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Geography

The slope of rivers crossing fall zones affected settlement patterns. For example, the fall line represents the inland limit of navigation of many rivers. Numerous cities along a fall line grew as a result of demand for transferring people and goods between land-based and water-based transportation at that place.²

North American Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line

Main article: Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line

The Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line, or Fall Zone, is a 1,400-kilometre (900-mile) escarpment where the Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain meet in the eastern United States.³ Much of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line passes through areas where no evidence of faulting is present.

The fall line marks the geologic boundary of hard metamorphosed terrain—- the product of the Taconic orogeny—- and the sandy, relatively flat outwash plain of the upper continental shelf, formed of unconsolidated Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments. Examples of the Fall Zone include the Potomac River's Little Falls and the rapids in Richmond, Virginia, where the James River falls across a series of rapids down to the tidal estuary of the James River.

Before navigation improvements such as locks, the fall line was often the head of navigation of rivers due to rapids and waterfalls, like the Little Falls of the Potomac River. Numerous cities were founded at the intersection of rivers and the fall line. U.S. Route 1 links many of the fall line cities.

In the USA, Mid-Atlantic and Southern fall line cities include:

• Paterson, New Jersey, on the Passaic River
• Trenton, New Jersey, on the Delaware River⁴
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the Schuylkill River⁵⁶
• Wilmington, Delaware, on Brandywine Creek⁷
• Baltimore, Maryland, on the Jones Falls, Gunpowder Falls and Gwynns Falls⁸
• Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River⁹¹⁰
• Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River¹¹
• Hanover, Virginia, on the North Anna River
• Richmond, Virginia, on the James River¹²¹³
• Petersburg, Virginia, on the Appomattox River¹⁴
• Weldon, North Carolina, and Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, on the Roanoke River¹⁵
• Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on the Tar River
• Fayetteville, North Carolina, on the Cape Fear River¹⁶
• Camden, South Carolina, on the Wateree River¹⁷
• Columbia, South Carolina, on the Congaree River¹⁸¹⁹
• Augusta, Georgia, on the Savannah River²⁰²¹
• Milledgeville, Georgia, on the Oconee River²²
• Macon, Georgia, on the Ocmulgee River²³
• Columbus, Georgia, on the Chattahoochee River²⁴
• Tallassee, Alabama, on the Tallapoosa River²⁵
• Wetumpka, Alabama, on the Coosa River²⁶
• Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on the Black Warrior River²⁷

Canada

The Laurentian Upland forms a long scarp line where it meets the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands. Along this line, numerous rivers have carved falls and canyons (listed east to west):

• Saint Anne Falls and Canyon Sainte-Anne (River Sainte-Anne-du-Nord)
• Chaudron à Gaudreault (Rivière aux Chiens)
• Unnamed falls (Rivière du Sault à la Puce)
• Canyon of the River Cazeau
• Montmorency Falls (River Montmorency)
• Kabir Kouba Fall (River Saint-Charles)
• Chute Ford (River Sainte-Anne)
• Sainte-Ursule Falls (River Maskinongé)
• Chute à Magnan (Rivière du Loup)
• Chutes Émery and Chute du Moulin Coutu (Rivière Bayonne)
• Les sept chutes (River de L'Assomption)
• Dorwin Falls (River Ouareau)
• Wilson Falls (Rivière du Nord)
• Long Sault, now flooded by the Carillon hydroelectric generating station (Ottawa River)
  • The Chaudière Falls run over the unrelated Eardley Escarpment of the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben.

The River Jacques-Cartier and River Saint-Maurice lack such noticeable features because they cross the scarp through U-shaped valleys. The falls of the lower Saint-Maurice (as well as those of the River Beauport, in Quebec City) are due to the fluvial terraces of the Saint Lawrence river rather than the Laurentian Scarp.

See also

• Geologic map of Georgia (U.S. state)
• Spring line settlement

External links

• "Fall-line" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.

References

1. Schneider, Craig W.; Richard B. Searles (1991). Seaweeds of the southeastern United States: Cape Hatteras to Cape Canaveral. Duke University Press. pp. 5–7. ISBN 978-0-8223-1101-0. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 978-0-8223-1101-0 ↩

2. "The Fall Line and major cities of the Eastern U.S." http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/1122EUSMISR.html ↩

3. Freitag, Bob; Susan Bolton; Frank Westerlund; Julie Clark (2009). Floodplain Management: A New Approach for a New Era. Island Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-59726-635-2. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 978-1-59726-635-2 ↩

4. Freitag, Bob; Susan Bolton; Frank Westerlund; Julie Clark (2009). Floodplain Management: A New Approach for a New Era. Island Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-59726-635-2. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 978-1-59726-635-2 ↩

5. Shamsi, Nayyar (2006). Encyclopaedia of Political Geography. Anmol Publications. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-81-261-2406-0. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 978-81-261-2406-0 ↩

6. Dunkerly, Robert; Boland, Irene (2017). Eutaw Springs. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781611177589. 9781611177589 ↩

7. "A Summary of the Geologic History of Delaware". The Delaware Geological Survey. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.dgs.udel.edu/delaware-geology/summary-geologic-history-delaware ↩

8. "Maryland Geology". Maryland Geological Society. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.mgs.md.gov/geology/ ↩

9. "Geology of the Fall Line". Virginia Places. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.virginiaplaces.org/regions/fallshape.html ↩

10. Dunkerly, Robert; Boland, Irene (2017). Eutaw Springs. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781611177589. 9781611177589 ↩

11. "Geology of the Fall Line". Virginia Places. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.virginiaplaces.org/regions/fallshape.html ↩

12. "Geology of the Fall Line". Virginia Places. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.virginiaplaces.org/regions/fallshape.html ↩

13. Dunkerly, Robert; Boland, Irene (2017). Eutaw Springs. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781611177589. 9781611177589 ↩

14. "Geology of the Fall Line". Virginia Places. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.virginiaplaces.org/regions/fallshape.html ↩

15. "Fall Line". NCpedia. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.ncpedia.org/fall-line ↩

16. "Fall Line". NCpedia. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.ncpedia.org/fall-line ↩

17. Dunkerly, Robert; Boland, Irene (2017). Eutaw Springs. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781611177589. 9781611177589 ↩

18. "The Fall Line and major cities of the Eastern U.S." http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/1122EUSMISR.html ↩

19. Dunkerly, Robert; Boland, Irene (2017). Eutaw Springs. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781611177589. 9781611177589 ↩

20. "Fall Line". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 October 2011. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-721 ↩

21. Dunkerly, Robert; Boland, Irene (2017). Eutaw Springs. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781611177589. 9781611177589 ↩

22. "Fall Line". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 October 2011. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-721 ↩

23. "Fall Line". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 October 2011. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-721 ↩

24. Freitag, Bob; Susan Bolton; Frank Westerlund; Julie Clark (2009). Floodplain Management: A New Approach for a New Era. Island Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-59726-635-2. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 978-1-59726-635-2 ↩

25. "Fall Line". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1618 ↩

26. "Fall Line". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1618 ↩

27. "Fall Line". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 25 January 2017. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1618 ↩