GEOLOGY OF GRAVES MOUNTAIN 



203 



Physiography. The immediate country in the vicinity of Graves Moun- 

 tain averages about 550 feet above tide. It has gently inclined but broadly 

 undulating surfaces so characteristic of the inner eastern margin of the 

 Piedmont province. The larger streams have carved deep valleys below 

 the plateau surface. 



Graves Mountam is a conspicuous ridge (monadnock) of unreduced 

 hard rock, which rises to an altitude of 700 feet above tide level, and several 

 hundred feet above the Piedmont Tertiary base-leveled plain. It is the 

 highest point of land between it and the ocean. It is removed from the 

 major lines of drainage, which fact together with structure and lithologic 

 character of the rock of which it is composed, are the chief factors responsi- 

 ble for its existence. A number of similar low ridges, locally called moun- 



FiG. 2. View op Grates Mountain, Georgia, looking Southeast. 

 J. H. Watkins, erom photograph.) 



(Sketch bt 



tains, stand up above the general level of the plateau surface over parts 

 of Lincoln County, but none of these are found in the immediate vicinity 

 of Graves Mountain. 



The ridge, locally known as Graves Mountain, has a length of two miles 

 along an approximate northeast-southwest direction, coincident with the 

 general structure of the rocks of the area, is less than a half mile in average 

 width, and rises several hundred (300?) feet above the surface of the sur- 

 rounding plain. The slopes of the mountain are very unequal. They are 

 less steep on the northwest side which is the direction of dip than on the 

 southeast side. They are steeper near the top of the ridge but become more 

 gradual about half the distance down until merged with the plateau sur- 

 face at the base. The upper portion of the ridge is greatly scarred and 

 roughened from weathering and low and high cliffs are numerous. Fig. 2. 

 a pen sketch from a photograph taken from a position looking southeast, 



