystery of the Tennessee River at the end of the Sequatchie Valley and why it suddenly departs it's SW course shoots westward before taking yet another odd turn to the north. Did the Tennessee River at one time spill out into a shallow see at the base of the Sequatchie Valley where it contributed great amounts of sediment into the Black Belt?
Great presentation! This is a wonderful valley to drive through going to or from Chattanooga!
Really enjoyed this. I'm in the Lyerly Georgia area just SE of Sequatchie Valley and in the 70's, 80's and 90's did a ton of caving in and around this area. Sad it took this long to get a greater appreciation of the forces of nature at work but thanks for covering this topic and area.
It's a good one! Glad you found the video.
Great videos thank you so much
A different kind of formation but similar processes is the Nashville bowl. A cracked open anticline worn down to soft Ordovician limestone.
Very cool! I live about fifteen miles east of this feature at its southern extent (where it crosses near Guntersville AL). I knew that there is extensive faulting in the valley and ridge system but we only get very minor earthquakes (once every few years, something that might crack the plaster by a door jamb).
Thanks for the Squach valley explaination, been in some of the caves in valley floor, allways wondered?
Awesome..the valley is the ancestral home of my family..from what I've learned they were some of the first few permanent settlers...literally right on what is now the Marion-Sequatchie County line.
Bravo! You're revealing the secrets of earth and time! What a perfect combo of content and visuals!
Great vids! Super interesting and will definitely stick around for more!
I grew up on savage Mt, frostburg md. Worked all throughout westvirginia, one of the best drives I've ever took was through dolly sods, seneca rocks, down into princeton and into mullens wv. You get to see a good bit of the collision of these ancient landmasses in a 6 hour drive.
But I came here to say, I love these videos man, the paint diagrams are awesome. Always good to see college level education in a flat bill hat. Lol
Wow, I was actually just driving thru Sequatchie county 5 days ago looking at the top edge of the valley wondering what created that massive land feature.
Spent a lot of time in Coppinger (Sequatchie) cove. Among my faves on earth.
Wish this technology had existed 40 years ago when I was an undergrad geology student. Makes perfect sense seeing it in animation vs. trying to. understand it from diagrams in a structural geology textbook. Thanks for the video.
For many years I drove my tractor trailer into and through Chattanooga on the I75 north-south corridor. The geology is unmissable and stunning in either direction. It was a highlight of every trip.
Best geology vids I have seen yet. Thanks man!!!
Thank you for this! We travel through this valley frequently and I’ve always found the cliffs on the sides so interesting. I wondered about how the valley was formed. It is such a beautiful area.
Glad you liked it!
The folding of the strata is like the ridge that develops in a rug when you push on one end…the upward folding weakens the top strata and they form axial linear cracks that allow erosion to accelerate…in the SV case the erosion is accelerated by the soluble softer limestone under the Pennsylvanian sandstones…Grassy Cove at the head of the SV shows how this happens and is continuing …of course anticlinal structures tend to form valleys with erosion and synclinal structures tend to be left as mountains like Lookout Mountain…I was born and raised in this area…still live here…very fortunate…good presentation…thanks!
That's a cool video explaining the valley and its origins.
Great presentation! Thank you….
Oh man, I thought we were going to touch on the Tennessee Valley Gorge formation.... Maybe next time.....
i've read the tennessee river used to flow straight south from chattanooga to GOM. very interesting explanation but i take all these theories with a grain of salt anymore.
Thank you for another great video from my neck of the woods. You are an exceptional teacher and i really appreciate the effort. I would also be interested in the TN river gorge formation and how it came to cut through the plateau southwest of Chattanooga and runs west rather than SW though Alabama as you mentioned in a previous video.
Quite a few years ago I rode my motorcycle up through this and it is quite weird, beautiful, breathtaking and scary all at the same time.
I've enjoyed driving up the east road from I-24 near Jasper, TN going NE. The west road is the better road, but the east road has more character. I grew up near Guntersville, AL, but never heard the valley called Sequatchie valley until moving to Chatanooga.
Excellent, simple graphic explanation!
Glad you think so!
I enjoyed your explanation of how the Sequatchie Valley was formed. I've driven around the Crab Orchard area both on I-40 and Hwy. 70 down through the Rockwood and Harimon area. Took some Geology classes at Austin Peay back in the 1990's and you helped put some things in perspective! Thanks 👍
Awesome!
It is a beautiful valley with a nice overlook on the highway above it.
This has RAPIDLY become my favorite channel on YT. I don't know hardly anything about Geology, so this is endlessly fascinating to me. Thanks for all the great content, I've pretty much binged it all at this point 🤣
Is there anything noteworthy going on in Ohio you'd discuss, or is it all just "Glaciers happened"? Because that seems to be the only significant shaping force in our modern geology and geography to my (limited) knowledge.
