Stone Mountain Ga. and surrounding area Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Stone Mountain Ga. and surrounding area - Essay Example It has the world’s largest exposed mass granite and the third largest monolith in the world. The Stone Mountain in Northern Georgia boosts a mysterious history with a lot of unanswered questions. Despite that, Stone Mountain is known today for its beauty and exquisite bas relief. Three figures from the Confederate States of America have been carved here; Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Stone Mountain is host to the Stone Mountain Park which is the major tourist attraction there at the site. In addition to that-it plays a major role in Georgia’s eco-system as well as its economy. Thesis Statement: A detailed research into the geological formation, History and economic value of Stone Mountain. 1. Formation of Stone Mountain 2. Most prevalent rock types 2.1 Granite Rock 2.2 Gneiss Rock 3. How old is Stone Mountain? 4. Birth of Stone Mountain 5. Plate tectonics relative to the creation of Stone Mountain 6. Weathering in Stone Mountain 6.1 Physical Weat hering 6.2 Chemical Weathering 6.3 Biological Weathering 6.4 Analysis of Weathering in Stone Mountain 7. Types of Rocks in Stone Mountain 8. The Georgia Piedmont 9. Resources in Stone Mountain 1.0 Formation of Stone Mountain Georgia’s geologic formation is extremely fascinating and is suspected to have covered a billion year period. Influenced by different formations and erosions from mountain ranges and geologic events such as severe climatic changes, and volcanic eruptions and flooding -Georgia’s geology still sparks mysterious questions. The compilation of these geologic events has led to the formation of a historical landmark known today as Stone Mountains. With reference to Larry Worthy’s article ‘Stone Mountain Natural History’ (exclusively for About North Georgia, 1994-2011) Stone Mountain at its highest point stands a mighty 1683 feet above sea level and sits on the western edge of a large belt of Lithonia Gneiss granite although the younger intrusive granite that comprises the mountain is entirely different from Lithonia granite. Commonly referred to as a granite dome manadnock, Stone Mountain’s development disseminated through several counties and provides a significant amount of bas relief. The formation of the Stone Mountain is still pondered by many geologists with a lot of unanswered questions. However, based on reviewed literature it is safe to say; water, desert like conditions and glacial features played a vital role in its formation. First up, the Stone Mountain in Georgia was formed during the last stages of the Alleghenian Orogeny which also created the Appalachian Mountains. Technically speaking, the ‘stress’ and ‘pressure’ from the Alleghenian Orogeny caused huge uplifts of land in the Northern Georgia region to form mountains. As far as water impacting Stone Mountain’s formation goes; many geologists believe that the Piedmont was higher than the mountain at one poi nt and as millions of years passed the water slowly eroded leaving so much of the Stone Mountain granite exposed. On the other hand, in the Researcher’s opinion, its formative exposure could be due to heat and pressure inside the earth alongside the divergent occurrences of plate tectonic processes. In addition to that, the desert like conditions in the area help to define the mineral composition of the different rock types found in the region. 2.0 Most Prevalent Rock Types on Stone Mountain Rocks from the Stone Mountains belong to the three major classifications