Piedmont Physiography Topics

1. Regional Setting
2. Extent and Boundaries
3. Characteristic Features
4. Piedmont Drainage
• Introduction to Physiography
• Coastal Plain
• Piedmont
• Mesozoic Basins
• Blue Ridge
• Valley and Ridge
• Appalachian Plateaus
• Virginia's Rivers

 

Piedmont Physiography: Regional Setting

• The Piedmont is the easternmost mountain province of the southern and central Appalachians.

• The Piedmont extends from Alabama to New Jersey.  It is very broad in the southern part, but narrows greatly to the north.


Location map shoiwing the location of the four major Appalachian physiographic provinces - Piedmont (green), Blue Ridge (maroon), Valley and Ridge (red), Appalachian Plateaus (blue) and the Coastal Plain (yellow).  The Piedmont extends from Alabama to New Jersey. (Image by Phyllis Newbil. Base map courtesy of the United States Geological Survey.)

• The Piedmont everywhere is characterized by a low-relief, gently rolling surface with scattered higher peaks.  The bedrock is deeply weathered and few bedrock exposures occur.


Typical Piedmont physiography in Virginia as seen in Buckingham County (above). Fresh bedrock is generally not exposed in the Piedmont. Monadnocks, like Willis Mountain in the distance are common in the Piedmont.(Photograph by Stan Johnson)





hills or mountains rising conspicuously above the level of the surrounding surface