I love the Sequatchie valley!! I live in Chatt, and I love driving to one of the Sequatchie valley overlooks. I watched the eclipse at one of them! Great fossils to be found there
Another story for the campfires 🔥, great work. Easy to understand too
You are a darn good MS Paint artist!
thanks! I am trying to hone the skills!
Walden's ridge representing! We are the eastern plateua surrounding the valley.
I've been wondering about that since the 80s. THANKS!
I live near here and drive through the length of the valley several times a month. Great video. Extra points for mentioning the coal! Grassy Cove is a fascinating feature on the north end of the valley that you eluded to. Lot of caves in the region here too.
Thank you for explaining this area. The northern part of the valley is actually sculpted by the relatively small Sequatchie River. The Tennessee River only joins it in Chattanooga. I assume it has always been this way, but you may know different. One thing you forgot to mention is just how beautiful the valley is.
No this place isn't beautiful at all it's a disaster it should have been named Hell Valley, just kidding where I live the mountain tops are being destroyed by housing developments one mountain has 9000 acres destroyed with over 2500 houses being built, another mountain top close to Chattanooga another 9000 acres with about 3000 houses being built it's shameful to see it being destroyed.
I have been enjoying all the videos you have been posting. It makes me wish I studied geology in college. Thanks for creating and sharing.
Awesome! It's interesting stuff to work with. For me, it's closer to architecture or something like that, but other aspects of the discipline can be totally different. It actually impacts many details of daily life that you don't really think about, and seeing the large-scale patterns related to movement is always really satisfying. Trying to keep vids coming out!
thanks - i've lived on mowbray mtn soddy daisy, tn for 20 years and alway wondered how that valley formed. i've heard everything from rift valley to anticline explanations, but this one seems the most plausible.
I'd love to hear the guys take on how mont lake formed here on mowbray mtn !! my theory is the 1811 - 1812 EQs caused a dome collapse, trees grew up in the crater, and the dead leaves clogged the drainage thus forming the lake (montlake). that would explain how or why large trees could have grew in middle of the lake.
I live there, and all this is new information to me! Thanks for sharing it.
Very interesting. The concept that the fault is undetectably present, to the visible eye, reminds me of a paper on the Rocky Mountain Trench called "The Rocky Mountain Trench: A Problem" where they demonstrate quite conclusively that the Rocky Mountain Trench is not well understood and has been misrepresented (and still is to this day). It has been generally labeled as fault-related but this paper really makes clear that this is not adequately able to explain the observations in its case. I'm curious how conclusive the evidence of this fault really is. The concept that it is just there ready to be eroded later into this extremely straight path reminds me very much of conclusions I've heard about the Great Lakes. Something to do with a hard layer of rock underneath Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and Michigan, that was all ready and prepared to receive the glacial waters of the Ice Age millions of years later. It is extremely unlikely for a location to be available and ready for such and not become lakes until the Holocene, particularly when there are clear signs of ancient waters at the lakes, but this seems just overlooked in theories because "it is what the evidence shows" (or what is interpreted that it shows, too). I would suggest that this feature likely has significant nuances of its nature underappreciated in a like manner to the Rocky Mountain Trench.
Great video, Phil! The first geologic map I made in undergrad was down in Dunlap, TN, within the Sequatchie Valley. I like to think of it as the structural front, or the last significant strain from Alleghanian shortening (although there is some slight deformation of the plateau to the west, it is basically flat lying). Interestingly enough, there is some local drag folding in the footwall that is exposed at the Browns Gap quarry. It's nothing like the strain of the hanging wall and the rest of the Valley and Ridge, but it's there, at least locally.
Yeah the TN state map has a view little blocks and such sort of smeared out on it. Down in Alabama the forelimb is really steep, but there ain't much of it. Presumably the thrust had some ramp-flat character as it climbed up from Miss into Penn and Perm. I think they map a thrust coming up in the Penn out west of Crab Orchard.
This channel is amazing. I just found you and this stuff is blowing my mind. I have heard before that earth quakes in this area of the US are a big danger as they can cause liquefaction of the soil. Maybe you need to be more in the Mississippi valley for this to happen. I think that would be an interesting video.
As a Canadian in South Western Ontario, I would also love to hear more about the Great Lakes. I think they are really interesting. Specifically, I think the Niagara Escarpment is really interesting and would also make a fascinating video.
Another cool spot is just east of Montreal. There are a series of lone mountains in a chain. I believe they are uneroded cores of volcanoes. They look really weird on a map. Interested in how it interacts with the geology of the Appalachians.
