The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee , and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms " Allegheny Plateau " and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the dissected plateau lands lying west of the main Appalachian Mountains . The terms stem from historical usage rather than geological difference, so there is no strict dividing line between the two. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau in Harlan County, Kentucky .
31-624: The Cumberland Plateau is a deeply dissected plateau , with topographic relief commonly of about 400 feet (120 metres), and frequent sandstone outcroppings and bluffs. At Kentucky's Pottsville Escarpment , which is the transition from the Cumberland Plateau to the Bluegrass in the north and the Pennyrile in the south, there are many spectacular cliffs, gorges , rockhouses , natural bridges , and waterfalls . In Tennessee,
62-568: A number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma , extrusion of lava , and erosion by water and glaciers . Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment as intermontane, piedmont, or continental. A few plateaus may have a small flat top while others have wider ones. Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, plate tectonics movements, and erosion by water and glaciers. Volcanic plateaus are produced by volcanic activity . The Columbia Plateau in
93-553: A river was already there, though not necessarily on exactly the same course. Then, subterranean geological forces caused the land in that part of North America to gradually rise by about a centimeter per year for millions of years. An unusual balance occurred: the river that would become the Colorado River was able to erode into the crust of the Earth at a nearly equal rate to the uplift of the plateau. Now, millions of years later,
124-502: Is a physiographic section of the larger Appalachian Plateau province, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian Highlands physiographic division. The Plateau rises about 1,000 feet (300 m) above the surrounding areas in the region (Tennessee Vacation, 2018). The rough topography that makes up the Cumberland Plateau has caused a development of isolated settlements and the local economies based on subsistence agriculture (Britannica, 2016). The sedimentary rocks that compose
155-622: Is divided into three main flat regions: the Bogotá savanna , the valleys of Ubaté and Chiquinquirá , and the valleys of Duitama and Sogamoso . The parallel Sierra of Andes delimit one of the world highest plateaux: the Altiplano , (Spanish for "high plain"), Andean Plateau or Bolivian Plateau. It lies in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet. The bulk of
186-710: Is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Another example is the Highveld which is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above approximately 1,500 metres, but below 2,100 metres, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions. It is home to some of the largest South African urban agglomerations . In Egypt are the Giza Plateau and Galala Mountain , which
217-545: Is the Scottish Highlands . Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment. The highest African plateau is the Ethiopian Highlands which cover the central part of Ethiopia. It forms the largest continuous area of its altitude in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 metres (4,921 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4,550 metres (14,928 ft). It
248-572: Is the home of more than 70 million people. The Western Plateau , part of the Australian Shield , is an ancient craton covering much of the continent's southwest, an area of some 700,000 square kilometres. It has an average elevation between 305 and 460 metres. The North Island Volcanic Plateau is an area of high land occupying much of the centre of the North Island of New Zealand, with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes,
279-912: The Cumberland Plateau , the Ozark Plateau , and the Catskill Mountains in the United States, the Blue Mountains and Hornsby Plateau in Australia and the Deccan Plateau in India are examples of dissected plateaus formed after regional uplift. These older uplifts have been eroded by creeks and rivers to develop steep relief not immediately distinguishable from mountains . Many areas of
310-832: The Deccan Plateau (≈1,900,000 km (730,000 sq mi), elevation 300–600 metres (980–1,970 ft)). A large plateau in North America is the Colorado Plateau , which covers about 337,000 km (130,000 sq mi) in Colorado , Arizona , New Mexico , and Utah . In northern Arizona and southern Utah the Colorado Plateau is bisected by the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon . This came to be over 10 million years ago,
341-567: The " Roof of the World ", which is still being formed by the collisions of the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates . The Tibetan Plateau covers approximately 2,500,000 km (970,000 sq mi), at about 5,000 m (16,000 ft) above sea level. The plateau is sufficiently high to reverse the Hadley cell convection cycles and to drive the monsoons of India towards
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#1732765923416372-550: The Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland Plateau, which are at the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America , are called "mountains" but are actually dissected plateaus. One can stand on the top of one of these high "mountains" and note that all the other tops are nearly the same height, which represents the original elevation profile of the plain before uplift, and thereafter
403-688: The Altiplano lies within Bolivian and Peruvian territory while its southern parts lie in Chile. The Altiplano plateau hosts several cities like Puno, Oruro, El Alto and La Paz the administrative seat of Bolivia. Northeastern Altiplano is more humid than the Southwestern, the latter of which hosts several salares , or salt flats, due to its aridity. At the Bolivia-Peru border lies Lake Titicaca ,
434-481: The Cumberland Plateau and larger Appalachian Plateau are of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian geological age, composed of near-shore sediments washed westward from the Appalachian Mountains . Some rock layers were laid down in shallow coastal waters, some, including bituminous coal seams were laid onshore in swampy environments. These are interlaced with delta formations of cross-bedded sandstones and occasionally conglomerate. There are numerous discontinuities in
465-652: The Cumberland Plateau include The Nature Conservancy , the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation , and the Natural Resources Defense Council . 36°N 85°W / 36°N 85°W / 36; -85 Dissected plateau A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded such that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by
496-660: The Cumberland Plateau's western border is the Highland Rim east of the Nashville Basin , and its eastern edge is marked by Walden Ridge , which continues south into Alabama as Sand Mountain . Walden Ridge and Sand Mountain are separated from the main portion of the Cumberland Plateau by the Sequatchie Valley . The Sequatchie River empties into the Tennessee River just below Nickajack Dam and
