DOCSLIB.ORG

An Investigation of the Origin of Rock City and Cause of Piping Problems at Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Investigation of the Origin of Rock City and Cause of Piping Problems at Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ORIGIN OF ROCK CITY AND CAUSE OF PIPING PROBLEMS AT MOUNTAIN LAKE, GILES COUNTY, VIRGINIA A thesis submitted To Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science by Nidal Walid Atallah December, 2013 Thesis written by Nidal Walid Atallah B.S., Earlham College, 2009 M.S., Kent State University, 2013 Approved by ___________________________________ Abdul Shakoor, Ph.D., Advisor ___________________________________ Daniel Holm, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Psychology ___________________________________ Janis Crowther, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................................ vii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Historical and Cultural Significance of Mountain Lake ........................................................ 4 1.3 Hydrologic and Geomorphic Settings of the Study Area ....................................................... 8 1.4 Geologic Setting of the Study Area ....................................................................................... 9 1.5 Review of Previous Hypotheses on the Origin of Mountain Lake and Rock City .............. 14 1.6 Water-Level Fluctuations at Mountain Lake ....................................................................... 20 1.6.1 Past Episodes of Water-level Drops as Documented by Previous Studies ................... 20 1.6.2 Hypotheses on Mountain Lake’s Water-level Fluctuations .......................................... 25 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 31 2.1 Investigations of Rock City ................................................................................................. 31 2.1.1 Analysis of the Outcrop Scarp Complex ....................................................................... 32 2.1.2 Mapping of Rock City .................................................................................................. 32 2.1.2 Discontinuity Measurements and Stereonet Analysis ................................................... 33 2.2 Investigations of the Piping Potential of Lake-bottom Sediment ........................................ 36 2.2.1 Sample Collection ......................................................................................................... 36 2.2.2 Laboratory Investigations ............................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER 3: ROCK CITY: MAPPING, ORIGIN, AND MODE OF DISPLACEMENT .......... 48 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 48 3.2 Results for the Outcrop Scarp Complex .............................................................................. 48 3.3 Analysis of Discontinuity Orientation Data ......................................................................... 53 3.3.1 Description of the Overall Debris Field ........................................................................ 53 3.3.2 Bedding-Plane Orientations of Rock Blocks in Rock City ........................................... 59 3.3.3 Joint Orientations within Rock Blocks in Rock City .................................................... 63 3.4 Discussion and Interpretations ............................................................................................. 66 ii 3.4.1 Interpretation of the Outcrop Scarp Complex ............................................................... 66 3.4.2 Comparison of Discontinuity Orientations between the Rock Blocks and Scarp Outcrops ................................................................................................................................. 68 3.4.3 The Origins of Rock City and Mountain Lake ............................................................. 71 CHAPTER 4: EVALUATION OF PIPING SUSCEPTIBILITY OF LAKE-BOTTOM SEDIMENT ................................................................................................................................... 76 4.1 Data Presentation ................................................................................................................. 76 4.1.1 Grain Size Distribution and Atterberg Limits ............................................................... 76 4.1.2 Density and Compaction-mold Permeameter Test Data ............................................... 83 4.2 Discussion and Interpretations ............................................................................................. 91 4.2.1 Discussion of Limitations ............................................................................................. 91 4.2.2 The Role of Piping in Lake-level Fluctuations ............................................................. 92 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. 96 5.1 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 96 5.2 Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 97 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 99 APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................................. 104 APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................................. 107 APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................................. 116 APPENDIX D .............................................................................................................................. 125 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Location of the study area ............................................................................................. 5 Figure 1.2: Geologic map of the study area .................................................................................... 5 Figure 1.3: Mountain Lake Lodge with main sandstone structure in the middle ............................. 7 Figure 1.4: Mountain Lake when full in 2005 ................................................................................. 7 Figure 1.5: Location of Mountain Lake within USGS hydrologic units ....................................... 10 Figure 1.6: Topographic Map showing stream flow directions around Mountain Lake ................ 10 Figure 1.7: Block Diagram of Mountain Lake and its vicinity ...................................................... 11 Figure 1.8: SE-NW regional lineation ........................................................................................... 19 Figure 1.9: Seismic refraction line and profile at the northern end of lake .................................... 21 Figure 1.10: Aerial images of Mountain Lake at different water levels ........................................ 22 Figure 1.11: Drastic water level drop in December, 2012 ............................................................. 