How did an ancient geologic fault line form this 120 mile long valley? 

I live in the Sequatchie Valley about 5 miles from the TN, Al line on the TN side I find quite a few fossils but mostly an ancient type of tree called the Lepidodendron also known as the scale tree which is estimated to have grown around 358.9 to 298.9 million years ago it's a beautiful fossil that looks exactly like the skin of a snake. Thank you for this video I have lived here all my life roamed through the mountains where in some places you can see the evidence of where the mountains have been pushed up especially when you run across patches of soft shell. I also know that in several areas in mountains where people live they have problems with water wells getting taken out because the ground underneath is still moving causing peoples wells to slide and collapse.

as someone with little to no geological knowledge, this channel is very very interesting, and it really helps that im from the area and can go explore all the stuff youre actually talking about.

I live along the gulf coast and have always understood the nice white sand comes from the erosion of the Appalachians. Hearing about these features being eroded down from a possible 8000ft-ish mountain really helps put that into perspective. Absolutely fascinating stuff, keep it coming 😊

One of the best channels on RU-vid (in my opinion ). Thank you brother from northern Indiana.

I live in Cookeville TN just NW of this feature and have travelled through and across it many times. I’ve often wondered how it formed - now I know. Thanks!

It’s really something else to watch you draw up such a vivid representation of what you’re explaining

I knew the answer before I watched, I spend a lot of time up on Lookout Mountain, which is a syncline and used to be a valley floor between the ridge that is now Sequatchie Valley and another to the east. It also has several thrust faults along the eastern side, which is why you find a number of caves there that have developed/eroded out of the fault.

At the Northeast head of the Sequatchie valley is a large spring named Head of the Sequatchie. That is where the water reappears from the very large sinkhole just north of there called Grassy Cove. The entire cove is one large sinkhole. The water goes underground in Grassy Cove and flows along the fault under Brady Mountain. Just North of Grassy Cove but South of Crab Orchard is Bat Town Cove. It looks to be a newer version of Grassy Cove and may one day be a large sinkhole valley. Water also goes underground in Bat Town Cove, flows along the fault, and comes out at the Head of the Sequatchie.

I love driven thru this valley many times on I-24 and I-40 on the north end. Always wondered about this feature. Thank You for the video.

Man I'd love to see you talk about my home city Sudbury, it's an impact crater with multiple faults and is a super interesting area geologically. Another great video!

I am a Native Chattanoogan who has been living in the Sequatchie Valley for more than 15 yrs now. I've always wondered how the valley got its significant straight line. It is very beautiful here, I love living in the area. I am north of Pikeville in the Cold Springs area, and the closer you get to the north end of the Valley, the more beautiful it gets, in my opinion. Also, I have what I call coal granules in my front yard.

thank you for all these amazing videos. great diagrams. well spoken and too the point

I used to go camping a lot near Cumberland MD, and there are a couple of features around there which may make an interesting video. The first is Sideling hill and specifically where I 68 cuts right through the hill. The cut for the highway exposes this very neat U shaped layering that makes up the hill. Unintuitively the mouth of the U is aligned towards the peak of the hill instead of the base as one might expect. The second feature which is just outside of Cumberland itself, is the Cumberland Narrows. The Narrows are a saddle cut right through a ridge westish of Cumberland and it's what the modern Wills creek flows through as it makes it way to the North Branch of the Potomac. Love the videos!

Massively enjoy these videos and learning about what’s going on under ground! Fantastic models too!

That's got to be the best geologic time diagram I've ever seen

The drive down (or up ) this valley is great. We have done it a few times and always enjoy it. Thanks for explaining how it formed.

Oh man, I thought we were going to touch on the Tennessee Valley Gorge formation.... Maybe next time.....

I've always wondered about this, so thank you for explaining it. I've lived in the plateau ridge in my entire life, and it's amazing how you can find Carboniferous fossils near the top, such as fern impressions in slate, or petrified segments of giant tree ferns and what seem to be ginkos, and near the bottom there are lots of different types of clam shells and cone shells in the limestone.

I've spent my whole life passing through the valley, this is very cool to learn.