527-721: The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is at an elevation of about 2,450 m (8,040 ft) above sea level , and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is about 2,150 m (7,050 ft) above sea level. At its deepest, the Colorado River is about 1,830 m (6,000 ft) below the level of the North Rim. Another high-altitude plateau in North America is the Mexican Plateau . With an area of 601,882 km (232,388 sq mi) and average height of 1,825 metres, it
558-425: The beds, where they were raised high enough to be eroded, then lowered to have more sediments added on top near Cumberland Falls, 400 feet (120 m) below the top of the formation, going by the age of the bedrock which has moved less than 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) for the last 300 million years, caused mainly by lateral erosion of the plateau. The plateau contains some of the largest stretches of contiguous forest in
589-710: The crust. Tectonic plateaus are formed by tectonic plate movements which cause uplift, and are normally of a considerable size, and a fairly uniform altitude. Examples are the Deccan Plateau in India and the Meseta Central on the Iberian Peninsula . Plateaus can also be formed by the erosional processes of glaciers on mountain ranges, leaving them sitting between the mountain ranges. Water can also erode mountains and other landforms down into plateaus. Dissected plateaus are highly eroded plateaus cut by rivers and broken by deep narrow valleys. An example
620-497: The eastern United States. Regionally, forests are intermediate between oak ( Quercus ) and hickory ( Carya ) forest types with pines ( Pinus ) occurring on dry, upland sites and mesophytic species occurring in protected coves. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is involved with the conservation of the mixed mesophytic forests within the Northern Cumberland Plateau. Conservation organizations active on
651-674: The gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon , the Indigenous people who inhabit the Gran Sabana . Tepuis can be considered minute plateaus and tend to be found as isolated entities rather than in connected ranges, which makes them the host of a unique array of endemic plant and animal species. Some of the most outstanding tepuis are Neblina , Autana , Auyan and Mount Roraima . They are typically composed of sheer blocks of Precambrian quartz arenite sandstone that rise abruptly from
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#1732765923416682-492: The jungle, giving rise to spectacular natural scenery. Auyán-tepui is the source of Angel Falls , the world's tallest waterfall . The Colombian capital city of Bogota sits on an Andean plateau known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense roughly the size of Switzerland. Averaging a height of 2,600 m (8,500 ft) above sea level, this northern Andean plateau is situated in the country's eastern range and
713-439: The lack of folding , metamorphism , extensive faulting , or magmatic activity that accompanies orogeny . A dissected plateau may also be formed, or created, usually on a comparatively small scale, by the levelling of terrain by planing and deposition beneath an ice sheet or perhaps, an ice cap . Subsequently, during the same or a later glacial , the margins of the glacial till plain are removed by glaciers , leaving
744-601: The most notable of which is the country's largest lake, Lake Taupō . The plateau stretches approximately 100 km east to west and 130 km north to south. The majority of the plateau is more than 600 metres above sea level. A tepui ( / ˈ t ɛ p w i / ), or tepuy ( Spanish: [teˈpuj] ), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in the Guiana Highlands of South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana . The word tepui means "house of
775-442: The north-western United States is an example. They may be formed by upwelling of volcanic magma or extrusion of lava. The underlining mechanism in forming plateaus from upwelling starts when magma rises from the mantle , causing the ground to swell upward. In this way, large, flat areas of rock are uplifted to form a plateau. For plateaus formed by extrusion, the rock is built up from lava spreading outward from cracks and weak areas in
806-690: The plateau into which erosion by water incises valleys . Such a plateau may be level or gently sloping but may be distinguished by the till caps on its hills. Glacial till is still widely known in Britain by the older name of boulder clay. Dissected volcanic plateaus include the Pajarito Plateau in New Mexico , on the skirt of the enormous Valles Caldera . Isolated portions of this plateau are known as mesas , and long, connected portions are known as potreros . The Allegheny Plateau ,
837-866: The south. The Deosai Plains in Pakistan are situated at an average elevation of 4,114 meters (13,497 ft) above sea level. They are considered to be the second highest plateaus in the world. Other major plateaus in Asia are: Najd on the Arabian Peninsula , elevation 762 to 1,525 m (2,500 to 5,003 ft), Armenian Highlands (≈400,000 km (150,000 sq mi), elevation 900–2,100 metres (3,000–6,900 ft)), Iranian Plateau (≈3,700,000 km (1,400,000 sq mi), elevation 300–1,500 metres (980–4,920 ft)), Anatolian Plateau , Mongolian Plateau (≈2,600,000 km (1,000,000 sq mi), elevation 1,000–1,500 metres (3,300–4,900 ft)), and
868-503: The subsequent weather erosion. Plateau In geology and physical geography , a plateau ( / p l ə ˈ t oʊ , p l æ ˈ t oʊ , ˈ p l æ t oʊ / ; French: [plato] ; pl. : plateaus or plateaux ), also called a high plain or a tableland , is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides have deep hills or escarpments . Plateaus can be formed by
899-480: The surrounding coastline through enormous glaciers . The polar ice cap is so massive that the echolocation measurements of ice thickness have shown that large areas are below sea level . But, as the ice melts, the land beneath will rebound through isostasy and ultimately rise above sea level. The largest and highest plateau in the world is the Tibetan Plateau , sometimes metaphorically described as
930-489: The valley extends into Jackson County, Alabama , as part of the Tennessee Valley . In Kentucky , the height of the plateau's hills increases from northwest to southeast, with the westernmost areas of the plateau having a relief of around 200 feet (61 m) and an appearance similar to the knobs region , whereas areas near Black Mountain have a relief exceeding 2,500 feet (760 m). The Cumberland Plateau
961-605: Was once called Gallayat Plateaus, rising 3,300 ft above sea level. Another very large plateau is the icy Antarctic Plateau , which is sometimes referred to as the Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau, home to the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station , which covers most of East Antarctica where there are no known mountains but rather 3,000 m (9,800 ft) high of superficial ice and which spreads very slowly toward