22 Figure 1.12 The locations of lake-bed depressions ........................................................................ 23 Figure 1.13: Examples of piping holes within the depressions ...................................................... 24 Figure 1.14: Lake-bed bathymetric map ........................................................................................ 28 Figure 1.15: Footage of lake-bottom piping holes during scuba diving missions in June, 2012 ... 28 . Figure 2.1: An example of the two principal joint sets along a rock block in Rock City representing the orientations of its sides. ....................................................................................... 34 Figure 2.2: Soil sample locations. .................................................................................................. 37 Figure 2.3: Hydrometer test apparatus. .......................................................................................... 43 Figure 2.4: Casagrande’s plasticity chart. ...................................................................................... 43 Figure 2.5: Shelby tube sampling. ................................................................................................. 45 Figure 2.6: Apparatus set-up for the compaction-mold permeameter test. .................................... 45 Figure 3.1: Rock City Map ............................................................................................................ 49 Figure 3.2: An oblique 3D view and east-facing photo of Mountain Lake, Pond Drain, and Rock City................................................................................................................................................. 50 Figure 3.3: Examples of scarp outcrops ........................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • MOUNTAIN LAKE ALTERNATE ROUTE Mountain Lake, Called The
    MOUNTAIN LAKE ALTERNATE ROUTE Mountain Lake, called the “Silver Gem of the Alleghanies,” is on top of Salt Pond Mountain. It measures about 2/3 mile long by 1/5 mile wide and has an elevation of 3874 feet, nearly 1000 feet above much of the surrounding ridges and more than 2000 feet above the New River. It is reportedly one of only two natural fresh water lakes in Virginia; the other is Lake Drummond in the Dismal Swamp near Norfolk. There are several explanations for the formation of Mountain Lake. One states that earthquakes caused rockslides at the north end of the valley, damming up the water from an underground stream to form the lake. The lake is shallow on the south side at the hotel beach, but is nearly two hundred feet deep on the north end. Much of the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed at the Mountain Lake Hotel. STARTING POINT: Newport town park baseball field located on SR 42, 1.3 miles east of junction with US 460 DISTANCE: 33.4 miles TERRAIN: Difficult with steep grades MILE DIRECTIONS MILE DIRECTIONS (continued) 0.0 From the town park, go to the left (west) on SR 42. 23.0 Left onto SR 730 0.1 Turn right onto SR 601. 23.7 Right onto SR 682. 0.9 Pass SR 604 on left. 26.1 Left onto SR 605. Watch for dogs! 1.4 Pass SR 702 on right. 32.6 Cross US 460, proceed east on SR 42. 2.5 Pass SR 685 on left. 33.0 Continue to right on SR 42 passing through 5.2 Left onto SR 602.
    [Show full text]
  • BIG STONY CREEK HISTORIC DISTRICT VA‐### Kimballton Vicinity Giles County Virginia
    BIG STONY CREEK HISTORIC DISTRICT VA‐### Kimballton vicinity Giles County Virginia PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA MEASURED DRAWINGS HISTORIC AMERICAN LANDSCAPES SURVEY National Park Service US Department of the Interior National Capital Regional Office 1100 Ohio Drive, SW Washington, DC 20242 HISTORIC AMERICAN LANDSCAPES SURVEY BIG STONY CREEK HISTORIC DISTRICT HALS NO. VA-### Location: The Big Stony Creek Historic District (BSCHD) is located along a one-and-three- quarters-mile stretch of Norcross Road (Route 684) in the vicinity of Kimballton, Giles County, Virginia, approximately one mile northeast of the New River and 3.25 miles northeast of Pearisburg, the county seat of Giles County. Coordinates are: latitude 37.370535, longitude -80.674879 (north corner of district boundary); latitude 37.366247, longitude -80.671977 (east corner of district boundary); latitude 37.351064, longitude -80.691319 (south corner of district boundary); and latitude 37.353837, longitude -80.693814 (west corner of district boundary). The coordinates were obtained on March 7, 2019, by plotting the location on Esri World Imagery aerial photography, dated March 28, 2013. Significance: A 2016 survey noted that the BSCHD “exhibits the physical characteristics of a potential NRHP rural historic district, including a concentration of buildings that are united historically by their geography, date of construction, construction materials, and function.”1 The district comprises resources that share a common period of significance in a community
    [Show full text]
  • Spatiotemporal Variation in the Role of Hummingbirds As Pollinators of Silene Virginica
    Ecology, 82(3), 2001, pp. 844±851 q 2001 by the Ecological Society of America SPATIOTEMPORAL VARIATION IN THE ROLE OF HUMMINGBIRDS AS POLLINATORS OF SILENE VIRGINICA CHARLES B. FENSTER AND MICHELE R. DUDASH Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 USA, and Mountain Lake Biological Station, Route 1, Pembroke, Virginia 24136 USA Abstract. Pollination restricted to a guild of visitors is central to the concept of pol- lination syndromes. However, there is limited quantitative evidence that the pollination of plants exhibiting certain pollination syndromes is actually dominated by the expected guild of pollinators. We determined the importance of the sole hummingbird species in eastern North America, the Ruby-throat, Archilochus colubris, and invertebrate visitors as polli- nators of Silene virginica, which exhibits traits commonly associated with hummingbird pollination. We quanti®ed the role of either type of visitor as pollinators by comparing female reproductive success of plants that were allowed free access by all visitors to female reproductive success of caged plants that were restricted to pollination by invertebrates (small bees and ¯ies, and in one year Bombus spp.). Spatial and temporal variation in the role of either type of pollinator was documented by comparing the female reproductive success of caged and control plants in two nearby sites for ®ve years. In general we found that hummingbirds are the predominant pollinator of S. virginica, but there is considerable spatiotemporal variation in their role. We discuss the importance of understanding the role of hummingbirds as potential selective agents of S. virginica ¯oral traits within the greater community context of other potential pollinators.
