AGS Monthly Meeting

Atlanta Geological Society Monthly Meeting.

Speaker: Bill Witherspoon

Topic: Along the Divide – What Shapes Our Mountains?

Abstract: Trivia question — What connects Okefenokee Swamp, the Georgia State Capitol, the trailhead at North Carolina’s Whiteside Mountain, and Terra Incognita Vineyard near Clarkesville?  Answer — the Eastern Continental Divide (ECD).

I created “Along the Divide” for a “talk & walk” this month at Terra Incognita Vineyard. The program traces the ECD from the sandhills of Florida through Atlanta to the peaks of North Carolina. In northeast Georgia, the focus is on the stream capture event that led to Tallulah Gorge and a signature bend in the GA-SC boundary. At Whiteside, the program considers a travel writer’s claim that this is “the world’s oldest mountain” and argues that the opposite is closer to the truth. This leads into the recent excitement over possible Neogene uplift in the Southern Appalachians as well as pushback in a 2022 review article by Virginia Tech researchers.