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Research about Dolly Ann Roadless Area

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Dolly Ann Roadless Area.

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Maps showing mines, prospects, and mineral localities in and near the Dolly Ann Roadless Area, Alleghany County, Virginia

The Dolly Ann Roadless Area comprises 7,900 acres (3,200 ha) in the George Washington National Forest in west-central Virginia. The study area is in central Alleghany County, northeast of Covington, Va. (fig. 1). U.S. Forest Service Route 125 and U.S. Highway 220 furnish vehicular access to the edges of the area, and several foot trails provide access to the interior and peripheral regions.

Virginia

Mineral resource potential map of the Dolly Ann Roadless Area, Alleghany County, Virginia

The Dolly Ann Roadless Area comprises 7,900 acres (3,200 ha) in the George Washington National Forest in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province of west-central Virginia. The area is at the southern ·end of Warm Springs Mountain in Alleghany County just northeast of Covington, the county seat (index map). U.S. Highway 220 forms part of the western boundary, and U.S. Forest Service Road 125, which parallels Pounding Mill Creek, forms the eastern boundary. The principal streams draining the area are Pounding Mill Creek, Dry Run, and Roaring Run, all tributaries of the Jackson River. The highest point in the area is Big Knob at the north end, 4,072 ft (1241 m) above sea level; the lowest points, about 1,400 ft (427 m) above sea level, are at the south side, along Dry Run and Pounding Mill Creek. In general, the hill slopes are steep and heavily wooded with second- or third-growth hardwoods and scattered pine and hemlock. Dolly Ann Hollow near the east end of the area is a steep, boulder-strewn gorge, quite picturesque, but containing no good trails. A good trail up Dry Run connects a trail crossing the ridge between Bald Knob and Big Knob. No other trails cross the area.

Virginia

Geochemical survey of the Dolly Ann Roadless Area, Alleghany County, Virginia

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) made a reconnaissance geochemical survey of the Dolly Ann Roadless Area (fig. 1) to test for indistinct or unexposed mineral deposits that might be recognized by their geochemical halos. Similar geochemical surveys based on trace-element analyses have been credited with the discovery of many types of mineral deposits (Hawkes and Webb, 1962). No metallic mineral deposits other than iron Md manganese are known in the sequence of rocks exposed in the study area, and no evidence of any other deposit was found in the geochemical studies. Samples collected by the author, assisted by M. B. Longacre in May 1979 and A. E. Grosz in April 1980, include 39 stream sediments, 17 soils, and 120 rocks.

Virginia