Interesting information. I’m a 1983 Geology graduate from Georgia State University. This brings back memories from those days.

A different kind of formation but similar processes is the Nashville bowl. A cracked open anticline worn down to soft Ordovician limestone.

Phenomenal diagrams here, brother. Immediately subscribing. The transparency w which you’re able to explain the motion and process creating the landforms really reminds me of Prof. Nick Zentner up in Washington. The man who explained inverted topography to me!

I was thinking of the Sequatchie Valley after watching your previous video of the process of eroding the anticline in the Virginia ridge and valley province. When I was first told about the Sequatchie Valley I could not get my mind around how a long hump can essentially be eroded into a trough. One explanation I found was that the peak of the fold often has faulting blocks, like keystones in an arch, that provide a pathway for water to trickle into the underlying limestone and hollow out the base into which some of the sandstone cap falls, then the process continues widening the gaps between the blocks and breaking down the blocks. But that would imply some detrital blocks of sandstone might be left behind in the base of the valley, but I'm not sure that is the case. I would really enjoy if you explore the great mystery of the Tennessee River at the end of the Sequatchie Valley and why it suddenly departs it's SW course shoots westward before taking yet another odd turn to the north. Did the Tennessee River at one time spill out into a shallow see at the base of the Sequatchie Valley where it contributed great amounts of sediment into the Black Belt?

Awesome! As a chattanooga native I always wondered about this geology. Thanks for sharing

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have seen that valley on the map and wondered what the feature was, and here you explained it.

This has RAPIDLY become my favorite channel on YT. I don't know hardly anything about Geology, so this is endlessly fascinating to me. Thanks for all the great content, I've pretty much binged it all at this point 🤣 Is there anything noteworthy going on in Ohio you'd discuss, or is it all just "Glaciers happened"? Because that seems to be the only significant shaping force in our modern geology and geography to my (limited) knowledge.

All of your vids are super fascinating. We take long interstate journeys through so many of these places.

Sequatchie Valley is a favorite. Gorgeous area. Thanks for the interesting info.

I have flown over this area in a private plane. It’s an interesting thing to see. There are houses on the plateau and sheer cliffs to the valley below.

Great presentation! This is a wonderful valley to drive through going to or from Chattanooga!

Really enjoyed this. I'm in the Lyerly Georgia area just SE of Sequatchie Valley and in the 70's, 80's and 90's did a ton of caving in and around this area. Sad it took this long to get a greater appreciation of the forces of nature at work but thanks for covering this topic and area.

Thanks for the Squach valley explaination, been in some of the caves in valley floor, allways wondered?

Appalachians have always fascinated me because you can see what was the inside of huge mountains on the surface today. Do a few more then maybe the new madrid fault structure.

Very cool! I live about fifteen miles east of this feature at its southern extent (where it crosses near Guntersville AL). I knew that there is extensive faulting in the valley and ridge system but we only get very minor earthquakes (once every few years, something that might crack the plaster by a door jamb).

I love your videos man. It’s definitely cool to see how the area I live in has changed through time. I live right where Ohio, WV, and Kentucky come together and there are so many sedimentary layers you can see in the hills where they went through with the roads.

Great videos thank you so much

Great vids! Super interesting and will definitely stick around for more!

I enjoyed your explanation of how the Sequatchie Valley was formed. I've driven around the Crab Orchard area both on I-40 and Hwy. 70 down through the Rockwood and Harimon area. Took some Geology classes at Austin Peay back in the 1990's and you helped put some things in perspective! Thanks 👍

I grew up on savage Mt, frostburg md. Worked all throughout westvirginia, one of the best drives I've ever took was through dolly sods, seneca rocks, down into princeton and into mullens wv. You get to see a good bit of the collision of these ancient landmasses in a 6 hour drive. But I came here to say, I love these videos man, the paint diagrams are awesome. Always good to see college level education in a flat bill hat. Lol

Thank you for this! We travel through this valley frequently and I’ve always found the cliffs on the sides so interesting. I wondered about how the valley was formed. It is such a beautiful area.

