Georgia Map Notes

1. Georgia Map Notes SS8G1: Student can identify important geographical areas in Georgia and explain their significance.

4. Brasstown Bald • Brasstown Bald is Georgia's highest elevation, rising 4784 feet above sea level. It is located in northeast Georgia partially in Towns County and partially in Union County and is part of the Blue Ridge Mountain chain of the Appalachian Mountain range. There is a Visitor Information Center atop Brasstown Bald - it can be reached by a steep hike along a one-half mile trail, or by a shuttle bus (fee based). The Visitor Information Center is open daily from Memorial Day through October and on weekends in the early spring and late fall, depending on the weather. Four states - Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina - are visible from Brasstown Bald.

5. Blue Ridge Mountains • A mass of rugged mountains and ridges ranging in elevation from 3500-4700 feet in the north and east to 3000-3500 feet in the southwest is the dominant topographic feature of the Blue Ridge Mountains District. • Differing rates of erosion upon the Great Smoky Group by the headwater tributary streams, that eventually drain to either the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, have produced valleys that are 1500-2000 feet below the adjacent summits. • The southern boundary of the Blue Ridge meets the Piedmont Province at approximately the 1700 foot elevation where a sharp change in regional slope occurs.

6. Blue Ridge Mountains • History • Area was mostly inhabited by Cherokee Indians as early as the 1400’s • Cherokees developed an agricultural society, raising crops of corn, beans, and melon. They also hunted deer and bear and used many native plants for medicinal purposes. • After gold was discovered in Lumpkin and White counties in the late 1820’s, the gold rush of the 1830’s (along with the general migration of land-hungry settlers) forced the Cherokees to migrate to Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears (1838-1839). • There was a sharp division during the Civil War as many Blue Ridge communities (removed from the market economy of GA’s plantation system) did not agree with GA’s decision to secede. Intense guerilla warfare occurred as a result of those divisions • After the Civil War, the copper industry developed along the Tennessee-Georgia border, devastating the forests, whose timber was used to fuel copper smelters. Further damage was done by the lumber industry.

7. Valley and Ridge • The Great Valley District is typically broad and open with a few scattered ridges and hills. • Elevations throughout the area range from 700-800 feet above sea level with relief of 50 to 100 feet. • The floor of the valley is underlain by shales, dolomites and limestones of Cambrian and Ordovician age. • The eastern boundary of the Great Valley follows the escarpment of the Great Smoky-Cartersville Fault • . The ridge tops are approximately 1000 feet in elevation and stand 200-300 feet above the intervening valleys. Rectangular drainage patterns in this district are indicative of structural control.

8. Appalachian Plateau • The Lookout Mountain District is composed of two nearly flat-topped mountains, Lookout-Pigeon and Sand Mountains, separated by Lookout Valley. • The mountains are capped by Rockcastle Sandstone of Pennsylvanian age, and the valley is underlain by Chickamauga Limestone of Ordovician age. • The upland slopes gently to the southwest from a maximum elevation of 2200 feet near Durham to an elevation of 2000 feet near the Alabama-Georgia border. The northwestern margin of Lookout Mountain and the southeastern margin of Sand Mountain are marked by a continuous escarpment that drops abruptly 1000-1200 feet to Lookout Valley. Elevations in Lookout Valley vary from 800-1000 feet. • The escarpment on the southeastern side of Lookout-Pigeon Mountain, the district and province boundary, drops abruptly 800-1000 feet to the Chickamauga Valley District. These escarpments are breached by numerous small streams which have their source on top of the upland and reach the valleys through deep notches in the cliffs. *escarpment: a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge; usually formed by erosion

9. Piedmont • The Piedmont is characterized by a gentle surface which descends gradually from about the 700 foot elevation at its northern margin to about the 500 foot elevation at its southern edge. • Streams occupy broad, shallow valleys with long, gentle side slopes separated by broad, rounded divides. • The western boundary corresponds to the drainage divide between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The southern boundary, known as the Fall Line, follows the contact between the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont and the sediments of the Coastal Plain.

10. Piedmont • History and development • Native American • Because of the narrow rivers and restricted floodplains, large villages were not common through the northern Piedmont • European Settlement • Later European settlers recognized the differences in the fertility and richness of the soil and attempted to create homesteads in the best places based on this (location, location, location!!) • In the lower portions of the Piedmont, soils were a little richer and the topography less rugged, allowing for cotton plantations and dairy farming • In the northern areas of the Piedmont, where soils are poorer (think red clay) and the topography was steep and rough, small subsistence farming was done. Later, poultry and hog production become important agricultural activities

11. Coastal Plains • Most of GA’s farmland is located on the inner coastal plain. • Thousands of years ago, the Atlantic Ocean covered the Coastal Plains. As the water receded and exposed more land, the barrier islands became low ridges. Broad belts of tidal marshes are still evident. • The barrier islands are very important, as they shield the coastal zone from the storms and waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

12. Coastal Plain • History • Native Americans in this region were promoters of fire and used it to shape their environment for hunting. • In the late 1800’s, vast tracts of mature pine forest were laid bare because of the economic value of longleaf-pine saw timber. • Forestry remains a major industry in this region, though loblolly and slash pine plantations have replaced the longleaf forests

13. Coastal Plain • Topography: • Generally low, flat, and swampy where it borders the Atlantic and grades to low, rolling hills at the inner margin • Land cover is mostly slash and loblolly pine with oak-gum-cypress forest in some low-lying areas and pasture for beef cattle • What kind of ecosystems would this land area attract? • How does the topography of this region help or impede the economic development? Although longleaf pines covered more than 4 million acres in Georgia early in the twentieth century, by 1997 the acreage in the state was estimated to be 376,400.