Thanks again dude. This is a really cool channel.
Hey man, I love your videos... I have 1 suggestion for you though. You should put your face in the thumbnail of the video.... even if its just a screenshot of your webcam in the corner of the thumb nail. I never know which videos are yours and sometimes scroll right past them. Its a combination of your channel profile picture being somewhat ambiguous and not having your face in the thumbnail. thank you for the great videos.
Great explanation of some of the most interesting geology in my local area. But, I've always wondered about the processes that allowed the Tennessee River to cut through the eastern flank (Walden Ridge) of the valley.
Just drove through there (3 times) last weekend! Will look closer next time I'm on state road 111. Thanks.
I really enjoyed that. thank you.
Fascinating look at the long term evolution of old mountain ranges like the Appalachia. There is certainly a lot going on there and you even have former sections of the larger Central Pangaean mountain range now disconnected after the break up of Pangaea like the ancient Caledonian and Atlas mountains to consider in terms of the larger geological picture.
One area it might be interesting to see for contrast at some part of your coverage of the old Appalachian mountains is Eastern North America's only young mountain range the still forming Adirondack mountains which have only began to form in the last 10ish million years with a sustained rate of uplift exceeding the rate of erosion meaning they have not yet reached the equilibrium height between erosion and uplift seen in more mature tectonically active mountain ranges. The fact that they are situated among ancient mountains with the current uplift exposing old basement rock of the ancient Superior craton just adds to the weird contrast at play.
Though that I should warn involves a deep dive into some unsolved mysteries about the origin of this active uplift dome namely why is there anomalously buoyant mantle here in the middle of a former craton? There is some crazy stuff going on there for sure.
"I went to Sequatchie Valley, butt all I saw was a big crack."
Seriously: Kudos to creator for superior use of MSPaint.
I'll check the channel for discussion of the fall "line." If not covered yet, then I suggest considering it for a future video.
Right on. Thanks for sharing.
It's a cool area!
hes backkk
Can you consider doing video on the geology of Columbia SC. Including the geology of the cross section of the plane that includes Williams Brice Stadium towards one side and the capitol on the other? Appreciate your stuff regardless
My great grandparents, grandparents, father, lived in Pikeville, town right in middle of the valley, Bledsoe County. The start of the valley is on Highway 127, on Cumberland, Bledsoe County line. I was born in Pikeville, its a beautiful area, the leaves changing colors in the fall is beautiful. Everyone goes to Smoky Mountains for that, but a drive down 127 in the fall, is a drive through the valley, Mountains on either side is beautiful.
I’ve been through the Sequatchie Valley a few times and doing a little research, the valley is about 320 million years old and formed from the Carboniferous Period and part of the Pennsylvanian Epoch since there is bituminous coal that forms there.
I've been waiting for this one! :D
Have you ever looked at the caves in that area? Indian Grave is one of the largest cave system to look at. The fault lines affect groundwater and the sulfur deposits tend to cause the rock to erode quicker than the narrative! Have you figured out why East TN and SW VA is a hot spot for black limestone? I heard someone call it basalt, as they had never seen black limestone before.
Hi Phillip, I live near State College PA. I’d love to know when and where the bend of the central PA mountains came from. It seems pushed from the southeast towards the northwest from Maryland?
I learned a lot - thank you.
Thumbs up before watching the vid - as knowing that to watch the video ~might~ cause one to forget the thumbs up thereafter !!!
That was great, thanks. The area just northwest of Wartburg, is it a coincidence that it looks circular?
My son recently bought a beautiful piece of land in a loop of the Sequatchie River. I love my home in East Texas but if I was younger I’d like to live there. The clear,slow moving water and the relative isolation from other residents makes you feel like you’re in a remote paradise. The reality is,though you’re only four miles from China “Wal Mart in Dunlap” so it’s an easy place to live. The older people in the area benefit from the 111 highway but lament the loss of privacy.
I live on Sand Mountain, which is the section of this south of the valley stretching down in to Alabama. I-24 is cut in to the north tip of our mountain an you can clearly see slant in the rock layers. You can also take Broad Street out of Chattanooga an see it. There's more going on here though. The edges of these mountains are a hard stone different than the sand stone that is on top an in that one valley. The sides of the mountains are mined with heavy equipment for rock that is crushed in to gravel. The top is softer an was dug by hand to get coal. That coal is only a few feet under ground. The coal in the valley is actually deeper even though it's 2000 feet lower in elevation. Underground mining was done there until a cave in happened.
