Why does Appalachia have so many mountains with coal under them?

[@coaldigger1998]

We mined through a washout in the Jawbone seam in Southwest Virginia that lasted 500 feet. We had to drill and shoot to get through the bastard sandstone, the miner couldn't cut it. What was interesting to me was we caught the corner of a ancient stream bed with creek rock embedded in the sandstone. The company geologist spent many hours study this. He told us that he estimated the event happened around 275 to 300 million years ago. Kind of mind blowing. I help mine through a lot of washouts in my 45 year career but this was a first for me. Thank for the video!

[@TheGeoModels]

Glad you found it!

[@Cake41579]

When I was working in Nicholas county in an underground mine, we was roughly 460 feet below the surface above if you was to drill straight down from ground directly above. We ran into an old creek or ocean bed with literally millions of tiny sea shells that was situated right under the bastard seam in one particular area. Every time we would make a cut in that specific low spot in the seam where it took about a 4 foot drop for about 3 rooms , it turned up literally piles of sea shells and they all seamed to be unusually preserved and nothing like the other fossils or kettle bottles we had encountered before or since. It was definitely an anomaly that the geologist couldn’t explain. I still have a few nice chunks of the shells but for the most part they were all loosely stored in beneath the seam. Also in that area we were finding petrified tree stumps and logs and you could literally peel the bark off the petrified trees that were falling from the roof and rib before we bolted it up. I had a petrified stump the size of a Volkswagen fall right in front of the bolt machine and you could see the hundreds of roots stemming off the stump just like it had been placed there recently but it was so freaking hard and heavy, a piece the size of a lunch bucket was more than one man could handle.

[@Reallgeemachine]

That is a really cool story. Should have taken some pictures of it. I love interesting crap like that. I have a friend that is a logger in WV and he tells me about all kinds of cool stuff he comes across.

[@alexhajnal107]

What's a bastard seam?

[@coaldigger1998]

@@alexhajnal107 We were mining the Jawbone coal seam. It's probably not the correct name but bastard sandstone is a very hard dense type of sandstone. Wears miner bits out faster than you can change them.

[@jamiesloan7259]

I was an underground coal miner for 30 years. I live in Gilbert, WV in the heart of the Hatfield McCoy trail system. I’ve spoken to people from Utah, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada, who come here to ride. The trail system has added a lot of positive outlook on this area, and also some much needed economic stability.

[@buddymoore6504]

Man, I have ridden some old coal trails, surprised I am still alive, good fun, I am old and got out while I was still alive, good time for sure, we were riding out there when it was still trespassing and you had to run!

[@ProbablyNotAChicken]

Lots of extreme sports nuts in Utah! Guess i was one of em... Grew up skating. Too poor for mountain sports

[@TwoBs]

Born in Mingo Co (Kermit/Naugatuck area) and moved off to Wayne Co - been through Gilbert plenty of times, even long before the trail was put in. WV gets a lot of negative stereotypes, but it has been nice to see the view shift when it comes to outsiders. Slowly, but surely. The trails have definitely brought in a lot of new folks to the area and helped the economy (for certain places and people, but not all), however I’m a bit mixed on it as it’s been a double-edged sword. When you’ve been rural all your life, folks get used to that way of living … and when big change comes with promises of economical prosperity that brings in a lot of new faces, it makes a lot of those folks uneasy. Some hop on it and go all in, some hold out thinking about the negatives it can bring. They wanted to extend the trail here to where I live along the East Lynn Lake area, but people pushed back on it due to how restrictive it would make anyone hunting and riding ATVs and dirtbikes around here would become because it would now be apart of the official trail (and if you know how people are in WV with riding, many places it being their way around the hills along with hunting, they’re not too keen on being given a list of rules because a trail gets put in lol) Another is because of how talk goes in these areas. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about lol. People coming in out of town/state to buy up land from locals to put in cabins for the riders to stay in, with some of them being put right in the middle of residential areas with established communities (example: you’ll see a home, another home next to it, another home, then you’ll see several cabins or trailers wedged on a lot/property that once had a home there, then a home, another home, etc.) to where some of the locals get a bit annoyed with how many of such properties have popped up to take out homes someone in the area could have lived in to accommodate a revolving door of tourists, which I get. These places are still rural even with the addition of the trail, but I know down where my mother lives where a bunch of trailers were put onto land near her (said it’s an eyesore to drive by now with so many loud side-by-sides, notably during holidays as it’s gotten rather rowdy to where people come and think that they may be in the woods in a rural area, but they forget that people live nearby lol), that a lot of folks in the area are getting a bit annoyed with how much money has been made from the trails, yet areas it goes through are still lacking to show the money is going back into the community. Things are still run down and abandoned at alarming rates, with only a few select locations getting the main attraction attention while the rest forgotten. So maybe in a decade it’ll shape up to be something better, and I try to give it the benefit of the doubt as this part of the state does need something to help it economically after the shutdown of coal created ghost towns out of so many once vibrant areas, but its been both positive and negative - positive with how it’s bringing people here and letting them see a good side to WV, but negative with the impact it’s been having on locals … which may be in small pockets for some areas, but I do know for others away from the heart of it all where it’s been a common sentiment. I just hope more things come because we simply can’t rely on these trails forever.

