The Geology of Canaan Valley

Abstract

Abstract Canaan Valley (hereafter, the Valley) is located in the Folded Plateau Physiographic Province of the Appalachian Mountains. The Province features broad, gentle folds and low, structural dips. The Valley lies over the Blackwater Anticline, one of three structures that characterize the high plateau in which the Valley is set. The Anticline plunges northward, creating a broad amphitheater at the Valley's northern end. Southward, the Anticline truncates against a zone of discordance. The cause of the discordance is unknown. South of this zone, the Plateau is more deeply dissected, and the Anticline cannot be traced. In its place, there are three structures that terminate northward against the zone. Local stratigraphy controls the Valley's landscape. Six stratigraphic units—the Pennsylvanian Kanawha Formation, New River Formation, Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation, Greenbrier Limestone Formation, Price Formation, and Devonian Hampshire Formation—outcrop in the Valley. The ridges in the Valley are su...