The Georgia Piedmont is the geologic area residing between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Upper Coastal Plain.
The Georgia Piedmont is the geologic area residing between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Upper Coastal Plain. The Piedmont spills over Georgia's state boundaries, actually comprising 1400 kilometers of the southeastern and mid-Atlantic portion of the United States.
Boundaries
The southeastern boundary of the Piedmont is called the fall line. Visible from this point is the stark difference between the Piedmont's crystalline rocks and the sedimentary rocks that mark the start of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. In Georgia specifically, the rivers begin start at the northwest boundary, or the Blue Ridge Mountains, rising in the Piedmont area, then flowing southeast towards the sandy soils of the Coastal Plain.
Geology
The end of the Cambrian period, roughly 500 million years ago, saw the rise of the Appalachian Mountains, and the formation of saprolite, or a layer of decomposed rock, forming the unforgettable red clay color of Georgia soil, and mountains that frame it. Additional volcanic activity created the schists, amphibolites and migmatites that lie underneath the rolling landscape, cut by granite plutons such as Stone Mountain, as well as bringing to surface the gold veins responsible for the Gold Rush of the 1800s.
Influencing Georgian History
Where the two geographic regions meet, settlers found areas full of waterfalls and rapids, interrupting movement. This created the need to build forts and warehouses, and spurred general urban development. Evidence of this impact is found in the creation of the Georgian cities of Augusta, Macon, and Columbus.
Tags: Coastal Plain, Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge Mountains, Ridge Mountains, area residing