[@bruceu1419]

You are doing great work brother, I live in southern Virginia Piedmont area and I've traveled through Appalachia mostly on the I-81 and US 15 corridors up through to NY countless times. It is an underappreciated and poorly understood, but very historically and geographically important region of the USA. Thank you for teaching the public about this subject in such detail.

[@johnflatt1288]

So I didn’t study or get a degree in geology, but I work for a geotechnical engineering firm that does mainly drilling work. I work with several PGs and they trained me to log and I feel pretty confident in my ability to identify/catalog the majority of samples I come across. We hardly see anything besides limestone, alluvium, or fluvium-so nothing too exotic-but I still like to learn as much as I can in my spare time mainly because I just find it fascinating. I’m usually rockhounding when I get the chance or am on vacation, haha. I tend to think about the flora/fauna and the name of the period or eon associated with a deposit and that helps me retain the knowledge for whatever reason. Who wouldn’t be interested in the bizarre swamps with giant insects that lead to these deposits?? I guess it’s just tough for me to picture geomorphological or hydrological changes due to the sheer stupid amount of time required to see them borne out. People don’t realize how crazy the history of earth and even just North America is. The failed rift valley near the Great Lakes, the Sudbury Impact, Chixulub Impact, Younger Dryas Impact, two miles of glacier in in New England and Canada, glacial Lake Agassiz/Missoula and the mega floods, the incredible vulcanism and earthquakes all over the west coast.. Sorry for the long comment.. just wanted to say thanks for making these lectures. They are a great resource and super interesting to me. Feel like you would make a great a prof if you aren’t already one. Obviously have the knowledge and speaking ability.

[@ohasis8331]

Your comment is commendable. There is so much that goes on, has gone and will continue to do so, I find the real world a fascinating place The arrogance of a bored youth (plural) is boundless yet contained by ignorance.

[@bohdanburban5069]

One of my mentors was a geologist from Kentucky ... he nudged me into thinking.

[@Dave5843-d9m]

This is a short page but shows how the Central Pangea Mountain range was torn down the middle when the Atlantic Rift opened up millions of years ago. Google - Central Pangea Mountains.

[@MarkBanks-hr3ik]

I do appreciate the time you spend educating all of us on the complex geology of the Appalachian platue basin. It is an amazing history that most don't consider or appreciate the time and emence amount of topographical change that has taken place! Thank you for your very simple communication and all the nice graphics!

[@fredholley6248]

What is TRULY amazing is that I can see and point out my town just from the steam/smoke vertical line in the upper third/right of the picture @1:54, even from this distance out.

[@sasquatchhimself]

I'm from Philly and I take a lot of mountain biking trips through the Appalachians. I'm fascinated by the geology, culture, and history and always want to learn more. Happy to find your channel to learn more.

[@basara5496]

One of the things you touch on, the lack of flat land, is what makes mountaintop removal so much of an issue for the residents. I live in Clay County, about 90 miles (by road) west from Prestonsburg & Paintsville. I can throw a rock off my back porch and have it land on a former surface mine (fully restored, and didn't take off the mountaintop - but now completely forested 40 years later without any tree planting by humans - it was a grassy slope when I was in high school). Heck, I currently have a pine tree that grew up above the property line that has fallen downhill from a windstorm a few days ago, where the crown of the tree brushed the eave of my roof, and now prevents moving through the back yard. In the past, there have been towns where they WANTED to keep mountaintop areas removed to allow for residential and industrial expansion in the last 50 years, but were forced by the federal government to restore it to previous contours as part of the reclamation (which really doesn't work well when the actual strata are removed - fill doesn't work - the area becomes as much or more a mudslide danger as it was as a mine) - in some cases, they were told "sure, you can use it - but you have to fully reclaim it back to original contours, THEN dig it back down to the cut level you want". Even road-cuts run into huge amounts of red tape over the disposition of the material if they hit coal as part of making a PERMANENT cut feature. Reclamation to former contours is great for most surface mines - but not for mountaintop removal sites (which are better off resoiled and reforested with gentle contours). Occasionally I drive through a huge cattle and bison ranch in Laurel County (bisected by a state road that predated the land's various uses) that was once a several square mile surface mine. I remember back in the day when a buddy of mine was seeing a girl in the area who lived in the house SURROUNDED by the mine (probably an artifact of the old broad form deeds) while it was still active, and we rode up from Corbin on bicycles to visit her. Today, you'd never realize it was mined, other than it has a couple of irrigation ponds that didn't exist when the land was forested hills before the mine. And, one of the counties down around the border has turned an old mine site into a nature park with a wildlife education building you can watch grazing wild elk (reintroduced 30 or so years ago, and now in such large populations that there's an elk hunting season) and other wildlife, without having to go traipsing through mud and risking snake bites. One of the ironies of it all was that with the massive floods of two years ago, that killed about 50 people, the state of Kentucky made an effort to move people out of some of the most flood-endangered areas - and a lot of the places that were used for building the new homes for the moved people were former mountaintop removal areas and other surface mines predating modern mining restrictions, but that had reclamation work done at a later date, to create level areas with soil. The lack of level ground except in the river bottoms, is one of the reasons why during the mid-20th-century, according to some old encyclopedias I read back in high school, parts of Harlan County had a higher population density than MANHATTAN.

[@hangingby-a-thread]

Our greatest enemy is the Federal Government!

