Transcript Geologic Features of NC

Learning Log
What do you think the geographic
name of our region, “The Coastal
Plain”, infers about the area we live
in?
Essential Question:
What processes created NC, and
when?
Geologic Features of NC
Picture of Mt. Mitchell
The Eastern US coast once had volcanoes!
(~ 750 million years ago)
- This volcanic activity created the rich rock and gem
diversity that we enjoy today.
Sampling of NC gemstones
• When the Appalachians were formed about
480 million years ago these some of these
rocks became metamorphic.
Ruby Corundum
Kyanite
Gneiss
The Atlantic Plain (where we live) formed
around 250 million years ago. It had once
been the bottom of the ocean and is why we
have such rich phosphate deposits in coastal
NC.
PCS Phosphate Mine in NC
Shark Teeth
Whale Vertebrae
Diagram of how
the East Coast of
the US was most
likely formed.
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3.
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tectonic processes cause obvious features, such
as mountain ranges (Appalachians) and
volcanoes, and also more subtle features that can
have profound environmental consequences.
Read the article “The natural history of North
Carolina” and then answer the following:
1)What is natural history?
2) How old are the oldest rocks on Earth?
3) Why do you think there are holes in the fossil
record?
4) What is “morphology”?
5) What are “genomes”, and how do scientists find
out what they are?
NC’s Fall Zone
•unexplained tectonic
processes create an uplift
known as the Cape Fear arch
•arch extends across North
Carolina along a line that
approximately follows the
Cape Fear River
•arch affects geography
across the entire State of
North Carolina
•Appalachians higher
here than other states.
•Arch still rising few
centimeters per year.
•NC piedmont also higher
than neighbors’
NC has "fall zone"
in which rivers lose
several hundred
feet of elevation
over a distance of
about 100 miles
instead of fall line
like surrounding
states.
• Erosion has been intense in the North Carolina
piedmont
• heavy load of eroded sediment carried mostly
down the Cape Fear River, causing it to jut out
into the Atlantic and deposit extensive
shallow-water sediments known as "Frying
Pan shoals."
• barrier islands along the coast are much
farther from the mainland in North Carolina
than in Virginia or South Carolina.
Consequences of geology affects
people
• high elevation of mountains forced colonists
to go either north, to the Cumberland Gap in
Virginia, or to lower passes in South Carolina
when going west.
• North Carolina ports of Morehead City and
Wilmington are far smaller than either
Richmond, VA or Charleston, SC
Cliffs of Neuse State Park