Geology Of Tennessee

Tennessee, extending 500 diagonal miles between Bristol and Memphis, cuts across numerous rock types, from the deformed gneiss of the Blue Ridge along the North Carolina border to the young sediments exposed in the Chickasaw Bluffs that rise 100 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain. The state�s more than 1 billion years of geologic history includes continental collisions that built enormous mountains and rifting forces that almost split the ancient continent apart. The geologic processes are still at work in Tennessee, with sinkholes claiming land in areas of limestone, rivers eroding sediment and shifting channels, and some of North America�s largest earthquakes occurring every 500 years on the ancient rift faults near Reelfoot Lake. Learn about unusual meteor impact sites on the Highland Rim of Middle Tennessee, the world-famous fossils in the Coon Creek Formation, and the source of saltpeter used for gunpowder in the Civil War. An extensive section on Great Smoky Mountains National Park includes guides to nine roads, some extending in to North Carolina. With Roadside Geology of Tennessee as your guide, explore the geologic significance of many of the stat�s natural and historic sties such as Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harpeth River State Park, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Spanning Tennessee from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Mississippi River, Interstate 40 is more than just a convenient roadway. It afford travelers the opportunity to observe the state's geologic and physiographic features in all their variety. In this accessible and profusely illustrated book, Harry Moore offers a fascinating guided tour of that roadside geology.

Memphis is built on land once the bottom of a sea, Nashville rests within a 600-foot-depth basin eroded from a mighty arch, Knoxville and Chattanooga nestle on lands that have migrates - Knoxville's underpinning traveling all the way from the middle of Sevier County. Our Restless Earth is written for all Tennesseans who are curios about the origins of familiar landscapes. Edward T. Luther describes a state that has attracted specialists from all over the world to study its fascinating geology, a state that in its long east-west axis encompasses nine distinct geologic regions. Appearing here are phenomena such as the New Madrid earthquake that formed Reelfoot lake, the state's almost forgotten gold rush, 60-foot reptiles that once inhabited parts of McNairy County, and the contrary Tennessee River that could not decide which way to flow. The origins of the state's oil, coal, iron, marble, and famous cave country - these too are a part of Our Restless Earth. Edward T. Luther is a native Tennessean whose professional career as a geologist and personal interest in writing have pointed him toward the preparation of this book. Since receiving his advanced degree in geology from Vanderbilt University in 1951, he has come to know that state intimately - first as a team member of the Tennessee Geological Survey and more recently as supervisor of the Survey's research program. He is also an avid reader of fiction and has long been interested in applying writing skills to his technical knowledge in order to make the fascinating science of the earth available to a wider audience.