[@Glogdome]

Very insightful, thanks for sharing.

[@alamira.9635]

That fact about population density is just incredible and makes you wonder what could’ve been for Appalachia if it had been sourced more effectively

[@michaelseltz4460]

Thanks Man! I’ve been searching g for a good geology teacher with some visuals. an amateur scientist now in retirement from teaching history and Geography. I always felt compelled to get into the geology a little bit with students around migration patterns, bottlenecks, and settlements no accidents there but usually ignored Recently, I let Simon Winchester take the lid off the Maps and show me underneath William Smith and Birth of Modern Geology. Fabulous! Now I’m hooked!

[@Dave5843-d9m]

My childhood home was adjacent to a traditional (for UK) deep mining area. The mines were never viable due to coal seams rifted up and down. Houses suffered subsidence and spill heaps became dangerous. After closure, the area was open cast (surface) mined. The excellent coal removed and everything levelled. The remaining land is now usable unlike the broken, litter-strewn mess caused by deep mining.

[@RufioReed]

I have been really enjoying your videos. I was raised on the Appalachians. And your content has been so wonderful

[@ghensold]

This is one of the best geology videos I've ever seen. Might get a little dense and technical for some folks - but I love how it incorporates all the concepts of why tectonics, structure, rock type, time, and erosion are all important in forming the landscape. And shows it spatially with real world examples! Super good job.

[@vhhawk]

I regret that I have but one upvote to give. 1:05 blew my mind.

[@Rory-w8x]

Great stuff young fella, your cartography and sedimentary explanations are first class. One thing you must consider that helps explain the 'rate' of deposition and erosion of all landscapes anywhere on earth is the angle of the dangle of the earth's axis. We have similar though somewhat smaller Appalachia landscapes on the west and east coasts of Tasmania. Even got the coal measures in fair abundance.

[@brantleyschnell1741]

Watching this video and getting the Loretta Lynn fact was amazing. The biggest race for dirtbikes ever is this week at her house. Been watching it live all week.

[@a_blind_sniper]

This is awesome. The Bob Ross of Geology

[@scotthardie388]

Thank you for this fantastic explanation. I'm from and live in the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge and Valley region of north Alabama and this is the clearest explanation I have ever seen. I appreciate the time and effort to make this available to us!

[@jeanlawson9133]

I live in the Appalachian foothill in Alabama.... Now.....Sand Mountain....

[@scotthardie388]

@@jeanlawson9133 I was raised in Henagar, I live in the valley now near Ft. Payne

[@21hatwell]

I grew up in Bishop and have lived in Richlands for the last 22 yrs. I always tell people about how geographically unique our little slice of the world is. It's pretty cool to see someone feature it this way. Great channel and great content. I really liked the one about the redeye bass.

[@TheGeoModels]

Like I said in the video the area is like nothing else. I first saw it riding across the mountain to go paddle the Russell Fork. I took as many people as possible out to see it because it was just so interesting. Ought to be some sort of national monument or something, but it might end up changing it around. I used to always stop at the Richlands Wendy's on the way back to Blacksburg from Russell Fork. The drive was really exciting if the Jewell Coke Oven released steam when you drove by. So glad you found the video. I liked the bass one, too. Wish more people would watch it!

[@kellymurphy6642]

I grew up in northeast Pennsylvania, just north of Scranton in anthracite coal country. I always took the coal mining for granted, even though I had many previous generations of grandfathers that came from Ireland to work the mines down in east central PA during the Molly Maguires in Mauch Chunk. I just recently got into learning about the Appalachians and the coal mining regions. And how special and unique our mountains are in the east coast. I love these videos.

[@halfwayfarmsandoutdoors3550]

I was born in Richlands in 1968 at the Clinch Valley Medical Center. Dad worked in the Beatrice mine in Grundy. Two years old and we moved.

[@21hatwell]

@@halfwayfarmsandoutdoors3550 yeah brother. A lot of people left this area after the late 70's when most of the mines shut down

[@gregmay2155]

Born in Charleston WV, moved to Richmond Va at age 4 in 1985. Driven through the mountains more times than I can count to see family. Even as a child i noticed the mountains kinda turned into hills after the last toll, about 30 minutes from Charleston. I had a uncle that was like a dad, coal miner his ENTIRE life. Thanks for the informative video. Wish I could share this video with him. I also ride dirt bikes with friends in WV. Seeing a strip mine is pretty wild. What's crazier is seeing a valley half full of truck sized boulders. I've only seen one like that. Everyone I was with was from Richmond so they had never seen that either. There were about 10 of us, it was the quietest our group had ever been. Everyone standing around in complete awe at what we where seeing

[@5.43v]

What do you think of the days before highway 77 and 81

[@gregmay2155]

@5.43v I don't remember much from my young years other than getting car sick and the tunnel, lol. I forgot about the tunnel. You can see the entrance during the winter. I believe it's on the last strecth of 64W after 81S. 81 during the holidays is a nightmare

[@hardrocklobsterroll395]

Exciting and awesome as always.

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks!

[@SJR_Media_Group]

I always knew this region had complex geology but never have seen it presented this way... your narration and graphics really helped simplify it. I will never look at a map of this region the same way.

[@Tirani2]

I grew up in Roanoke. I never realized how complicated landscape below ground was under those mountains. Like I knew they're the granddaddies of mountain ranges that still exist, but now I really understand It. Thank you.