    [Show full text]
  • Visit Giles County and Mountain Lake Hotel
    COUNTY July 15, 2011 CONNECTIONS Visit Giles County and Mountain Lake Hotel Mountain Lake is one of only two natural fresh-water lakes in Virginia, and is the highest lake in elevation east of the Mississippi. •Located nearly 4,000 feet above sea level, Mountain Lake sits on a basin that's made up of four different rock substrates and their corresponding fault lines, which allow water to flow out year round at a remarkable rate. •Water has been flowing into this basin for eight to 10,000 years, but didn't start accumulating until about 6,000 years ago when earthquakes caused the rocks at the North end of the lake to slide down from the surrounding mountaintop and create a semi-permeable "dam" at that site. This resulted in the creation of a pond or lake as water accumulated faster than it could leave. •Since the lake is fed entirely by springs and ground water from this basin's fault lines and surrounding mountaintop, and water is always flowing out, the level of the lake corresponds to the amount of rainfall we have each season; a lower lake level means less rain, a higher lake level means more rain. •The earliest known written evidence of Mountain Lake comes from 1751 when Christopher Gist of the Ohio Land Surveying Company became the first European to lay eyes upon it. The lake is fed by cold underground springs that rarely allow the temperature to rise above 70 degrees on the surface and 46 degrees on the bottom. •The first known owner of Mountain Lake was Henley Chapman, an early commonwealth attorney who helped frame the Virginia Constitution in 1829.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of Research Studies at Mountain Lake, Virginia
    Banisteria, Number 22, 2003 © 2003 by the Virginia Natural History Society A Review of Research Studies at Mountain Lake, Virginia Bruce C. Parker Biology Department Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 INTRODUCTION Mountain and several of its spurs, and not as is commonly supposed, on the top of the mountain. Its Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia (37o 27' 56" height above the base of the mountain, is probably from N, 80o 31' 39" W) is the only natural lake of significance 900 to 1000 feet, but it is surrounded by steep and lofty hills on every side, excepting that by which it is in the unglaciated highlands of the southern Appalachians approached, and that through which its water finds a (Fig. 1). This oligotrophic montane lake located at 1181m small outlet, falling in a picturesque cascade of great (3875 ft) elevation near the summit of Salt Pond height, and then flowing rapidly into the creek below. Mountain occupies a relatively small, undisturbed The outlet appears formerly to have been deeper than at watershed which is about five times the surface area of present, and the extent of the lake was therefore much the full lake. All surface outflow of water occurs at the less than it now is. Rocks and earth gradually northwest end into Pond Drain, then Little Stony Creek accumulating at the passage, have dammed the waters and the New River. Although Mountain Lake (or Salt up, and hence the trees and shrubs which grew upon its Pond) has been known since its discovery by the British margin, may now be seen sometimes standing erect at a considerable depth beneath its surface.
