Archive for the ‘Geology’ Category

Southern West Virginia Rivers

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Southern WV Rivers

When you think of rivers in southern West Virginia, the New and Gauley probably come to mind.  These rivers have been favorite vacation destinations for the past 25 years. Every year over 100,000 people visit the Gorge area and raft the New and the Gauley, and because of this, many other tourism activities have become part of our landscape.

But although the New and the Gauley get much of the attention, many other rivers here offer recreation opportunities. From hiking and biking trails to scenic floats and fishing, don’t miss these other West Virginia rivers.

The Greenbrier River

Don’t Miss These Rivers

The Greenbrier and Bluestone Rivers are both tributaries of the New River and offer many similar activities as the New. The Greenbrier is probably best known for the 78 mile rail trail that follows it from Caldwell to Cass.

The Bluestone River dumps into Bluestone Lake above the Bluestone Dam in Hinton. Both rivers have great fishing, camping and hunting, as well as other recreational activities.

The Meadow, Cherry, Cranberry and Williams rivers are all tributaries of the Gauley. The last three have some of the best trout fishing in the state and are all in the Monongahela National Forest.  That means that there is plenty of camping and hiking available.

The Meadow is the only one of this bunch that flows into the Gauley below Summersville Dam. It has arguably the most difficult whitewater in the state over its last five miles before joining the Gauley.

The Birch River is a tributary of the Elk, which is a tributary of the Kanawha. Both the Birch and Elk can be floated in various types of watercraft and offer exceptional fishing.

The Kanawha is the river that is formed when the New and Gauley Rivers come together. Within its first mile, the Kanawha has a magnificent set of falls and then is flat for the rest of its journey to the Ohio. It’s a great choice for boating and fishing.

The Coal River is also a tributary of the Kanawha River and offers scenic paddling opportunities for beginners.

The Tug, Guyandotte and Mud Rivers all flow into the Ohio River. Although they are rivers that empty mostly on the western side of WV, they all have headwaters in the very southern part of the state. These rivers flow through some of West Virginia’s steepest and roughest country. The Mud River is known to be one of the best waters for muskellunge in the state.

So don’t think that the New and the Gauley Rivers are the only rivers to visit in Southern WV. Hey, if you do decide to visit these other streams, you may find you have them pretty much all to yourself.

Have you been on or around any of Southern WV’s other rivers?

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We Are the Mountain State

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

West Virginia has a very diverse topography.  The state is located within the Appalachian Mountain Range.  At the lowest point it is barely 240 feet above sea level.  These lower areas are located on the very eastern and western edges of the state near the major rivers, the Ohio and the Potomac.

Here in the middle, we have mountains, and lots of them.  The average elevation of West Virginia is around 1,500 feet.  That is the highest average elevation of any state east of the Mississippi River.  And that elevation is responsible for a lot of the outdoor activities we are known for.

Fayetteville is Where the Mountains Begin

Here in the New River Gorge, we are at the foot of the mountains.  In Fayetteville, the elevation is just under 1,900 feet, but just to the east the elevation jumps to around 3,000 feet on some knobs in Fayette County.

Fayetteville is on the western edge of the Allegheny Plateau, and most of the mountains here are created by river or stream valleys, like the New and the Gauley Rivers.  Just 15 miles from Fayetteville in Gauley Bridge, the elevation is about 1,000 feet lower.

Spruce Knob, WV

Ridge and Valley Region

Only about one third of the state is in the Allegheny Ridge and Valley Region, and this is where the real  mountains are.  Spruce Knob is the highest point in the state with an elevation of 4,863 feet, and a great portion of the mountains of this area are at least 4,000 feet in elevation.

That means that some of these mountains have climates and ecosystems similar to those found nowhere south of Canada.

Unique History

Because of the ruggedness of these mountains, West Virginia was slow to be inhabited by settlers.  Even Indian tribes found most of WV difficult to live in and those that did reside here did so on the lower western side.

Most Indian activity was from tribes in neighboring states using it as a summer hunting ground area.  Tribes from Ohio, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania and Kentucky would all make the journey to West Virginia to take advantage of its remote areas and bountiful game.

Even settlers making their way westward found it much easier to go out of their way to the north or the south of WV rather than try and navigate through its steep terrain.  Morgan Morgan is credited with being the first settler in West Virginia in 1731, but he stopped short of the mountains in what is present day Berkeley County.

Mountains Made the People and the State

The people who eventually settled here were rugged, hard-working folks who scratched out a living from the abundant natural resources of the state.  Many of the descendents of those folks are still here and making a living off those natural resources.  West Virginia is defined by its mountains and the mountains have made it what it is today.

What do you think of our mountains?

 

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Rock Stars and the Geology of the New River Gorge

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Did you ever wonder about the “who’s who” of New River Gorge coal development and geology?

Who were the names behind the stones that make up the sandstone cliffs along the New River Gorge?

Should the names David T. Ansted, Steven Sewell, John Nuttall ring a bell?

Read on to learn more about geology of the New River Gorge.

D.T. Ansted

The Rocks

Rocks found along Mill Creek are all sedimentary and include sandstones, siltstones, and shales. The three distinct layers of coal (Sewell, Beckley, and Fire Creek) formed during the Pennsylvanian time period (a great period of coal formation worldwide).

Locally the Pennsylvanian period has been divided into the Pottsville Group (containing the oldest commercial coal beds in West Virginia) and then subdivided into the New River Formation. Each vertical foot of these sediments took about 2,000 years to accumulate, taking about 10 million years to accumulate the rocks along the trail. Today, younger rocks have been eroded away from the ridges, leaving older rocks below the stream level.

David T. Ansted

The name David T. Ansted must be included in any description of the geology along Mill Creek. Ansted (1814-1880), was a noted and well respected English geologist who on occasion exchanged correspondence with the great English naturalist Charles Darwin (of Origin of the Species fame).

Ansted surveyed the coal fields along the New River in 1853.  One of the earliest geologists to recognize the rich coal seams found here, Ansted helped set the stage for the coal mining boom to come. At the close of the Civil War, interest renewed in the area’s mineral resources; and Ansted, along with local coal baron William Nelson Page, invested heavily in the coal lands of the local area.

Sewell Coal

The Sewell coal seam was named for Stephen Sewell, a mid-1700’s settler.  Sewell coal has been extensively mined along the lower portions of the Town of Ansted’s Hawks Nest Rail Trail. Ideal for the making of coke, Sewell coal played an important part of the Hawks Nest / Ansted economies.  A remnant of early mining operations, the Mill Creek mine at Fox Branch on the Town of Ansted’s rail trail was in operation from 1921 to 1950.

Nuttall Sandstone

Named for John Nuttall, a noted developer of coal operations in the area, Lower Nuttall Sandstone forms both the cliffs at the start of the Hawks Nest Trail and the ridges and tablelands in the Gorge area. These sandstones consist largely of sand-sized grains of quartz (silica). These grayish to brownish sandstones comprise all of the steep areas along Mill Creek and the Gorge.

Nuttall Sandstone also forms the overlook at Hawks Nest State Park, the rapids at Kanawha Falls (Glen Ferris), and the capstone rock of the salt brines at Malden. Originally horizontal, these rocks now tilt toward downward about 60 feet/mile to the northwest because of the uplifting ofthe Appalachian Mountains.

What other names should be listed in the New River George “Rock Stars” Hall of Fame?  Visit the Town of Ansted’s Hawks Nest Rail Trail to learn more.

 

 

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