Ordovician stratigraphy, structure, and karst of the Falling Spring Valley, Alleghany County, Virginia, USA
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Abstract
This one-day trip highlights new findings on a preliminary bedrock geologic map that shows results from ongoing geologic mapping in the Falling Spring Valley of Alleghany County, Virginia, USA, which is the southern end of the larger Warm Springs Valley, an elongated anticlinal valley rimmed by Ordovician and Silurian siliciclastic rocks, and which is famous for its thermal springs. This mapping includes stratigraphic, structural, and karst field and lab research focused on the Ordovician strata exposed in the area, the oldest of which is the dolomitic upper part of the Beekmantown Formation (Lower Ordovician, Darriwilian), and the youngest of which is the Juniata Formation (Upper Ordovician, Katian), a sequence of siliciclastic redbeds. Warm Springs Valley is the location of the only known caves in the eastern United States—three at present—with thermal waters flowing in some of their passages. Stops on the trip will highlight key details from mapping efforts, primarily within the structurally deformed Ordovician carbonate sequence that is exposed in the core and limbs of the anticline, as well as the associated karst features that are developed in those carbonate rocks, including results of recent dye traces and water temperature monitoring that have improved our understanding of the karst hydrogeologic systems developed in these strata.
Suggested Citation
Haynes, J.T., Lambert, R.A., Martin, D.C., Orndorff, R.C., and Parker, M., 2025, Ordovician stratigraphy, structure, and karst of the Falling Spring Valley, Alleghany County, Virginia, USA, chap. of From the Ozark Plateaus and Arkansas River Valley to the Shenandoah Valley: Field guides for the 2025 Southeastern and South-Central Section Meetings, v. 72, p. 69-91, https://doi.org/10.1130/2025.0072(05).
Study Area
| Publication type | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Book Chapter |
| Title | Ordovician stratigraphy, structure, and karst of the Falling Spring Valley, Alleghany County, Virginia, USA |
| DOI | 10.1130/2025.0072(05) |
| Volume | 72 |
| Publication Date | March 17, 2025 |
| Year Published | 2025 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Geological Society of America |
| Contributing office(s) | Florence Bascom Geoscience Center |
| Description | 23 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Book |
| Larger Work Subtype | Conference publication |
| Larger Work Title | From the Ozark Plateaus and Arkansas River Valley to the Shenandoah Valley: Field guides for the 2025 Southeastern and South-Central Section Meetings |
| First page | 69 |
| Last page | 91 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Virginia |
| County | Alleghany County |
| Other Geospatial | Falling Spring Valley |