Geology of Virginia

By Nicholas La Duca
 Physiographic
Provinces of Virginia
The following is a visual representation of
the physiographic regions of Virginia.
Each of these regions have their own
unique landscape.
According to a YouTube video by Callan
Bentley this is due to the underlying geology
of each region.1
These regions, in chronological order from
oldest to youngest are, The Blue Ridge, The
Piedmont, Valley and Ridge, Allegheny
Plateau, Triassic Basins and the Coastal
Plain.

Photo Credit: 1:https://www.youtube.com/watc

https://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/geolla h?v=lh6vtK0TYpw
b/vageol/vahist/physprov.html
 Blue Ridge
Geologic Age: Mesoproterozoic
(Ranging from about 1.1 to 1.8 Ga) 2

Geologic Structure: Eroded large

anticline overturned Westward.
Highlands topography.
General Rock Types: Deeply formed
igneous rock that have undergone
metamorphism that produced Gneiss.
Potentially Proterozoic intrusives and
sediments also.

2:http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/blue-
ridge/ and
https://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/geollab Photo Credit:
/vageol/vahist/physprov.html http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/
blue-ridge/
Piedmont
3:http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/piedm
ont/ and
https://www.radford.edu/jtso/Geolog
yofVirginia/Structures/GeologyOfVAStr
uctures4-4a.html#Piedmont
4:https://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/geollab/
vageol/vahist/physprov.html
Geologic Age: Late Proterozoic and
Paleozoic era to the Mesozoic. (1.0 ga
– ca. 225 Ma)
Geologic Structure: Folding and
faulting have occurred in this region,
Rolling topography, thick soils, deeply
weathered bedrock, relatively flat. 3
General Rock Types: Igneous and
metamorphic rocks with three main
components. These are volcanic roots,
continental fragments and Inner
Piedmont belt. 4
Photo Credit:
http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/pi
edmont/
 Valley & Ridge
5: http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/valley-
ridge/ and
https://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/geollab/vag
eol/vahist/physprov.html
Geologic Age: Cambrian to
Carboniferous. (520 – 320 Ma)
Geologic Structure: This area is
thrust faulted and is folded into
synclines and anticlines
Topographically it is characterized by
elongate parallel ridges and valleys.
Differential erosion of linear rock belts
in a regular pattern by faulting and
folding also characterizes the
topography. The rivers in the area
exhibit a trellis drainage pattern. 5
General Rock Types: The rocks here
are mostly sedimentary (limestone,
sandstone, dolostone)
Photo Credit:
http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/v
alley-ridge/
Allegheny Plateau
Geologic Age: The oldest
rocks are apart of the Grenville
Orogeny. The youngest are from
the Paleozoic. (1.1 Ga – 541 to
251 Ma)
Geologic Structure: Flat lying,
topographically high above sea
level compared to the rest of
the state. Dendritic drainage
patterns of stream valleys. 6

General Rock Types:

Sedimentary rock toward the
middle and top. Igneous and
Metamorphic at the bottom.

6:http://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/geollab/v
ageol/vahist/physprov.html Photo Credit:
http://csmgeo.csm.jmu.ed
u/geollab/vageol/vahist/p
hysprov.html
Triassic Basins
Geologic Age: Jurassic to
Triassic. (251-145 Ma)
Geologic Structure: These
basins are half graben with an
exclusively western fault.
Basins contain ancient alluvial
fans. Crisscrossed with Dinosaur
tracks and plant fossils. 7
General Rock Types: Mostly
Sedimentary rocks interspersed
with igneous dikes, stocks and
lava flows.

7:http://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/geoll Photo Credit:

ab/vageol/vahist/PhysProv.html#pro https://csmgeo.csm.jmu.edu/ge
vinces ollab/vageol/vahist/PhysProv.ht
ml
Coastal Plain
Geologic Age: Triassic until
present day.
Geologic Structure: Terraced
Landscape, Fault Scarps used to
form ancient shorelines. 8
General Rock Types:
Sedimentary.

Photo Credit:
8:http://geology.blogs.wm.edu/coastal-
http://geology.blogs.wm.edu
plain/
/coastal-plain/
Overall Geologic History
of Virginia
Grenville Orogeny
Virginia’sgeologic history begins
(more or less) in the Blue Ridge
region. More specifically it begins
with the Grenville Orogeny.
The Grenville Orogeny is a long
lived mountain building event
partially responsible for the
formation of the super continent
Rodinia.
It began in the Mesoproterozoic
era. (1.1 - 1.0 Ga) 9
It contains granite and granite
gneiss that were the direct result
of the Grenville Orogeny. A good
example would be the Old Rag
Granite from the mountain of the
same name in Virginia. 10

9:http://www.virginiaplaces.org/ge Photo Credit:

ology/rocksdui2.html https://upload.wikimedia.o
rg/wikipedia/commons/f/f
10:https://www.youtube.com/resul e/Grenville-Extent.png
ts?search_query=Grenville+orogeny
Rodinia
Due in part to the Grenville Orogeny
and other mountain building events,
caused by tectonic motion, resulted in
the assemblage of Rodinia. 11
Rodinia is a Neo Proterozoic Super
Continent.
It formed long ago around 1.1 – 0.9
Ga.
 The oldest rocks in Virginia record
Rodinia’s formation.