Thank you for another great video from my neck of the woods. You are an exceptional teacher and i really appreciate the effort. I would also be interested in the TN river gorge formation and how it came to cut through the plateau southwest of Chattanooga and runs west rather than SW though Alabama as you mentioned in a previous video.

Wow, I was actually just driving thru Sequatchie county 5 days ago looking at the top edge of the valley wondering what created that massive land feature.

Awesome..the valley is the ancestral home of my family..from what I've learned they were some of the first few permanent settlers...literally right on what is now the Marion-Sequatchie County line.

I've enjoyed driving up the east road from I-24 near Jasper, TN going NE. The west road is the better road, but the east road has more character. I grew up near Guntersville, AL, but never heard the valley called Sequatchie valley until moving to Chatanooga.

Excellent, simple graphic explanation!

Spent a lot of time in Coppinger (Sequatchie) cove. Among my faves on earth.

Great presentation! Thank you….

The TN River gorge is an interesting feature. I boat on Nickajack and love to slow cruise from Hales Bar up to the Chattanooga waterfront.

Just drove through there (3 times) last weekend! Will look closer next time I'm on state road 111. Thanks.

Walden's ridge representing! We are the eastern plateua surrounding the valley.

Bravo! You're revealing the secrets of earth and time! What a perfect combo of content and visuals!

Very interesting. The concept that the fault is undetectably present, to the visible eye, reminds me of a paper on the Rocky Mountain Trench called "The Rocky Mountain Trench: A Problem" where they demonstrate quite conclusively that the Rocky Mountain Trench is not well understood and has been misrepresented (and still is to this day). It has been generally labeled as fault-related but this paper really makes clear that this is not adequately able to explain the observations in its case. I'm curious how conclusive the evidence of this fault really is. The concept that it is just there ready to be eroded later into this extremely straight path reminds me very much of conclusions I've heard about the Great Lakes. Something to do with a hard layer of rock underneath Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and Michigan, that was all ready and prepared to receive the glacial waters of the Ice Age millions of years later. It is extremely unlikely for a location to be available and ready for such and not become lakes until the Holocene, particularly when there are clear signs of ancient waters at the lakes, but this seems just overlooked in theories because "it is what the evidence shows" (or what is interpreted that it shows, too). I would suggest that this feature likely has significant nuances of its nature underappreciated in a like manner to the Rocky Mountain Trench.

Quite a few years ago I rode my motorcycle up through this and it is quite weird, beautiful, breathtaking and scary all at the same time.

The folding of the strata is like the ridge that develops in a rug when you push on one end…the upward folding weakens the top strata and they form axial linear cracks that allow erosion to accelerate…in the SV case the erosion is accelerated by the soluble softer limestone under the Pennsylvanian sandstones…Grassy Cove at the head of the SV shows how this happens and is continuing …of course anticlinal structures tend to form valleys with erosion and synclinal structures tend to be left as mountains like Lookout Mountain…I was born and raised in this area…still live here…very fortunate…good presentation…thanks!

Great video, Phil! The first geologic map I made in undergrad was down in Dunlap, TN, within the Sequatchie Valley. I like to think of it as the structural front, or the last significant strain from Alleghanian shortening (although there is some slight deformation of the plateau to the west, it is basically flat lying). Interestingly enough, there is some local drag folding in the footwall that is exposed at the Browns Gap quarry. It's nothing like the strain of the hanging wall and the rest of the Valley and Ridge, but it's there, at least locally.

Have you ever looked at the caves in that area? Indian Grave is one of the largest cave system to look at. The fault lines affect groundwater and the sulfur deposits tend to cause the rock to erode quicker than the narrative! Have you figured out why East TN and SW VA is a hot spot for black limestone? I heard someone call it basalt, as they had never seen black limestone before.

You are a darn good MS Paint artist!

Thank you for explaining this area. The northern part of the valley is actually sculpted by the relatively small Sequatchie River. The Tennessee River only joins it in Chattanooga. I assume it has always been this way, but you may know different. One thing you forgot to mention is just how beautiful the valley is.

I live there, and all this is new information to me! Thanks for sharing it.