Another oddity of the area is that Sand mountain gets hit by an average of 1 tornado a year an they touch down within a small area every time. Making that the most tornado damaged place in the world. Tornado chasers from Texas an the rest of tornado alley are commonly seen parked in Flat Rock Alabama when storms are expected. They seem to think it has to do with the shape of the valley. The valley causing a rolling wind pattern an the side on the mountain being hit by that at a 45 degree angle standing that rolling pattern upright in to tornados. Pretty much everyone up here has been in at least one. At least 3 touched down here in one storm this spring.
Correction, the mine didn't collapse, it exploded.
Thanks- this is a really interesting topic and another great video. Would you consider doing a video or two on noticing/interpreting geologic features from maps (both topo and satellite), and also connecting what we see from this awesome zoomed out perspective to what we see day to day from our 6ft perspective?
yeah that’s pretty good…see what I can do. might take me a bit but I like the idea very much.
Can you do the Tennessee Valley? I'd like to know about why the river cuts through the plateau at Chattanooga and why does it continue north to the Ohio. It seems like it should continue to the gulf down the rift. I understand elevation change. But why? Your stuff is awesome!
It had to have went south at one time. I would guess it also use to run down where I59 does an later where 24 does. The current path was super shallow before the dams an fairly new in comparison.
Would love to see a video explaining the forces that created the TN river gorge.
I don't know exactly why, but Sequatchie Valley is one of the best places in east Tennessee to see Swallow-tailed Kites (usually more southern) and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (usually more western) - this valley is attractive to them for some reason.
Did the fault line of the sequatchie valley ever connect to the pine mountain or cumberland ridge fault? It looks like on a map it could almost be one continuous fault that connected to pine mountain or cumberlands if the crab orchard mountains weren't
Protruding Into them
I wish I could zoom in and see my house up on the edge of Mowbray Mountain looking down into the Sequatchie Valley next to 111!
Maybe I should start doing "geology of my house" shout out videos...it's always cool to see what your particularly corner of the Earth looks like and know what's under it.
Can you dive into the Elkins WV area. I believe the Tygart River Valley may have been developed in this same way. The cuts on the 4 lane of Corridor H exposes some amazing rocks layers and definitely worth exploring.
Where do you think the eroded rocks went? The valley drains south today but then joins the TN River north to the OH River, then MS River past LA. Did the valley's stone help fill in the Mississippi Embayment? Did it instead head south to the floor of the Gulf of MX off the FL Panhandle?
Great Video! I'd love to see a video on why the Tennessee River cuts through Walden Ridge/Sand Mountain instead of flowing down the valley between Sand & Lookout. Seems like it would have been more difficult to breach the sandstone vs eroding the valley to a low enough elevation.
i've read that 2 gorges formed one flowing east (suck creek) and the other one west and when they cut deep enough the tennessee river was diverted into that gorge. that's what i've read; not saying i believe it!!
@@jasonschwab4308 Yeah, it just doesn’t make sense to me that through a mountain was the path of least resistance for a river lol
At one point, do you think the Appalachian Mountains held the tallest mountain from sea level? I'm more curious about that record of the tallest mountains before Everest and then in the future, are we able to model what the next highest peak is going to be in the next 10+ million years? I'm on my yearly binge of mountaineering, geography and geology.
I really like your videos here. I’ve learned more here in a few minutes than years of school. Just find geology interesting.
I’d like to hear your take on some geology before and after the Younger Dryas period. 12,800 to 11,600 years ago.
Me too! What was the climate like in this region when New York State -800 miles north-was under as much as a mile thick layer of ice?
I live right in the heart of the valley on the eastern edge along the TN River. It's definitely an interesting place geologically. The place that always interests me the most is just north of the valley near Crossville -- the big sinkhole known as Grassy Cove.
Might be the biggest one in the Appalachians! You might have noticed, but it's the place outlined in blue near the end of the video where erosion has just cracked open the fold...I talk about it as being the place southwest of Crab Orchard. Eventually it will link up with the rest of the valley in the geo future. Someone asked if it was the biggest sinkhole around. I think it might be. There are a few big coves over towards Cookeville, but Grassy Cove is bigger, I'd say. The other ones are deeper and more "blind;" Grassy is about to get a surface channel eating into it from the southeast.
@@TheGeoModels it's one of those places I always mean to really and truly visit, but never get around to doing. I've traveled through a time or two when cutting between say Dayton or Spring City enroute to Crossville and avoiding the interstate. Beautiful drive! But there's not much there in the way to see other than just the geography and much of it is private property and farmland so one must be careful where they stop. :-) Another interesting place is the Head of the Sequatchie on the Cumberland Trail where the Sequatchie River's headwaters flow from Devilstep Hollow Cave and from dye tests they've shown much of what flows from there into the river begins in Grassy Cove through various interconnected caves. The geography here is definitely interesting and makes for some beautiful scenery.