[@Parmenza]

great video! i grew up on the northern appalachian plateau (around the ANF), and you've given me a new perspective on the geology of the area. I have a lot of fond memories of hiking out to big sandstone rocks on hilltops, or climbing up hollows along shale-bedded streams. The geology is also reflected well in the different kinds of vegetation you see in the valleys, on the hillsides, on the hilltop, and especially along the streams.

[@farmerj1]

Great presentation! I was not even that interested in the subject matter but find your videos incredibly informative and easy to understand such that I am more fascinated by geology.

[@TheGeoModels]

Well I'm happy you got through it! There's some interesting stuff out there, for sure.

[@josephbrosk4384]

When mentioning mountain top removal mining, it's correct to call it "efficient." More importantly, it is also safer. Dozens of miners don't get trapped underground, killed in methane explosions or injured by numerous hazards found underground.

[@jasonspellich2440]

Unless your house is lower than the washout "ponds".....

[@BradRadford-e8s]

R.I.P Josh Napper, the world will never forget how golden and authentic you were, true in every way, cut from the most authentic and rare cloth, cool and composed of the salt of the earth since birth, your love will live on and shine through when others need it most. You're sorely missed by many, hoping to see you soon. What a damn shame, the pay scale for hard working med school students basically having to hit the mines. It's simply not fair that blood, sweat, tears, broken backs and bones, all the time given and dedication possibly given that it's still a struggle just to make ends meet. This tragic case ended in defeat.

[@firstlast-ty4di]

I'd like to compliment you for your geologic knowledge, artistic talent, and communication skills. Though I'm retired now, I mined coal (both deep and surface) in KY, WV, OH, and PA. You actually added quite a bit to my knowledge of the rocks that I spent so much of my career with.

[@TheGeoModels]

Honored!

[@HelenKempster-t6y]

Again, another wonderful video. It just shows that geology is literally the foundation science. It affects everything humans do, where we live ,what we eat, what we work at, how we build our houses, everything. Modern life doesn't always work in sympathy with these patterns. Thank you . The history/geology of Appallacia has so many parallels in Britain, mining, etc.

[@matthewdockter2424]

Love your video here, but this actually looks familiar to me. I grew up just north of La Crosse, Wisconsin, in the driftless region. I haven't looked at your video history, yet, but if you haven't covered The Driftless, I'd love to see it! Algific talus slopes, man!

[@t0nemolina]

Excellent video, your geologic box model drawings are quite impressive for just using Microsoft Paint! Also, you explain these complicated tectonic processes that formed the Appalachians very well and in an easy-to-understand way. Just subscribed

[@richavic4520]

This took me back to Structural Geology. Our final project was to create a cross-section from a surface map. I was assigned a county in West Virginia, Ridge and Valley province. Vertical exaggeration was necessary. After watching two of his videos, my guess is that our host is a structural geologist

[@hime273]

I live 8 Miles west of Boone, on the top of a mountain. My parents have owned the property for 50 years, and I've always known that there was a huge vein of Quarts that that goes through the whole mountain, but I recently was digging at a higher elevation than the quarts vein for a service road..I found what is clearly a Dyke and Sills which go 50+ feet left and right from the Dyke, sandwiched between extremely hard layers of what seems to be Quartzite.

[@ligmasack9038]

Quartz is a Mineral, Quarts are a unit of Measurement.

[@richardmourdock2719]

I'm a retired geologist based in the Illinois Basin, but I spent a lot of time working West Virginia (Mingo, Logan and Fayette Counties, to name a few). I feel sorry at times for a generation that thinks it doesn't need fossil fuel energy. Might we use it better? Sure, but first it needs to come out of the ground. You are likely aware that internationally, there is an absolute dearth of geology students at the University Level. Understandable as today's young people are indoctrinated to believe we are destroying the earth. Hence, I appreciate this video in speaking facts in the presentation of geology.

[@actually5004]

So how is the turnover rate now at those companies that were hiring when you were young? Are they even hiring males at this point?

[@seanbeadles7421]

It’s funny to see an earth scientist in denial of a field of earth science they don’t study

[@stefanp7603]

@@seanbeadles7421agreed. Good science in this video. Wish some people would take the time they spent learning geography to study climate science. I’m sure they would find it equally as fascinating and important.

[@Dragrath1]