For many years I drove my tractor trailer into and through Chattanooga on the I75 north-south corridor. The geology is unmissable and stunning in either direction. It was a highlight of every trip.

Great Video! I'd love to see a video on why the Tennessee River cuts through Walden Ridge/Sand Mountain instead of flowing down the valley between Sand & Lookout. Seems like it would have been more difficult to breach the sandstone vs eroding the valley to a low enough elevation.

I love the Sequatchie valley!! I live in Chatt, and I love driving to one of the Sequatchie valley overlooks. I watched the eclipse at one of them! Great fossils to be found there

I live near here and drive through the length of the valley several times a month. Great video. Extra points for mentioning the coal! Grassy Cove is a fascinating feature on the north end of the valley that you eluded to. Lot of caves in the region here too.

Fascinating look at the long term evolution of old mountain ranges like the Appalachia. There is certainly a lot going on there and you even have former sections of the larger Central Pangaean mountain range now disconnected after the break up of Pangaea like the ancient Caledonian and Atlas mountains to consider in terms of the larger geological picture. One area it might be interesting to see for contrast at some part of your coverage of the old Appalachian mountains is Eastern North America's only young mountain range the still forming Adirondack mountains which have only began to form in the last 10ish million years with a sustained rate of uplift exceeding the rate of erosion meaning they have not yet reached the equilibrium height between erosion and uplift seen in more mature tectonically active mountain ranges. The fact that they are situated among ancient mountains with the current uplift exposing old basement rock of the ancient Superior craton just adds to the weird contrast at play. Though that I should warn involves a deep dive into some unsolved mysteries about the origin of this active uplift dome namely why is there anomalously buoyant mantle here in the middle of a former craton? There is some crazy stuff going on there for sure.

This channel is amazing. I just found you and this stuff is blowing my mind. I have heard before that earth quakes in this area of the US are a big danger as they can cause liquefaction of the soil. Maybe you need to be more in the Mississippi valley for this to happen. I think that would be an interesting video. As a Canadian in South Western Ontario, I would also love to hear more about the Great Lakes. I think they are really interesting. Specifically, I think the Niagara Escarpment is really interesting and would also make a fascinating video. Another cool spot is just east of Montreal. There are a series of lone mountains in a chain. I believe they are uneroded cores of volcanoes. They look really weird on a map. Interested in how it interacts with the geology of the Appalachians. Thanks again dude. This is a really cool channel.

Best geology vids I have seen yet. Thanks man!!!

Did the fault line of the sequatchie valley ever connect to the pine mountain or cumberland ridge fault? It looks like on a map it could almost be one continuous fault that connected to pine mountain or cumberlands if the crab orchard mountains weren't Protruding Into them

Thumbs up before watching the vid - as knowing that to watch the video ~might~ cause one to forget the thumbs up thereafter !!!

Wish this technology had existed 40 years ago when I was an undergrad geology student. Makes perfect sense seeing it in animation vs. trying to. understand it from diagrams in a structural geology textbook. Thanks for the video.

Another story for the campfires 🔥, great work. Easy to understand too

"I went to Sequatchie Valley, butt all I saw was a big crack." Seriously: Kudos to creator for superior use of MSPaint. I'll check the channel for discussion of the fall "line." If not covered yet, then I suggest considering it for a future video.

Where do you think the eroded rocks went? The valley drains south today but then joins the TN River north to the OH River, then MS River past LA. Did the valley's stone help fill in the Mississippi Embayment? Did it instead head south to the floor of the Gulf of MX off the FL Panhandle?

I’ve been through the Sequatchie Valley a few times and doing a little research, the valley is about 320 million years old and formed from the Carboniferous Period and part of the Pennsylvanian Epoch since there is bituminous coal that forms there.

I have been enjoying all the videos you have been posting. It makes me wish I studied geology in college. Thanks for creating and sharing.

Great explanation of some of the most interesting geology in my local area. But, I've always wondered about the processes that allowed the Tennessee River to cut through the eastern flank (Walden Ridge) of the valley.

