The James River winds its way among Piedmont hills in central Virginia. The James River in the US state of Virginia is a long River, including its Jackson River source The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Most of the hills in the Piedmont region are smaller than these.

Piedmont plateau region (shaded)

Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the flat stretch of land that borders the Atlantic Ocean (including the Gulf of Mexico) The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. Alabama (formally the State of Alabama;) is a State located in the southern region of the United States of America. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division. The physiographic regions of the world are a means of defining the Earth's landforms into distinct regions based upon Nevin Fenneman 's classic three-tiered approach of divisions The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. The province consists of the Piedmont Upland and Piedmont Lowlands sections. The Fall line marks its eastern boundary with the Coastal Plain. In Geomorphology, a fall line (at times referred to as a fall zone) marks the area where an upland region (continental Bedrock) and a Coastal plain To the west the Piedmont is mostly bounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the easternmost range of the main Appalachians. The Blue Ridge, or Blue Ridge Mountains, is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division Physiographically, the Piedmont is considered a province of the larger Appalachian Highlands physiographic division. ^[1] The width of the Piedmont varies, being quite narrow above the Delaware River but nearly 300 miles (475 km) wide in North Carolina. The Delaware River is a river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States The Piedmont's area is approximately 80,000 square miles (207,000 sq km). ^[2]

The name "Piedmont" roughly translates as foot (pied) hill (mont) in French, and the region is named after the Italian region of Piemonte. Piedmont ( Piemonte; Piedmontese and Occitan: Piemont; French: Piémont) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy.

Geology

The surface relief of the Piedmont is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills with heights above sea level between 200 feet (50 m) and 800 feet to 1,000 feet (250 m to 300 m). Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface Its geology is complex, with numerous rock formations of different materials and ages intermingled with one another. Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit Essentially, the Piedmont is the remnant of several ancient mountain chains that have since been eroded away. A mountain range is a chain of Mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys Geologists have identified at least five separate events which have led to sediment deposition, including the Grenville orogeny (the collision of continents that created the supercontinent Rodinia) and the Appalachian orogeny during the formation of Pangaea. Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of The Grenville orogeny was an episode of mountain-building ( Orogeny) associated with the assembly of the ancient Supercontinent Rodinia. In Geology, a supercontinent is a Landmass comprising more than one Continental core or Craton. For the Genus of Metalmark butterflies, see Rodinia (butterfly. The Alleghenian orogeny or Appalachian orogeny is one of the geological Mountain -forming events ( Orogeny) that formed the Appalachian Mountains Pangaea, Pangæa or Pangea (pænˈdʒiːə from παν pan, meaning entire, and Γαῖα Gaea, meaning Earth in The last major event in the history of the Piedmont was the break-up of Pangaea, when North America and Africa began to separate. Large basins formed from the rifting and were subsequently filled by the sediments shed from the surrounding higher ground. The term sedimentary basin is used to refer to any geographical feature exhibiting Subsidence and consequent infilling by sedimentation In Geology, a rift is a place where the Earth 's crust and Lithosphere are being pulled apart and is an example of Extensional tectonics The series of Mesozoic basins is almost entirely located within the Piedmont region. The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon.

Soils and farming

Piedmont soils are generally clayey and moderately fertile. In some areas they have suffered from erosion and over-cropping, particularly in the south where cotton is the chief crop. In the central Piedmont region of North Carolina and Virginia, tobacco is the main crop, while in the north there is more diversity, including orchards, dairying, and general farming. ^[2]

Music

The Piedmont region is closely associated with the Piedmont blues, a style of blues music that originated there in the late 19th century. The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle or East Coast' blues) is a type of Blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression Most Piedmont blues musicians came from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. During the Great Migration, Black Americans migrated to the Piedmont. See also Second Great Migration (African American The Great Migration was the movement of approximately seven million African-Americans out of the With the Appalachian Mountains to the west, those who may otherwise have spread into rural areas instead stayed in cities and were thus exposed to a broader mixture of music than those in, for example, the rural Mississippi delta. Thus, Piedmont blues was influenced by many types of music such as ragtime, country, and popular songs -- styles that had comparatively less influence on blues music in other regions. The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle or East Coast' blues) is a type of Blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the

The Piedmont is also characteristic of a style of dance known as the cakewalk or the Slow Drag, which originated based on the local culture and community. This article is about the form of music and dance For the musical notation program see Cakewalk (sequencer.

Cities

Many major cities are located on the Fall line, the eastern boundary of the Piedmont. In Geomorphology, a fall line (at times referred to as a fall zone) marks the area where an upland region (continental Bedrock) and a Coastal plain Within the Piedmont region itself there are several areas of urban concentration. For example, the Piedmont Crescent in North Carolina includes several metropolitan clusters such as Metrolina, the Piedmont Triad, and The Triangle. The Piedmont Crescent is a large urbanized region in the US state of North Carolina that forms the northern section of the rapidly developing I-85 Corridor The Charlotte metropolitan area (also Metrolina, Metro Charlotte, or Charlotte USA) is a Metropolitan area / Region of North The Piedmont Triad, Triad, or North Carolina Triad is a region of the U Another major city of the Piedmont is Atlanta, Georgia.

See also

• Cecil (soil)

References

Further reading

• Michael A. Godfrey (1997). Field Guide to the Piedmont. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 524 pages. ISBN 0-8078-4671-6.

External links

• Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History