@@stefanp7603 Yeah it is depressing but oh so human especially with people who become compartmentalized into one worldview unable or unwilling to recognize things that don't align with that narrow picture. Perhaps they would have a better understanding if they were to work with the black oil shales that generally form whenever Earth experiences severe global warming anoxic waters and vast amounts of rapidly deposited dead unconsumed organic algal material and Lagerstatten fossilization of marine and sometimes terrestrial washout life which had formerly inhabited the world. It is a major contrast to the coal deposits here which were deposited within the Phanerozoic eon's longest Ice age the late Paleozoic Ice age an era of glaciation that lasted over 100 million years beginning in the late Devonian and lasting through all of the Carboniferous period and most of the Permian. In essence it was the tropical coal swamps that filled the lowlands during the glaciations which deposited all the organic material which would become coal and then the rising seas from the interglacials which inundated these low lying foreland basins and intermixed accreted volcanic archipelagos. In essence the coal of the carboniferous is the carbon which created the late Paleozoic Ice age. Then the end of said ice age was punctuated by 2 waves of major flood basalts merely 9 million years apart(statistically flood basalts seem to be 20 to 30 million years apart on average) the Emeishan Traps a marine shelf flood basalt centered in what is today Sichuan China, and then the enormous flood basalts which erupted carboniferous coal beds of what is today parts of Siberia, this 1, 2 punch is ultimately responsible for the single largest mass extinction in Earth's history which included the abrupt ice age termination. I think @TheGeoModels possibly somewhat ironically ended up showed this "Emeishan Trap" landscape plateau as another example of a dissected plateau though much of that is rather of interbedded carbonate(limestone) reefs and flood basalt materials erupting through the then continental shelf of what was the largest continental landmass not part of mainland Pangaea(technically I don't know if we know if it was or wasn't connected but if it was it would have been a Peninsula and or series of islands within the larger continental shelf) the so called North and South China Blocks. Point of this long winded digression when the glaciation ended it was abrupt and catastrophic so this guy in denial's life work was part of the larger story that provides the greatest warning of messing with the climate system.

[@srhutch4444]

With respect: Yes, the geology is fascinating. Yes, amazing human ingenuity went into removing the tops of these mountains to get at the fossil fuel deposits. But no, we should not be doing this in the future, if we can at all help it: These fossil fuel sources are inefficient with large externality costs (carbon emissions, pollution, negative human health impacts), relative to nuclear power (maximal efficiency per aggregate environmental impact) or renewable sources like geothermal, wind, tidal, and solar. Were we to tax energy production to compensate to these negative externalities (carbon emissions, pollution, negative human health impacts), the aforementioned nuclear and renewable energy sources would naturally dominate our future energy production. Even today with current market conditions and less direct costing to aggregate externalities, coal and oil are losing out to renewables and natural gas. It isn’t “indoctrination” that would lead one to avoid these fossil fuel sources, but rather cold hard calculation of aggregate cost vs. benefit, especially considering in your calculations those externalities and the costs to remediate them.

[@danielcarroll5667]

Flew over this region a few years ago on a bright , clear early spring morning a few years ago , it was just astonishing , thanks for all your amazing videos...

[@1999Valkyrie]

I'm thankful for guys like you who make all this not only understandable, but highly interesting; to someone such as myself (uneducated...) I'm grateful!

[@jacobmay4220]

My family is from Grundy. Pretty cool to know there really is no other hills and hollers like ours. Everyone always talks about Louis and Clark encountering the rocky mountains, but i can help but feel like the huge amount of hills and small rivers we have covered in relatively dense forest would have been more difficult in ways

[@TheGeoModels]

100% more difficult. I have absolutely no idea how one would have navigated the region when it was more completely forested.

[@sparky6086]

​@TheGeoModels When they were virgin forests, they didn't have to deal with much if any, undergrowth, but I'm sure, that it still wasn't easy!

[@geetar82]

I lived in West Virginia throughout my high school years. My geology teacher taught us about the Appalachia chain. I have to say sir, I learned more in your short video than I did the whole year of my teacher speaking through his coffee soaked mustache 😅. Really though, thanks for the video. It was very informative. Keep it up. 👍

[@TheLyzaj]

I live in Paintsville so a little north of Prestonsburg. Loved the video!! Great geography and geology lesson!

[@mathewperring]

After watching the Ghost Valley video and having previously lived in the area. Poked around on Google maps to look at it myself when I noticed how the human geography interacted with the physical geography. Going along the ohio Valley past Huntington then along the Ghost valley to the Kanawaha around Charleston and then further along it is almost continous human settlements alternating across the sides of the rivers but it is effectively an 135 mile long town!

[@arnett101]

Lived on the Licking River & Levisa Fork of Big Sandy my entire 39 year life. Love geology and geography. Your MS Paint skills are incredible and love these descriptions. Wife is from Jenkins KY and the US 23 Pound Mountain cut entering Virginia is an amazing view of those almost vertically turned layers!

[@TheGeoModels]

Yes it is! Iconic spot. Geo students been looking at that one for generations!

[@PlayNowWorkLater]

Really enjoying how you dissect a particular area. Love your 3d drawings and all the details you add to bring it to life. Your dendritic patterns are amazing. Great stuff! Keep up the good work!

[@zetsubouda]

This was very fascinating. Thanks for covering this!

[@pmm1044]

Love your use of graphics…excellent!!!

[@mikelong9638]

I grew up in valleys of the Appalachian Plateau in North Central PA. Interestingly, I think it is easier to see that it is actually a plateau in that there is more "flat" area (less mature drainage) on what I grew up believing were mountain tops. Nice video.

[@yaboijardo2319]

Just wanted to mention something cool ive noitced. Many places in eastern kentucky as well as im sure some other states were coal mines that have shut down decades ago some as long as half a century or more. These very large tracts of land are owned by coal companies but have been largely untouched since the mines have closed. These places have become sanctuaries where the forest is let be.

[@mellissadalby1402]

Actually, the erosion patterns of the creek and river systems reminds me of fractals. Your short video demonstrating the patterns made by tumbling (or trundeling) boulders is very good.

[@Cheapflytie]

Love the videos man!!!

[@TheGeoModels]

thank you friend I like making em!

