NOTES - PROVINCES OF VIRGINIA What Make Each Province Different? • Physiography: the landforms change and the countryside has a different appearance • Rock Type: Rocks can be igneous, sedimentary and/or metamorphic • Rock Structure: Rocks can be flat or mountainous with folds and/or faults • Geologic Ages: Some rocks are older than others Province Physiography Rock Type and Age -Sedimentary -Youngest Structure Resources - Layered by sediments eroded from Appalachian Mtns Many oceanic fossils Coastal Plain Flat & often marshy Piedmont Rolling hills Metamorphic You live here! Slate, gold Blue Ridge Mountains (3000ft) -Igneous -Metamorphic -Oldest Folded & faulted mountains Scenic views draw in tourists Valley & Ridge Folded Mountains Sedimentary Sandstone caps the ridges and limestone forms the valleys Karst topography (caves) Appalachian Plateau Flat rock layers Sedimentary Deeply cut and eroded by rivers Coal, Petroleum Fall Line: (boundary between Coastal Plain & Piedmont) where rivers form waterfalls as they move from the tough rocks of the Piedmont to softer, more easily eroded rocks of the coastal plain