Geology of Gauley River National Recreation Area, West Virginia

The park

Gauley River National Recreation Area, established October 26, 1988, protects 41.0 km (25.5 miles) of the Gauley River and 8.9 km (5.5 miles) of the Meadow River in Fayette and Nicholas counties, West Virginia — about 4,696 hectares (11,606 acres) of gorges and valleys rich in natural and cultural features. The Gauley is one of the most challenging whitewater rivers in the eastern U.S., with several Class V+ rapids, and both rivers offer fishing, camping and hiking.

The rocks

The bedrock is Pennsylvanian in age (about 325–300 million years old): the New River, Kanawha and Allegheny formations. They were laid down by ancient rivers and along coastlines in the Appalachian basin, during the mountain-building that raised the Appalachians.

The carving

Over time the rivers cut a dramatic landscape of rock-rimmed gorges, waterfalls, rapids, vistas and forested slopes. Below Summersville Dam, the Gauley drops more than 204 m (668 feet), with more than 100 rapids between pools, boulders and bare bedrock, to the park's western boundary at Upper Swiss.

The Gauley River gorge. NPS photo.

Regional setting

The park lies in the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province, sharing its geologic history and formations with a region far beyond its boundaries.

Maps and inventories

Bedrock geologic map of Gauley River National Recreation Area. NPS Geologic Resources Inventory.

• Geologic Resources Inventory: the NPS GRI produces digital geologic maps, reports and posters for more than 270 parks; Gauley River's are listed in the NPS DataStore.
• Soil Resources Inventory: a soil survey of the park is also complete (DataStore).

More: the park's nature and science pages and the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey.

Sources

Based on "NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Gauley River National Recreation Area, West Virginia," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain, drawing on Anderson (2017) and Thornberry-Ehrlich (2017). The source ties these Pennsylvanian rocks to the Taconic Orogeny, an older, Ordovician mountain-building event; that link is left out.