1. VA Provinces

2. The Earth is a dynamic system
The earth is constantly moving.
The earth is solid.
Inner core - iron
Outer core – liquid, iron
Mantle – rocky, plastic
Crust – rocky, brittle

3. What are the effects of the moving earth?
The constantly moving earth causes different areas of geography.
This occurs through plate tectonics and geologic activity.
This causes the 5 provinces of Virginia.

4. Coastal Plain Flat area comprised of young unconsolidated sediments
Sediments are underlain by a crystalline basement rock
These sediments were produced from erosion of the Appalachian mountains and Piedmont
The eroded sediments were then deposited on the coastal plain

5. Piedmont Means foot hills
An area of rolling hills underlain by igneous and metamorphic rocks
The largest province
Formed before the Appalachian Mountains

6. Blue Ridge
Has the oldest metamorphic and igneous rocks in the state (over 1 billion years old)
Narrow region
Separates the valley and ridge from the piedmont

7. Valley and Ridge Long parallel valleys and ridges
Comprised of faulted and folded sedimentary rock
Occurred when the plates from Africa and North America collided producing the a Appalachian Mountains
Karst topography
Acid rain eats away at limestone and forms caves and sinkholes.
Luray caverns

8. Appalachian Plateau Comprised of flat sedimentary rocks
The area consists of plateaus separated by faults
Rugged and irregular
Most of VA’s coal resources are found here