FOTLGR : Watershed

Watershed Map

Geology

The regional structure of the underlying rock strata dips gently to the west in a layer cake fashion with younger rock layers overlying older ones. These rocks are deposits from the Mississippian Period, dating from 360 to 320 million years ago. The dominant rock type of this sequence is the Greenbrier limestone which was created when the area was covered by an inland sea and the environment was similar to what is found in the Bahamas today.

The rocks occurring below and above this limestone are the lithified sediments from erosion of the ancestral Appalachian mountains far to the east. They are composed primarily of shales and sandstones. Due to the westward dip and the general westward trend to the river, the age of the rocks exposed along the river bottom and bank gets progressively younger as you follow the river downstream.

Like the New River it later joins, there is evidence that the Lower Greenbrier River is very ancient. Below Ronceverte, the river leaves the early Mississippian red shales and traverses the Greenbrier limestone. This massive 900' thick layer of soluble rock is characterized by numerous caves, sinkholes, and underground streams. On the North bank of the river, just below the village of Fort Spring, there is a large spring which is the emergence of a pirated surface stream. This spring is the subterranean runoff from the area around Lewisburg. Also in this area are abandoned "ox-bow" river channels and high river terraces. Just before the river reaches the town of Alderson, it passes through a substantial water gap cut between Muddy Creek Mountain and Mt. Pleasant. These structures date back 40 million years or more as regional uplift accelerated the downward cutting of the river and its tributaries.

Between Alderson and Talcott, the river meanders through the shale sequences that overlie the western dipping of limestone. The relatively easy weathering of this less resistant rock results in broad floodplains that flank both sides of the river. The last 3.5 miles of the river valleys become steep-walled as the river cuts through the younger interbedded and relatively weather-resistant sandstones of late Mississippian age.

Flora & Fauna



Mammals: White-tailed Deer Black Bear Grey Fox Red Fox Bobcat Beaver Hare Snowshoe Hare Eastern Cottontail Grey Squirrel Fox Squirrel Opossum Striped Skunk Spotted Skunk Otter Mink Least Weasel Longtail Weasel Fisher Woodchuck Wood Rat Muskrat Mouse Rat Masked Shrew Smoky Shrew Pigmy Shrew Vole Yellownose Vole Bat Indian Bat Small-footed Bat	Fish: Catfish Bullhead Smallmouth Bass Largemouth Bass Rock Bass Crappie Reptiles: Snapping Turtle Spring Softshell Turtle Hog Turtle Northern Pine Snake Timber Rattlesnake Northern Watersnake Amphibians: Longtailed Salamander Ravine Salamander Mud Puppy Frog Bullfrog Green Frog Toad

Trees and Shrubs: Shagbark Hickory Pignut Hickory Butternut White Oak Red Oak Black Oak Post Oak Blackjack Oak Southern Red Oak Chestnut Oak Red Maple Sugar Maple Eastern White Pine Short Leaf Pine Pitch Pine Virginia Pine Table Mountain Pine Cucumber Tree Umbrella Magnolia Fraser's Magnolia Sycamore Beech Eastern Hemlock Tulip Poplar Dogwood Flowering Dogwood White Ash Yellow Birch Blue Beech Persimmon Sourwood Red Cedar Redbud Wild Cherry Basswood Black Gum Black Locust Buckeye Sassafras Alder Hawthorne Wild Blackberry Huckleberry Wild Rose Rhododendron Laurel Poison Ivy Virginia Creeper Greenbrier Sumac Trillium Violet Orchid Synandra Fern Spicebush Pawpaw Hydrangea Wild Grape Cross Vine Holly Hop Hornbeam Service Berry Blueberry Agrimony Early Meadow Rue Hog-peanut Enchanter's Nightshade Bushclover Aster Pink Azaelea Mountain Laurel	Birds: Turkey Goose Duck Wood Duck Bald Eagle Peregrine Falcon American Kestrel Merlin Osprey Sharp Shinned Hawk Common Nighthawk Cooper's Hawk Red-Shouldered Hawk Marsh Hawk Yellow Rail Black Rail King Rail Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Plover Piping Plover Upland Plover Woodcock Snipe Common Tern Olive-sided Flycatcher Red-throated Loon Red-necked Grebe Double-breasted Cormorant Black-crowned Night Heron American Bittern Canvas Back Duck Sandpiper Saw Whet Owl Barn Owl Short-earedOwl Red-headed Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Swainson's Warbler Bachman's Warbler Yellow Warbler Cliff Swallow Bewick's Wren Yellow Billed Cuckoo Loggerhead Shrike Yellow-breasted Chat Grasshopper Sparrow Helslow's Sparrow Eastern Bluebird