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25 mar 2021 · The purpose of this story map is to help students gain a better understanding of the geology of Virginia by relating the five physiographic provinces to geologic history, resources, topography and soil.
Interactive map of Virginia's geology and natural resources. The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy provides a large amount of information on Virginia's geology and natural resources in interactive map form, including: Surface geology. Geothermal suitability. Sinkholes.
Virginia is made up of five geologic regions: the Coastal Plain (tidewater), the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Valley and Ridge, and the Appalachian Plateau.
Geology helps explain why hikers can see a vista of mountains from the top of Dragons Tooth on the Appalachian Trail, why the Chesapeake Bay Bridge has two tunnels, and why the western part of the state is mountainous but the eastern part of Virginia is flat.
We can identify summits from the 1:24,000 scale topographic maps produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Age of the maps showing the height of mountains is rarely important when checking elevations in Virginia; erosion is slow and human-induced changes are minor.
Mount Rogers is the highest peak in Virginia, with its summit 1,746 meters above sea level (5,729 ft). The peak is located in the Blue Ridge province in southwestern Virginia on the border between Grayson and Smyth counties. Mount Rogers is underlain by Neoproterozoic rhyolite.
The geology of the Shenandoah National Park region of Virginia was studied from 1995 to 2008. The focus of the study was the park and surrounding areas to provide the National Park Service with modern geologic data for resource management. Additional geologic data of the adjacent areas are included to provide regional context.