[@MisterPlanePilot]

This randomly showed up on my feed and I got quite excited. I live in the foothills in VA and I've always been curious about the Appalachian's geography

[@ken2tou]

One of the best tutorials I’ve seen, regarding the formation of the Blue Ridge and Application Plateau. I’ve also heard this geologic formation is also related to the Atlas Mountains in North Africa

[@teresak1177]

This was really neat. I have been to LL’s home place and it is a really neat holler. I would live there today if I could. It is beautiful. Thanks for the presentation!!

[@Ridley_1992]

Didn't expect youtube to recommend me a video that talked about my home turf near the coke ovens lol, I live 10 minuts away and I drive up 460 past them every day. Awesome video!

[@TheGeoModels]

yeah I was hoping it would make its way to folks out there. I always liked riding by the ovens at night to see the evil looking flames coming out of the stacks. one time got to see the flames and then saw the fries catch fire in the richlands Wendy’s. wild day.

[@PartlyDeaf]

I’d love to see a breakdown of why the Ozarks have wide flat river valleys in between the more rugged hills. Looking specifically at SE Missouri.

[@davidhayes2928]

Take a drive on US-48 between Davis WV and Wardensville WV. I love great rock strata exposures and this has the greatest i have ever observed in 60 years. Beautiful 4 lane highway and no traffic. Fall is a bonus with red, yellow and orange foliage. Might see snow from September to may. Moorefield has several restaurants and wardensville one that I thought were good.

[@Vulcano7965]

These videos are so damn engaging and are a huge inspiration. Maybe I should improve my Paint skills to explain the geology in my part of the world better :D

[@metalfox28]

Good work. Very insightful and engaging

[@tpreston8453]

Excellent! Thanks for the hard work!

[@RomoRooster]

I'm a mechanic in Charleston and these mountains erode vehicles pretty quick. I rarely see a road worthy car with more than 250,000 miles on it. Lol

[@stephenkaiser9780]

Delightful presentation. Thank you.

[@TheGeoModels]

Glad you liked it. Special area!

[@andreweirthug2588]

you have quickly become my favorite channel

[@TheGeoModels]

Made my day!

[@kevinstanhope9724]

Your videos make complicated geology seem simple, keep up the good work ❤

[@GaryArmstrongmacgh]

I just found your geology posts. I'm hooked! Love all forms of science.

[@TheGeoModels]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@stephenkessel1990]

thank you chas wv native so I subbed your channel looking forward to learning about the mountains from then till now hope you touch on the ocean that was here also

[@floattheclinch]

What a great video! Absolutely top-notch work!

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks! meant a lot to me to cruise that region and experience it over the years

[@__Dave__]

Was just looking for this exact explanation earlier this week, thanks!

[@TheGeoModels]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LameWolff]

I worked 30 years in the surface coal mine industry. 22 years of that was on a mountain top removal mine in Clay and Nicholas counties of WV. We normally tried to mine around a 14:1 ratio most of the time if memory serves me correctly. Which means we would remove on average 14ft of rock for 1ft of coal overall and being there were multiple seems we removed up to around 250ft or so of material in some areas. But the ratio could vary depending on the quality/value of the coal.

[@maryefromky]

this was a really interesting video, i'm from the east-central portion of KY. lived there my whole life and have recently gotten really interested in stuff like this. the geology, history and cultural aspects of my homeland :) i absolutely LOVE this region of the country, and always felt like these mountains hit different than a lot of the other ones in the US, i always assumed it was the age and erosion. but it just makes for SUCH a beautiful area to live in. there's a unique set of issues you have to deal with, if this is the region you live in. but i think the natural beauty is my favorite part of Appalachia, especially the little corner of KY that i live in. love it! thanks for this informative video. super interesting

[@TheGeoModels]

One of a kind area, for sure! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@malcolmmarzo2461]

Excellent in content and teaching method. Your videos increase my geological understanding. I do videos from my airplane that largely focus on the geology of Northern Nevada.

[@jrivers0005]

I live in Lee County, VA and this is really neat to know about my home!

[@ThomasD66]

Another great route to see the changing topography between R&V and the plateau is the arc along Hwys 58 and 23 from Castlewood around to Duffield. Work has taken me in an around this region for the past 17 years.

[@nathanmullins836]

Really enjoyed your video on the missing Teays river valley , I’m from the area and I’ve always wondered why the city of West Portsmouth sits in what looks like half of a crater. Do you think it was formed by a bend in the river ? I find the circular ridge surrounding the city very different from anything near there.

[@MKRfootball2010]

Interesting I live in Greenup County which is right across from West Portsmouth. I’ve always thought that area looked interesting geographically speaking.

[@Dave5843-d9m]

The north of UK Appalachians, and the Atlas Mountains are the same range, once located as the Central Pangean Mountains. Pangea existed before the Atlantic opened up.

[@alanjohnson2613]

Best explanation I have seen.

[@mattlloyd9054]

Ironically your comment bout hwy 460 is spot on. I live at claypool hill in the house I grew up in that said I spent alot of my childhood at my grandparents I grundy which are 2 very different landscapes. Literally the difference in the landscape is what sparked my interest in geology. Even weirder me posting yesterday bout the rivers then you having video being posted bout the exact same place. The drive on 460 drive also is the curviest 55mph 4lane highway that i know about.

