Appalachian Plateau

 

The view to the northwest encompasses the Cumberland Mountains, a series of linear ridges that are actually part of the Appalachian Plateau, a geographic feature that extends from Alabama all the way to New York. The Plateau bears its name due to its tablelike appearance of gently rolling hills falling away to steep-sided slopes. This landscape can be found to the north and west of High Knob, especially as Pine Mountain (on the VA-KY line) gives way to the rolling hills of eastern Kentucky.  Why doesn't the                  

Plateau take on a tablelike appearance here on High Knob? High Knob and the rest of the Cumberland Mountains visible from this point are part of an "overthrust block:" a large, rectangular sheet of rock strata that was pushed to the north and west, up and over nearby rock layers during the Appalachians' infancy. These forces created the unique, rugged ridges found here on our edge of the Plateau.

 

Even with these differences, the High Knob region still shares some similarities with the rest of the Appalachian Plateau. Specifically, this area has been "dissected" through erosion over time, meaning that streams have cut deep gorges into the sides of the Plateau. This can be seen locally at places like Little Stony Gorge, the Guest River Gorge, and Bad Branch Falls, the latter of which lies just out of sight to the northwest of the High Knob lookout tower. Another interesting aspect of the Appalachian Plateau is its forest diversity. Erosion has created a huge diversity of microhabitats, from moist, humid coves to dry ridges, where Appalachian forests can thrive. The Plateau is perhaps most famous for its "mixed mesophytic forest," meaning a forest type that occurs on soils that are not too moist but also not extremely dry. When these forests combine with rich soils, they can create astounding diversity - in some cases with more tree species occurring in a few hundred acres of Plateau forest than can be found in some entire parts of Europe!