PTA Site Map
Pinhoti Trail Alliance
Connecting Alabama and Georgia to the Appalachian Trail
The Appalachians?
By Dr. Kelly Gregg
Geologist - Geographer
Department Head
Jacksonville State University
It is perfectly accurate to say that the Pinhoti runs through the Appalachians.
Admittedly, the Trail is contained in the "Piedmont Physiographic Region", but this is just
a sub-region of the Appalachian Highlands.
If someone wanted to get real specific, I think it actually runs through the "Talladega
Slate Belt" and the "Hillabee Greenstone Region" - two sub-sub-regions.
If you wanted to avoid people fussing over minor aspects of terminology, you could avoid
the phrase "Appalachian Mountains" and substitute "Appalachian Highlands" or just the
"Appalachians".
However, the vast majority of people in the field would have no problem with the phrase
"Appalachian Mountains" - they are certainly in the Appalachians and they are certainly
mountains.
The whole matter of the Appalachians is certainly confusing. I think that the muddle is a
result of very complicated geology plus the variety of ways that the term "Appalachians"
has been used over the last few centuries.
Geologically speaking, the Appalachians are the mountains initiated by the Appalachian
Orogeny (mountain-building) that finished up at the end of the Paleozoic. These
Appalachians extended almost all the way down to Montgomery, Alabama. They consist of
four major sub-regions: the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Ridge and Valley, and the
Appalachian Plateau. These four are found in roughly parallel bands running NE/SW.
The Pinhoti is found in the Piedmont sub-region, and (to a level of detail that I suspect no
one really cares about) in the Hillabee Greenstone and Talladega Slate Belt
sub-sub-regions. The Piedmont consists of a complex assortment of metamorphic and
igneous rocks that have been strongly deformed.
Geology aside, I think in common usage the term "Appalachians" is more restricted to the
mountains running from North Georgia to way up north somewhere. Purely speculative, I
suspect that part of the reason for this has to do with the Appalachian relief programs
initiated by the Federal Government back in the '30s. For political reasons - nothing to
do with geology or topography at all - they chopped off the Appalachians right on the
Georgia/Alabama line. You can still find maps in textbooks showing this strange,
straight-line boundary of the Appalachians.
Another reason probably has to do with the Appalachian Trail. Since the Trail starts in
North Georgia, most people naturally assume that's where the mountains start too. I
don't know why the Trail didn't originally begin in Alabama - probably a lack of local
interest at the time.
Anyway, in terms of Geology, the Pinhoti definitely is found in the Appalachians.
PTA Site Map
Pinhoti Trail Alliance
Connecting Alabama and Georgia to the Appalachian Trail
The Appalachians?
By Dr. Kelly Gregg
Geologist - Geographer
Department Head
Jacksonville State University
It is perfectly accurate to say that the Pinhoti runs through the Appalachians.
Admittedly, the Trail is contained in the "Piedmont Physiographic Region", but this is just
a sub-region of the Appalachian Highlands.
If someone wanted to get real specific, I think it actually runs through the "Talladega
Slate Belt" and the "Hillabee Greenstone Region" - two sub-sub-regions.
If you wanted to avoid people fussing over minor aspects of terminology, you could avoid
the phrase "Appalachian Mountains" and substitute "Appalachian Highlands" or just the
"Appalachians".
However, the vast majority of people in the field would have no problem with the phrase
"Appalachian Mountains" - they are certainly in the Appalachians and they are certainly
mountains.
The whole matter of the Appalachians is certainly confusing. I think that the muddle is a
result of very complicated geology plus the variety of ways that the term "Appalachians"
has been used over the last few centuries.
Geologically speaking, the Appalachians are the mountains initiated by the Appalachian
Orogeny (mountain-building) that finished up at the end of the Paleozoic. These
Appalachians extended almost all the way down to Montgomery, Alabama. They consist of
four major sub-regions: the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Ridge and Valley, and the
Appalachian Plateau. These four are found in roughly parallel bands running NE/SW.
The Pinhoti is found in the Piedmont sub-region, and (to a level of detail that I suspect no
one really cares about) in the Hillabee Greenstone and Talladega Slate Belt
sub-sub-regions. The Piedmont consists of a complex assortment of metamorphic and
igneous rocks that have been strongly deformed.
Geology aside, I think in common usage the term "Appalachians" is more restricted to the
mountains running from North Georgia to way up north somewhere. Purely speculative, I
suspect that part of the reason for this has to do with the Appalachian relief programs
initiated by the Federal Government back in the '30s. For political reasons - nothing to
do with geology or topography at all - they chopped off the Appalachians right on the
Georgia/Alabama line. You can still find maps in textbooks showing this strange,
straight-line boundary of the Appalachians.
Another reason probably has to do with the Appalachian Trail. Since the Trail starts in
North Georgia, most people naturally assume that's where the mountains start too. I
don't know why the Trail didn't originally begin in Alabama - probably a lack of local
interest at the time.
Anyway, in terms of Geology, the Pinhoti definitely is found in the Appalachians.
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