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much like a great amphitheatre, which is walled in at all sides 
except where the stream enters and leaves the county. The en- 
trance is by way of a narrow valley which is cut across the 
Walker-Gap Mountain ridge. The exit is by a similar valley, 
even more restricted, cut in the East River-Peters Mountain 
system. The principal tributaries to the New in Giles County 
are Walker, Wolf, and Sinking creeks. All of these streams, 
however, have their sources outside the county. East River, 
which has its headwaters in Virginia, flows, through most of its 
course, in West Virginia only to enter the New by way of Giles 
County. However, since it flows less than a mile in the County, 
the portion it drains is neglible. 
The relative absence of small tributaries is a feature which is 
apparent at once. Streams which are carrying considerable 
water in their upper valleys are much restricted in size, when 
they enter the limestone area adjacent to the New River. This 
is due to the large amount of drainage which is under ground in 
Giles County, and of which more will be said tater. 
Erosion Cycles 
In Giles County, the elevation of the highest peneplain cannot 
be determined accurately because, having suffered the most from 
erosion, few of its remnants remain. In spite of this fact, Doe 
Mountain, Pearis Mountain, Angels Rest, and portions of the 
crest line of Peters and East River mountains have a fairly 
uniform height of 3500 feet. This elevation represents a former 
peneplain surface, which probably was completed in late Jurassic 
time. In this paper, this peneplain will be referred to as the 
Pearis Peneplain.f Above this early plain, which was then close 
to sea level there rose monadnocks to the height of 200 to 800 
feet. Today Bald Knob, Butt Mountain, and portions of Sugar 
Run Mountain remain as remnants of these former elevations. 
t Correlation in this paper is with Stose and Miser, who have given us 
one of the latest interpretations. It should be borne in mind that they 
assign earlier dates to most of the erosion plains than do Willis, Campbell 
and others; and also that Shaw has ascribed later dates than the older 
workers. In order to determine the dates of these peneplains it is neces- 
sary to trace them eastward and southward where they disappear under 
sediments of the Coastal Plain. Our work has never allowed us to carry 
forward such tracing hence we probably should not commit ourselves at 
all, and thus our correlations with the work of others in the Valley of Vir- 
ginia and with Willis in the Northern Appalachians must be looked upon as 
provisional. 
