Blue Ridge Physiography Topics

1. Regional Setting

2. Extent and Boundaries

3. Characteristic Features

• Part 1
• Part 2

4.  Drainage

• Major River Systems
• The New River
• Wind Gaps
• Escarpments

5. Special Features

• Aerial Tour of the Southern Blue Ridge
• The Skyline Drive

• Introduction to Physiography

• Coastal Plain

• Piedmont

• Mesozoic Basins

• Blue Ridge

• Valley and Ridge

• Appalachian Plateaus

• Virginia's Rivers

Blue Ridge Physiography: Special Features (Part 2)

Skyline Drive (Part 1)

• Skyline Drive runs along the Blue Ridge through Shenandoah National Park in Northern Virginia.

• The Drive offers spectacular views of Virginia’s Piedmont and Blue Ridge provinces.

• The Skyline Drive also offers many opportunities for looking at rocks of the Blue Ridge up close.

• The Skyline Drive was built in the early 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps to create a scenic drive in the eastern United States.  The site was chosen because of its scenic beauty and its proximity to populated areas.

Skyline Drive Location Map

Northern Section

The Catoctin Formation, shown in green on the Sklyine Drive location map, is at the surface for much of the Skyline Drive. It represents a 570-million-year-old lava flow that was later metamorphosed. Shown here are images of the Catoctin with brecciated basalt (top left), sandstone and basalt (center), and massive basalts (right). (Photogrpahs by Stan Johnson)

Back to Skyline Drive Location Map

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