RUSSELL FORK FAULT OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA 359 
Fork of Big Sandy River, and even at those places it is marked by 
the allineation of minor drainage lines or surface nenieues which 
would not otherwise be easily explained. 
Erosion of crushed and weakened rocks along the fault trace 
has produced the low saddle at Skegg Gap and the saddle in the 
point of the spur west of Russell Fork and one mile north of B.M. 
1221" on the Clintwood quadrangle. 
From a point one-half mile upstream from B.M. 1282 to B.M. 
1221 Russell Fork flows in a course somewhat farther northeast- 
ward than in adjacent parts of its course up and down stream. 
In the high land which lies southwest of this part of the river and 
northwest of the village of Haysi are cut two short cleftlike hollows 
which are closely aligned with the fault trace as located to the 
north and south, and have without doubt been determined by the 
presence of the weaker rock in the zone of deformation adjacent 
to the fault. One of these hollows enters the river valley just at 
the railroad bridge east of B.M. 1221 and the other extends from 
near Haysi south and just to the west of B.M. 1380. These 
hollows are somewhat straighter and narrower than most of the 
ravines of similar size which erosion has cut in the rocks of this 
region, but their most distinctive characteristic is their location 
where they cut off in part the narrow strip of high land between 
them and the river. Taken together and with the other topo- 
graphic features which show alignment, they are very significant, 
and their locations are not to be explained as accidental. 
Between McClure River and Russell Fork, at the close approach 
before they join, a low saddle in the spur owes its position to the 
weakness of the rocks along the fault line. The very straight 
course of Fryingpan Creek from elevation 1,311 feet to its mouth 
is determined by the fault, and it is interesting to note that this 
creek has a very slight fall in this part of its course and its bed is 
graded for the entire distance with ripple-marked sand. Russell 
Fork leaves the fault trace at a number of points and because of 
its cutting across the undisturbed and more resistant rocks at 
t The area crossed by Russell Fork fault is shown in detail on the Regina, Ky., 
and the Clintwood and Bucu, Va., sheets of the Topographic Allas cf the United States. 
Frequent reference is made to points on these maps in locating the features described. 
