Structural geometry of the Valley and Ridge and Plateaus provinces

Abstract

The Valley and Ridge physiographic province comprises the area between the Blue Ridge province on the east and the Appalachian Plateau province on the west. The province consists of Paleozoic carbonate and clastic rocks that were folded and thrust faulted during the Alleghanian orogeny. The Appalachian Plateau province consists of mostly flat lying to gently dipping upper Paleozoic rocks, with the transition between these two provinces typically being a gradual change from folded middle and upper Paleozoic clastic rocks to flat lying upper Paleozoic rocks in the south, to a faulted boundary in the north.