1. Virginia’s Physiographic Provinces
Valley and Ridge
Coastal Plain
Appalachian Plateau
Piedmont
Blue Ridge

2. Coastal Plain
Fall Line
Piedmont
Coastal Plain

3. Characteristics of the Coastal Plain Plain
Rivers are affected by the tides
Flat, marshy or wooded land
Youngest rocks in Virginia formed from deposited sediments from eroded Appalachian Mountains
Horizontal layers of clays and sand sediments
Surrounds the Chesapeake Bay
Bordered on the west by the Fall Line and the Piedmont Region.

9. The Fall Line
Point where rivers drop down from the resistant, metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont onto the flat sedimentary rocks of the Coastal Plain.
Barrier to ships moving up the rivers of coastal Virginia. Therefore, many important cities of VA are on the Fall Line.

10. Fall Line

16. The Piedmont
Formed during the collision between Africa and North America
Foothills of the Appalachians
Rolling metamorphic hills and valleys
Triassic basins found in this region
Eastern boundary is Fall Line; Western boundary is the Blue Ridge.

19. Rock quarry with exposed Triassic basin lava rock

23. The Blue Ridge Province
Highest elevation province of Virginia
Consists of the north-south trending Blue Ridge Mountains
Separates Valley and Ridge Province from the Piedmont

24. Blue Ridge
Piedmont
Valley and Ridge Province

29. The Valley and Ridge Province
Long, narrow ridges separated by equally long valleys
Ridges are made of hard, resistant rock
Valleys are softer, more easily eroded rock
Linear pattern is created by intense folding & faulting during continental collision
Limestone areas have karst topography & many caverns
Rivers trend north and south
Bordered by Blue Ridge and Appalachian Plateau

36. Appalachian Plateau
Flat or nearly flat sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age ( million years old)
Very high, relatively flat relief
Coal deposits abundant
Not folded when Africa collided with North America

37. Appalachian Plateau

38. Main coal fields in Virginia

41. Physiographic Cross-section of Virginia