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Atlantic Coast Fall Line

Started by roadman65, August 02, 2022, 09:21:36 AM

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roadman65

As many of us are aware that between the East Coast's Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Plateau is a big Escarpment known formally as the Fall Line where the topography changes on one side from the other.  Most of it is visible in Augusta, GA and is very well noticed on I-520 and even in Macon, GA it is visible.   I also believe that in Northern, VA it's the reason why the land rises higher on the West Bank of the Potomac River than across the river on the Maryland side.

From what I gather US 1 follows it from Augusta, GA to Edison, NJ only deviating between Lorton, VA and Bel Air, MD hence the Great Falls upstream from Washington.  The Falls itself are formed by the escarpment as the land around it drops in elevation drastically.  In fact I am guessing that the Conwingo Dam in MD along the Susquehanna River is made possible via this geographic line.  In addition it's why the Delaware River flattens out south of Trenton, NJ as north of Trenton it's shallow and is flowing downward from the Catskills. South of Trenton the river is at Tidewater with deep bottoms to allow for shipping.


My question to anyone who knows topography is in NJ near where I used to live, on EB Inman Avenue in Edison, there was always a glimpse of the Verrazano Bridge tower over the hills on Staten Island just beyond Wood Avenue at the Woodbridge Line.  Is that on this Fall Line?
https://goo.gl/maps/ZhGTLzHm4zSBbjia6
Here is the location on GSV.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe


triplemultiplex

Not from New Jersey, nor have I been there, but for that part of the state any local prominence is going to be related to the end moraine from the last glaciation.  Once one is out of the bedrock hills of northern New Jersey, say south of I-78, you're sitting on the same end moraine that forms Staten and Long Islands.  As long as you're still north of the Raritan River, that is.

Away from the streams that cross it, to be on a "fall line" is not a precise place since the very nature of a fall line is to connect the dots of major rapids/falls on parallel rivers.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

elsmere241

I know it twists and turns a little bit through Newark, DE.

Road Hog

I am a product of God's Time (Central), but I understand through what I was taught in school and further research that numerous cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore were established in the 1700s at the fall line because that was as far as riparian navigation would allow. As well as future capitals Richmond, Raleigh and Columbia.

NJRoadfan

Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2022, 01:11:57 PM
Not from New Jersey, nor have I been there, but for that part of the state any local prominence is going to be related to the end moraine from the last glaciation.  Once one is out of the bedrock hills of northern New Jersey, say south of I-78, you're sitting on the same end moraine that forms Staten and Long Islands.  As long as you're still north of the Raritan River, that is.

I've been told the terminal moraine ("where the Piedmont ends") is roughly in the Fords section of Woodbridge Twp. The NJ Turnpike between Exits 10 and 11 cuts through it. Needless to say, once you get south of the Watchungs, things flatten out considerably terrain-wise in central NJ.

Quote from: Road Hog on August 05, 2022, 02:29:04 AM
I am a product of God's Time (Central), but I understand through what I was taught in school and further research that numerous cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore were established in the 1700s at the fall line because that was as far as riparian navigation would allow. As well as future capitals Richmond, Raleigh and Columbia.

Trenton NJ and Richmond VA are where they are because of the fall line. The Delaware and James River's fall lines are next to the cities. One city is even named for it, Roanoke Rapids, NC. It's also why I-95 and US-1 roughly follow the "fall line" since they connect all the major east coast cities.

Raleigh is notable for NOT being developed because of its proximity of the fall line (The Neuse River wasn't a major commerce corridor). It was a master planned capital city from the start, it's location chosen because it was roughly in the center of the state.

triplemultiplex

There two things at work with the East Coast Fall Line.  One is navigability which creates a place like Richmond or Baltimore.  The other is turning the falls/rapids into a dam where falling water can physically run a mill; super important in the early industrial revolution.  So even a river that's too small to float stuff in and out becomes useful if it can turn a grist mill or spin a saw blade.  And this is where most of the rest of the fall line cities trace their heritage.

That second use case is what created our own fall line of cities here in Wisconsin that started as good spots to saw logs into lumber.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

roadman65

Well it seems like all the places in NJ where the river stops being navigable are some small hills.  Like New Brunswick is where the shallow water begins and was the historical east end of the D& R Canal.  Even in MD and VA the Historical C& O canal ended where the Potomac Falls are.

Then the Susquehanna River is not at all navigable for boats due to its mouth being right near that line.  Ditto for the Schuylkill River only having the part in South Philly as north of I-76, the river is not that deep and you get hills on the west bank.

Makes sense as to connect the dots from Philly to Trenton and then New Brunswick to Paterson ( as the Passaic Falls is there).  However the Hudson river has no falls and is navigable up to Albany, so I can assume the US 9W corridor is the Fall Line leading north out of NJ as well as the cliffs along the Palisades Parkway dropping down to the Hudson.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

bluecountry

Where exactly does the fall line end in NJ, is there a clear demarcation?  Or does it continue to LI and NE as the border between the hills and coast?



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