Delaware Piedmont Geology

Abstract

The Red Clay Creek Valley traverses geologic features that have long been recognized as important to science, industry, and history. The reader will note that within the text “Piedmont,” and “Atlantic Coastal Plain” are capitalized. This is because these are formal geologic provinces. The “Fall Line” or “fall zone” is also an important geologic area. The Fall Line is the contact where the hard crystalline rocks of the Piedmont dip under and disappear beneath the sediments of the Coastal Plain. The fall zone is a narrow zone that parallels the Fall Line where rapids and waterfalls are common. The landscape and rock types shown in northern Delaware are classical examples of the larger geologic features that dominate the geology of eastern North America.