11:https://www.burkemuseum.org
/geo_history_wa/Dance%20of%20th
e%20Giant%20Continents.htm
Photo Credit:
https://carnegiescience.edu/ne
ws/one-supercontinents-
different-others-it%E2%80%99s-
rodinia
 Break up of
Rodinia
Rodinia eventually broke apart.
This break up occurred in the Neo-
Proterozoic era.12 (Before 750 Ma)
The break up of Rodinia introduced
new rocks along with the preexisting
Grenvillian Granites. These new
rocks were intrusions of mafic lava
that cooled into a basalt. At this
time Virginia looked like Ethiopia
today.13

Photo Credit:
https://watchers.news/201
12:https://www.science 13: 1/08/16/antarctica-and-
direct.com/topics/earth https://www.youtube.c north-america-were-
-and-planetary- om/watch?v=lh6vtK0TYp connected-more-than-a-
sciences/rodinia w&feature=youtu.be billion-years-ago/
 Iapetus Ocean
The Iapetus Ocean or Proto
Atlantic Ocean was formed after
the breakup of Rodinia.
This occurred in the late
Precambrian early Paleozoic era.
It was also between Laurentia and
Baltica.14
Virginia cools and condenses
which allowed the sea level to
rise. Geologic sequences of
sediment in Virginia are
consistent with this. Carbonates
contain Stromatolites.15

14:https://www.encyclop
15:https://www.y
edia.com/earth-and-
outube.com/watch Photo Credit:
environment/ecology-and-
?v=lh6vtK0TYpw&f https://www.britannica.com/place
environmentalism/environ
eature=youtu.be /Iapetus-Ocean
mental-studies/iapetus-
ocean
 Taconic Orogeny

The Taconic Orogeny was another mountain building

event that was pivotal to the development of Virginia.
North America Collided with a volcanic island arc.
Accretionary wedges of Greywacke among other deposits
are evidence of this collision
A large mountain chain was formed from Canada along
the Piedmont of the Eastern United States.
These mountains eventually eroded and the sediment
from them dispersed through the present day Appalachia.16
This event ended approximately 460 Ma.

16:https://web.archive. Photo Credit:

org/web/201107221542 https://en.wikipedia.
05/http://3dparks.wr.us org/wiki/Taconic_orog
gs.gov/nyc/valleyandrid eny#/media/File:Taco
ge/valleyandridge.htm nic_orogeny.png
Acadian Orogeny
The Acadian Orogeny was a mountain building
event that happened about 360 Ma.
Itis characterized by a collision between the
continent Avalonia with ancestral North
America.
This happened over the course of 50 million
years from the Middle to Late Devonian
period.17
The Acadian Mountain ranges eventually sent
sedimentary deposits into the interior of the
North American continent.

17:https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/ Photo Credit:

publication/sim2985 https://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Easte
rn_North_American_Paleogeogr
apy_Middle_Devonian.png
Alleghanian
Orogeny
TheAlleghanian Orogeny was a major
mountain building event.
It helped to form the Appalachian as well
as the Allegheny Mountains.
This happened when ancestral North
America collided with ancestral North
Africa.
This occurred approximately 325 – 260
Ma.18
With the Iapetus Ocean gone and these
two continents sutured together, the super
continent of Pangea arose.

Photo Credit:
https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/9
/96/Appalachian_orogeny.j
pg
18:https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/200
8AM/finalprogram/abstract_150729.
htm
Pangea
Pangea was a super continent.
It existed in the late Paleozoic to the early Mesozoic era.
 It contained all the world’s land mass.
It is the largest super continent ever known.

Photo Credit:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wik
ipedia/commons/c/cb/Pangaea_c
ontinents.svg
Break up of Pangea and the
Formation of the Atlantic Ocean
There were three phases to the break up of
Pangea. One rift resulted in the North
Atlantic Ocean in the Early Middle Jurassic as
well as many other failed ones. The second
was in the Early Cretaceous. It saw the
emergence of many more oceans. The third
and final phase occurred in the Early
Cenozoic. Laurasia finally detaches itself
from Greenland and opened up more oceans.
It was the break up of the super continent of
Pangea that formed what we now know as
the Atlantic Ocean. This separation made
Triassic Basins that can still be seen in
Virginia today. 19 This happened about 130
million years ago.

19:http://www.virginiaplaces.org
/geology/triassic.html

20:https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/public
ation/70028103
Chesapeake Bay
Meteorite Impact
Largest impact crater in the United
States.
Itwas discovered due to tektites
and shocked quartz that was found.
Itwas formed when a bolide
impacted the eastern shore of the
North America.
This happened in the Late Eocene.
Itis also one of the best preserved
wet target impact crater in the
world.20
Photo Credit:
https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/c
/ca/Chesapeake_Crater_bo
undaries_map.png
Finis Thank you