    [Show full text]
  • MOUNTAIN LAKE MAIN ROUTE Mountain Lake, Called the “Silver
    MOUNTAIN LAKE MAIN ROUTE Mountain Lake, called the “Silver Gem of the Alleghanies,” is on top of Salt Pond Mountain. It measures about 2/3 mile long by 1/5 mile wide and has an elevation of 3874 feet, nearly 1000 feet above much of the surrounding ridges and more than 2000 feet above the New River. It is reportedly one of only two natural fresh water lakes in Virginia; the other is Lake Drummond in the Dismal Swamp near Norfolk. There are several explanations for the formation of Mountain Lake. One states that earthquakes caused rockslides at the north end of the valley, damming up the water from an underground stream to form the lake. The lake is shallow on the south side at the hotel beach, but is nearly two hundred feet deep on the north end. Much of the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed at the Mountain Lake Hotel. STARTING POINT: Newport town park baseball field located on SR 42, 1.3 miles east of junction with US 460 DISTANCE: 33.2 miles TERRAIN: Difficult with steep grades MILE DIRECTIONS MILE DIRECTIONS (continued) 0.0 From the town park, go to the left (west) on SR 42. 22.8 Left onto SR 730. 0.1 Turn right onto SR 601. 23.5 Right onto SR 682. 0.9 Pass SR 604 on left. 25.9 Left onto SR 605. Watch for dogs! 1.4 Pass SR 702 on right. 32.4 Cross US 460, proceed east on SR 42. 2.5 Pass SR 685 on left. 32.8 Continue to right on SR 42 passing through 5.2 Left onto SR 602.
    [Show full text]
  • An Examination of the First Sediment Cores from Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia, for Diatoms and Pollen Jon C
    Virginia Journal of Science Volume 52, Number 4 Winter 2001 An Examination of the First Sediment Cores from Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia, for Diatoms and Pollen Jon C. Cawley, Biology Department, Roanoke College, Salem, VA 24153, Bruce C. Parker, Department of Biology, · Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, U.S.A. and Terry L. Hufford, Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Mountain Lake, Virginia is a small, unique, oligotrophic, subalpine ecosys­ tem in the southern Appalachians. Its geology, origin, climate, and history have influenced its morphometry, and therefore its sedimentology and algal flora. Radiocarbon dates establish specific Mountain Lake sediment ages at 1800, 4100, and 6100 years BP. Sediment core analysis suggests at least 6 prolonged periods when Mountain Lake probably was nearly dry or very small in size. These individual low-water periods (at approximately 100, 400, 900, 1200, 1800 and 4100 years BP) are evidenced by changes in diatom and pollen content, sedimentary erosion features, and the presence of wood fragments, plant fibers, and abundant Sphagnum and fem spores. The ratio of plank­ tonic-to-benthic diatom taxa was used to estimate approximate past water depths from sediment. One or more of these low-water intervals may corre­ spond to a drier climate coincident with solar activity minima. Resolution of prolonged low water intervals probably has been enhanced by the continuous loss of water through the crevice or fault at the lake bottom. The sediment core record suggests also that some eutrophication has occurred during the 20th century, in parallel with anthropogenic impacts (i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Visitor Guides
    gilescounty.org 3 4 GILES COUNTY 2017-2018 gilescounty.org 5 6 GILES COUNTY 2017-2018 8 Social Media Contents 9 Welcome 10 River Trail 12 River Itineraries 16 New River Water Trail Map 18 Weddings 20 Things to do 24 Hiking 26 Biking 10 RiverTrail Map Published for the Giles County Tourism Committee by Country Media, Inc. Design by: Country Media, Inc. 28 Lodging Phillip Vaught Photos by: 30 Camping Alisa H. Moody - Wild Country Studios 32 Dining David Martin - Night Watchman Photography Billy Bowling 34 Shopping Kristie Lea Photography Nathan Cooke Photography Things to do Laura’s Focus Photography 36 The Arts 20 Virginia Tourism Corporation Writing by: Cora Gnegy Joanne Anderson 38 History Main Cover Image by: Billy Bowling 40 Business © 2017 Country Media, Inc.Country Media, Inc. will not knowingly publish any advertisement that is illegal or mis- 42 Education leading to its readers. Neither the advertiser nor Country Media, Inc. will be responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints, or typographical errors. The publisher assumes no financial liability for copy omissions by Country Media, 44 Community Inc. other than the cost of the space occupied by the error. Paid advertising does not represent an endorsement by this publication. Content cannot be reproduced without written 46 Events consent from Country Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Real Estate advertised in this publication is subject to the Federal Local Events Fair Housing Act of 1968. 40 gilescounty.org 7 Social Media Welcome to Giles County Welcome to Giles County in Virginia’s New River Valley! Giles is a great place to live, work, and do business.
    [Show full text]