14. Coastal Plain: Current Ecosystem Concerns • Ecosystem of longleaf pine and wiregrass once harbored the most species-rich communities in North America • This forest type has almost disappeared due to region-wide conversion to agriculture, urbanization, and fire suppression. These woodlands and wetland communities are dependent on frequent fire to maintain their biological richness and ecosystem health. Because of the rarity of the overall ecosystem today, many of these resident plant and animal species are endangered or threatened.

15. Coastal Plain: Current Issues • As sea levels rise (which some attribute to global warming), the erosion of barrier island beaches is expected to increase. • Expensive renourishment projects are currently needed to maintain the recreational beaches on Sea Island and Tybee Island. • Approximately 55% of the nineteen miles of beach shoreline on Jekyll, Sea, St. Simons and Tybee Islands have been reinforced with either concrete sea walls or revetments of granite boulders in an effort to control natural erosion, destroying the aesthetic quality (beauty) of the beach and leaving little beach area available during high tide.

16. Fall Line • The Fall Line is the northern boundary the between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain. • Geologically, it is the contact between the Cretaceous and younger sediments of the Coastal Plain and the older, crystalline rocks of the Piedmont. • Several stream characteristics change as they flow south through this area: rapids and shoals are common, floodplains are considerably wider on the younger sediments, and the frequency of streams increases. • The zone around the Fall Line has the world’s largest deposit of kaolin, a clay used for many products (red clay).

17. Okefenokee Swamp • The Great Okefenokee Swamp, one of America’s most fascinating natural areas, is the largest Swamp in North America. • "Okefenokee" what Seminoles called "Land of Trembling Earth" is approximately 700 square miles located in the southeast corner of Georgia, U.S.A. • The Okefenokee is crisscrossed by over 120 miles of canoe trails. It is a major paddlers' destination, with a controlled number of overnight wilderness permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

18. Chattahoochee River • Geography • Rising in northeastern Georgia, it flows southwest to the Alabama border and then south, forming a section of the Alabama-Georgia and Georgia-Florida boundaries, to join the Flint River at Chattahoochee, Fla., after a course of about 436 mi (702 km). Dammed at the Georgia-Florida border, it forms Lake Seminole, below which the river is known as the Apalachicola River. • History • Humans have lived along the banks of the Chattahoochee for many years—dating back to the Kolomoki complex (1000 B.C.) near present-day Blakely • At least 16 significant settlements dotted the Chattahoochee’s banks south of the fall line during the Mississippian Period (A.D. 800-1600) • As the civilizations died out from exposure to European diseases, native survivors moved into the river valley below present-day Atlanta and became known as one people—the Creeks (the Cherokee Indians lived near the headwaters of the river, near the NC/GA line). • The Creeks respected the river as a food source and transportation artery. • The Creeks ceded their lands to white settlers south of Ft. Gaines in 1814, and east of the Chattahoochee by 1825.

19. Chattahoochee River • River traffic and trade • First steamboat ran in 1828 with other boats quickly following, making Colombus a thriving cotton-marketing center with unimpeded river travel to the south and intermittant travel possible up through present-day Gwinnett County • By the late 1830’s, towns located at the Fall Line along the Chattahoochee also used the river as an industrial power source for textile mills and grist mills • Played an integral role in the Civil War • Present day—the river is now more valued for its drinking water and recreation activities, and less as a transportation artery • Georgia, Alabama, and Florida are currently in a legal battle over the unrestricted right to use the river

20. Savannah River • The Savannah River, which originates in Hart County at the confluence of the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers, flows for 313 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. The river has played in important role in the state's human history and forms the basis for one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world.

21. Savannah River • History • Paleoindians first appeared along the Savannah River near the end of the Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. Clovis points, used for hunting, have been found along the banks of the river. • First known European explorer to reach the Savannah was Hernando de Soto in 1540 • First European commerce on the river was started by the French in the late 16th century, who traded with the Indians for sassafrass • Early 1700’s: growing tensions between the British in SC and the Spanish in FL prompted the British to establish another colony on the river in an attempt to buttress (protect or reinforce) the Carolina settlement • City of Savannah: established in 1733 by James Edward Olgethorpe • This settlement discovered that the marshlands around Savannah were ideal for cultivating rice, allowing for a rapid prosperity • Strategic importance during the Revolutionary War; Americans took the forts that had been streghthened to protect against Indian attacks and reinforced them to battle the British • Civil War: Union blockaded the river early in the Civil War (1861-1865), strangling the port of Savannah (what kind of economic impact would this have had?) • Economic Impact • A channel to accommodate ships was opened in 1917, allowing Savannah to become a major port (sugar industry, timber, cotton, rice) • 1945: Georgia Ports Authority formed; over the years the river has been dredged several times making it deeper to allow for larger oceangoing vessels