[@TheGeoModels]

Wild coincidence! I always used to stop at that gas station with McDonald’s in claypool on the way to the Russell fork. it would be very interesting to switch between there and Grundy. probly need a vid about the shopping cart escalator at Grundy Walmart. You ever been up to that Jump Off area on the Tug Fork -Clinch divide?

[@mattlloyd9054]

@TheGeoModels I literally live right behind it on top the hill. The geology affects the wind where I live in the winter we get down sloping winds that only affect bluefield down to hansonville along that first ridge of the ridge and valley. If you go west from the ridge there is no winds. Anyway you mentioned the jump off please explain

[@TheGeoModels]

@@mattlloyd9054 I have to do it tomorrow! Just one of this big steep river divides with more steepness on one side. On another note, you ever go up on Morris Knob?

[@mattlloyd9054]

@TheGeoModels ive always wanted to go up morris knob even went as far as tracking down the gate to the road to the top but got access denied. That said, as on top of the geology around here as I am lol, the spruce island on top of beartown mountain somehow escaped me until a few years ago. I do hope to do the channels soon but the older I get the laziness is kinda making me procrastinate it for a few years lol.

[@kevinmyers3291]

I worked in and around the wonderful folks in the coal industry from the mid 80's into the late 90's. Most coal to the east, in Kentucky anyway, was underground. In Western Kentucky it's primarily surface mining. The big difference geologically is in Western Kentucky, they might remove a foot of overburden to get to a 100 foot thick seam of coal where in eastern Kentucky, they remove 100 feet of overburden to get a foot thick seam and a lot of the time, that seam isn't pure coal. It has layers of shale or "middle man" in it. The cost of mining in Eastern Kentucky is higher than in Western Kentucky. BUT the quality of the coal in Eastern Kentucky is much better. Higher BTU and low sulfur, where in WKY, it's a lower BTU with higher sulfur content. Amazing stuff really

[@bcbloc02]

@@kevinmyers3291 Wonder if the coal in western ky was eroded from eastern ky and that is where it was deposited?

[@bigjimslade6250]

I enjoyed this video & almost raised this topic in connection with your Ghost River video. I’d be curious to see your take on how this relates to the Pine Mountain fault which I’ve been told is an up thrust fault. A Ranger at Breaks Interstate Park once pointed out to us where the fault breaks the surface. The Breaks itself is interesting as the northward flowing Russell Fork of the Big Sandy cuts through Pine Mountain after it has collected the flow from the eastern flowing Guest & McClure Rivers. Also it’s interesting to note how that at Payne Gap in Letcher County KY is where the Cumberland, Kentucky, & Elkhorn Creek of the Russell Fork commence or diverge. Lastly there are significant caves in the area as well as the legend of the Lost Swift Silver Mines. Glad to see the reference to Shorts Gap on the Tennessee Ridge divide too. Keep up the good work.

[@TheGeoModels]

Yep we'll do Pine Mountain, maybe by next week. Many have called for it. It and its associated structures (Norris Lake area, Middlesboro, etc) are actually globally iconic geologic structures. Basically the textbook definition of a particular type of feature.

[@bigjimslade6250]

Great & looking forward to it. I’d love to see your video start out in Breaks Interstate Park. Maybe add in Jellico Mountain too & the Big South Fork River.

[@itsmarmalade]

I had no idea the landscape looked like this. I've never seen anything like it.

[@morganeubanks5166]

Thank you so much for your time.

[@TheGeoModels]

My pleasure!

[@jamesmcguire4122]

Great video. I’m glad I found this channel. I’ve always been fascinated by geography and geology (GIS by profession here) and you do a great job with your diagrams and explaining everything. Kudos for making exceptional use of MS Paint lol. Since this video talks about the ridge and valley of the Appalachians, it reminded me of something I’ve never understood. It would be great if you did a quick video with diagrams on Sideling Hill, specifically the part in western Maryland where interstate 68 makes a dramatic road cut. The arched shape of the exposed rock seems to be in opposition to the shape of the mountain. It’s beautiful but it’s always puzzled me. Thanks, and keep the videos coming!

[@TheGeoModels]

The opposition to the mountain thing is interesting. In Appalachia, synclines (U-shaped downward folds) tend to be the highest parts of the landscape, and anticlines (convex-up folds) tend to form valleys. It's because the mountain topography you see is all due to where hard rocks are exposed...it no longer has anything to do with mountain growth. The U -shaped areas are harder to erode away when they are present in hard layers. It's sort of a reminder that today's mountains have been heavily re-shaped from the original mountain landscape.

[@jamesmcguire4122]

@@TheGeoModels thanks for the explanation!

[@daletesson4630]

Near Grundy, VA is the Breaks. Absolutely beautiful deep gorge carved by river erosion. Breaks Interstate Park straddles the VA/KY state line and is a fascinating place to visit for geology buffs.

[@ivanrodionov9724]

Outstanding video!

[@int31cm]

well done and very interesting! Thank you!!

[@TheGeoModels]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@richardwest9054]

Thanks for the US 460 road trip suggestion. I am looking forward to driving it.

[@amorejblh]

Appreciate the content man. Thank you

[@TheGeoModels]

My pleasure!