Can you do the Tennessee Valley? I'd like to know about why the river cuts through the plateau at Chattanooga and why does it continue north to the Ohio. It seems like it should continue to the gulf down the rift. I understand elevation change. But why? Your stuff is awesome!

Can you consider doing video on the geology of Columbia SC. Including the geology of the cross section of the plane that includes Williams Brice Stadium towards one side and the capitol on the other? Appreciate your stuff regardless

I've been wondering about that since the 80s. THANKS!

Can you please make a video about the off shore oil and gas around India. Its super interesting that a lanmass with so many rivers especially the ganges doesnt have a hude oil and has deposit off shore. Really love your vids!!

It is a beautiful valley with a nice overlook on the highway above it.

That's a cool video explaining the valley and its origins.

My son recently bought a beautiful piece of land in a loop of the Sequatchie River. I love my home in East Texas but if I was younger I’d like to live there. The clear,slow moving water and the relative isolation from other residents makes you feel like you’re in a remote paradise. The reality is,though you’re only four miles from China “Wal Mart in Dunlap” so it’s an easy place to live. The older people in the area benefit from the 111 highway but lament the loss of privacy.

I really enjoyed that. thank you.

At one point, do you think the Appalachian Mountains held the tallest mountain from sea level? I'm more curious about that record of the tallest mountains before Everest and then in the future, are we able to model what the next highest peak is going to be in the next 10+ million years? I'm on my yearly binge of mountaineering, geography and geology.

I don't know exactly why, but Sequatchie Valley is one of the best places in east Tennessee to see Swallow-tailed Kites (usually more southern) and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (usually more western) - this valley is attractive to them for some reason.

Would love to see a video explaining the forces that created the TN river gorge.

Hey man, I love your videos... I have 1 suggestion for you though. You should put your face in the thumbnail of the video.... even if its just a screenshot of your webcam in the corner of the thumb nail. I never know which videos are yours and sometimes scroll right past them. Its a combination of your channel profile picture being somewhat ambiguous and not having your face in the thumbnail. thank you for the great videos.

My great grandparents, grandparents, father, lived in Pikeville, town right in middle of the valley, Bledsoe County. The start of the valley is on Highway 127, on Cumberland, Bledsoe County line. I was born in Pikeville, its a beautiful area, the leaves changing colors in the fall is beautiful. Everyone goes to Smoky Mountains for that, but a drive down 127 in the fall, is a drive through the valley, Mountains on either side is beautiful.

My home. I Have explored the Waldens Ridge side of Sequatchie/Bledsoe/Hamilton Co. Since i was a teen.

I learned a lot - thank you.

I lived in Pikeville for the first 19 years of my life. I still drive through the valley once or twice per week. A formation that was prominent in our lives, is the existence of a ridge that runs roughly down the middle of the valley. The river is able to criss cross it sometimes but tends to always be next to the ridge. I'm wondering if the ridge is the next harder rock layer.

That was great, thanks. The area just northwest of Wartburg, is it a coincidence that it looks circular?

Hello from Chattanooga, thank you for the good words about our mountains. And there is a boundary associated with Sequatchie, it has its own county! 😂 It truly is beautiful country.

I really like your videos here. I’ve learned more here in a few minutes than years of school. Just find geology interesting. I’d like to hear your take on some geology before and after the Younger Dryas period. 12,800 to 11,600 years ago.

Clearly an alien runway.

I wish I could zoom in and see my house up on the edge of Mowbray Mountain looking down into the Sequatchie Valley next to 111!

Right on. Thanks for sharing.

Can you dive into the Elkins WV area. I believe the Tygart River Valley may have been developed in this same way. The cuts on the 4 lane of Corridor H exposes some amazing rocks layers and definitely worth exploring.

There actually does form a boundary between Sequatchie County Tn and Hamilton County TN where most of Chattanooga is located at. Also although I think it has nothing to do with it, the boundary between those two counties is also exactly where the Eastern and Central timezone changes.

@13:10 the map you showed of Crab Orchard with the Northern end of the Sesquatchie Valley outlined in black, what you actually outlined is Grassy Cove. The Sesquatchie Valley was not in that view.