Geology

Within The Living Rock

The New River Gorge is home to one of the oldest rivers in the world. Surrounded on both sides by 1000 foot, v-shaped walls, the Gorge is a wonderful place to explore the area geology.

Along The Rim

The trails of the preserve wind along some of the most interesting rock formations in the Eastern United States. Primarily made of sandstones from the New River and Hawks Nest formations, the exposed bands of rock perched above the gorge are fascinating to explore.

Ages upon ages have compressed these layers of sandstone so much as to produce quartzite flecks, an indicator of extreme age and hardness. Geologists aren't the only ones who love these rocks- climbers have been praising the cliffs of the New River for decades.

Down By The River

A lot of the rock down at the river level is alluvial, or, deposited by water. That fact becomes more interesting as the boulders get bigger- some as big as houses.

These rocks are made up primarily of the Hinton, Bluestone, and Pocahontas formations. Estimates vary on the amount of time it took for the gorge to form, but it probably took 7 to 10 million years just for the coal alone to form.

In light of the great spans of geologic time at work within the Gorge, here's an interesting fact: It takes about 110 days for a drop of water to travel from the uppermost reaches of the watershed to just below the New River Gorge Preserve.