[@diegomartinfernandez7730]

Amazing video! After seeing it, the landscape of the southwest North Island in New Zealand (around Whanganui National Park) came to mind as very similar to that of West Virginia. I am from nowhere near there and I don't know much about the region's geology but I remember marvelling at the endless labyrinthic expanse of valleys with no clear higher mountains in sight. Also, much closer to home (and in a quite smaller scale) it makes me think of Guipúzkoa in northern Spain. That region, too, would have been at the footsteps of the Hesperian Massif, formed at the end if the Devonian after the collision of Laurasia and Gondwana and you can also see clear valley and ridge formations in the provinces of Alava and northern Burgos. Thanks again for such a clear explanation!! 😊

[@TheGeoModels]

My pleasure!

[@MarvinMonroe]

Im from near Oxford OH and for the past couple have been obsessed with PA's different provinces. Ridge and Valley, Appalachian Plateau, etc Always has seemed weird that the Allegheny Mountain Section is in the Appalachian Plateau Province and that's where the highest point in the state is. And the Allegheny Front intrigues me. A video all about it would be so awesome

[@violetvioletviolet1]

I have so many places for you to look at! ive been obsessed w google maps for years! your so lucky to have lidar! there are countless places ive wished i could see in lidar! ty 4 sharing!

[@TheGeoModels]

It will take up your time if you aren't careful!

[@jeanlawson9133]

My late Pop's was a Coal miner....I lived in the hills of Virginia....Near Raven Virginia, Tazewell County....He worked around and near those areas as well...Miss those Mountains..I lived in Mill Creek holler....I went to School at Raven Elementary, And Highschool at Richland's......❤

[@TheGeoModels]

Glad it made it to some Raven/Richlands folks!

[@jimmygambone]

Would love to see an analysis of the impact of Helene on Linville Gorge, Lake James and the Catawba River basin.

[@LordEagle]

This lesson was fantastic. Very interesting and informative. Thank you. 👍👍👍🤪

[@phoenixshade3]

Today, you're hitting the home of my McCoy ancestors. Looking forward to this one, as I know enough (for a layman) about the ridge-and-valley part of the Appalachians, but west of that is a mystery...

[@leonallen9833]

I worked at a sand and gravel mine almost in the middle of the delmarva peninsula. At one point we were about 50' deep which is quite a feat considering the water table starts around 4 or 5' deep. A tropical storm came in and blew out a stream directly into the mine sight and we didn't get that deep again, surface mining. I think they've since brought in a dredge. Anyway, we came across some cool layers. A couple distinct layers of what I call iron ore about 6" thick. Also, in the tailings pile at the plant, we could find several pieces a day of petrified wood fragments. Nothing big usually the size of a foot. It was interesting to find on our flat sand bar😊

[@pahko_]

"Next time around, might get out of Appalachia" as a PA resident, I selfishly request that you stay in Appalachia for every video because I like it

[@MrThorp1]

A good friend and former dog breeder lives in this area. youre fascinated by all the same stuff i am. Very little flat ground. Everything is up a holler. That said, its gorgeous, and the people are wonderful. We were n paintsville which is just a bit north of prestonburg. We totally went to the loretta lynn house!

[@Jonasben117]

Wow this is really interesting!

[@g-dcomplex1609]

Good documentary on the topic, regards

[@TheGeoModels]

Many thanks!

[@bjjt-nu9dx]

Easy to see the complex of hollers, dead-end roads off better roads with a small streams alongside. Hollers everywhere. Locals may call the higher elevations mountains, but just a huge eroded plateau.

[@hime273]

I'm pretty sure that Everest would be Beech Mountain, or Grandfather Mountain, or maybe the ridge that goes from Howards Knob to Tater Hill...Or even Elk Knob and Three Top. But definately not the Escarpment between Boone and Wilkesboro.

[@bjjt-nu9dx]

Some of the altitude, such as Grandfather Mountain, and other higher spots in that region, may have resulted from the plate moving over the Bermuda Hotspot. No idea when that was without research.

[@DouglasJenkins]

I don't remember if I heard it from you, or some other geological YT, but eroded Appalachian sediments are found as far west as Arizona. Those mountains really lost a HUGE amount of material. BTW, I live on the WV part of the plateau, about 3 miles from the Ohio River.

[@troomshroom7682]

I’m currently attending Virginia tech for electrical engineering love your videos

[@JackDogSteve-jr9js]

Thanks! Learned a bit...

[@PaulYeatonFamily]

Such a fascinating area and the interaction between culture and geology makes it even more interesting. Can you talk a bit about Burkes Garden? How did this even happen?

[@TheGeoModels]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZeWqIxrf5qJmck

[@algodmen]

Everything you do here is absolutely fascinating. I live in Indiana and travel often out east to Washington, DC, North Carolina and West Virginia. About half of the time I travel in our small plane a few thousand feet above the ground. I have been back and forth across that landscape literally hundreds of times and feel like I know it like the back of my hand but until now I didn't know why it was exactly as it is. Thank you so much! I do have one question though and that is where did all the material that eroded off of the plateau go? As I understand it from you the surface of the plateau was once deeply underground and only became exposed in the modern era because of erosion of material over it as well as "rebounding" of the underlying bedrock once all that weight was removed. But where did the weight go?

[@GimmeOo-mox]

We have a gold district opening up here in New Brunswick, Canada. There's also tungsten, topaz, jasper and a lot of other decent occurrences. Prospecting and geology's really like a scavenger hunt, it's fun because if you win, you get rich.