Appalachian Plateau Province

The Appalachian Plateau Province extends from Alabama to

Physiographic provinces

1. Most rocks are clastic (made up of bits of older rocks). They include conglomerates, sandstones, and shales, with some interbedded coal. Limestones are uncommon.
2. Strata are mainly Mississippian (354-323 million years BP) and Pennsylvanian (323-290 million years BP) in age, although some northern areas are underlain by the Dunkard Series of Permian age (290 - 248 million years BP)(BROKEN-LINK Table: Geologic Time Scale). Thus, they are generally younger than those of other Appalachian Provinces, except for the Mesozoic rocks of the Piedmont rift basins.
3. Rocks have undergone little deformation relative to the other Appalachian provinces. There are a few gentle folds and thrust faults adjacent to the Ridge and Valley.
4. The Appalachian Plateau is bounded on all sides by outfacing escarpments.  Overall, the Plateau has a synclinal (troughlike) structure.
5. Altitudes nearly everywhere on the Plateau are higher than those in adjacent provinces.
6. Most of the province, with the exception of that part in Tennessee and Alabama, is highly dissected, andits average slope is higher than any other province. The topography north of Tennessee is a "plateau" only in the sense that the hilltopshave similar elevations, suggesting aformer flat surface. Near the eastern margin, the plateau is so dissected that the topography commonly is referred to as "mountains" (Thornbury, 1965).

• Topography: The Appalachian Plateau Province in the Southern Appalachians has four sections: the Allegheny Mountains, the Allegheny Plateau, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Cumberland Plateau.
• Regolith: Generally, residuum on top of the sandstone in the Appalachian PlateauProvince is quite thin, often less than a meter thick, and overlies hard rock.
• Soil: Soils in the Appalachian Plateau Province are mainly Ultisols (Hapludults, Fragiudults, and Ochraquults) and Inceptisols (chiefly Dystrochrepts).
• Mass Wasting:Among other Appalachian provinces, the Appalachian Plateau has the greatest abundance of conspicuous slope failures.
• Karst Landscape: The near-surface rocks in this province being mainly clastics, karst topography is not widely distributed. However, cave entrances along the escarpments, owing to the cropping out of carbonate units are common.
• Streams: The drainage pattern of the Cumberland Plateau is heavily dendritic ( i.e. randomly branched). Various other types of patterns occur in some places, and commonly either modify or markedly modify the general pattern.