Fall line

This article is about a geomorphology feature. For the Alpine skiing term, see Fall line (skiing). For the song by Jack Johnson, see On and On (Jack Johnson album).

Great Falls of the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland, along the Atlantic Seaboard Fall line

A fall line (or fall zone) is the geomorphologic break between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls. Many times a fall line will recede upstream as the river cuts out the uphill dense material, often forming “c”-shaped waterfalls. Because of these features riverboats typically cannot travel any farther inland without portaging, unless locks are built there. On the other hand, the rapid change in elevation of the water, and the resulting energy release, makes the fall line a good location for water mills, grist mills, and sawmills. Because of the need for a river port leading to the ocean, and a ready supply of water power, settlements often develop where rivers cross a fall line.

United States

The slope of fall zones on rivers played a role in settlement patterns. For example, fall lines proved useful for hydroelectric dams such as at Rochester, New York (on the Niagara Escarpment) and Columbia, South Carolina (on the Atlantic Seaboard fall line). Other cities along fall lines of the United States include:

• New England fall line:^{[citation needed]}

• Lowell, Massachusetts (Merrimack River).
• Hartford, Connecticut (Connecticut River).
• Fall River, Massachusetts (Quequechan River).
• Bangor, Maine (Penobscot River).
• Augusta, Maine (Kennebec River).

• Onondaga fall line:^{[citation needed]}

• Albany, New York (Hudson River).

• Southern fall line:

• Washington, D.C. on the Potomac River
• Alexandria, Virginia on the Potomac River
• Fredericksburg, Virginia on the Rappahannock River
• Hanover, Virginia on the North Anna River
• Richmond, Virginia on the James River
• Petersburg, Virginia on the Appomattox River
• Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina on the Roanoke River
• Raleigh, North Carolina on the Neuse River
• Greenville, North Carolina on the Tar River
• Fayetteville, North Carolina on the Cape Fear River
• Columbia, South Carolina on the Congaree River
• Augusta, Georgia on the Savannah River.
• Milledgeville, Georgia on the Oconee River.
• Macon, Georgia on the Ocmulgee River.
• Columbus, Georgia on the Chattahoochee River.
• Tallassee, Alabama on the Tallapoosa River.^{[citation needed]}
• Wetumpka, Alabama on the Coosa River.^{[citation needed]}

Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line

Main article: Atlantic Seaboard fall line

Atlantic Seaboard fall line
Fall line
Nickname: Piedmont—Coastal Plain fall line
Country	United States
North endpoint South endpoint	New Jersey Carolinas or Georgia
Length	900 mi (1,400 km)
Map showing part of the Eastern Seaboard Fall Line where the pale colored coastal plain meets the brightly colored Piedmont.

The Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line, or Fall Zone, is a 900-mile (1,400 km) escarpment where the Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain meet in the eastern United States. Much of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line passes through areas where no evidence of faulting is present.

The fall line marks the geologic boundary of hard metamorphosed terrain—the product of the Taconic orogeny—and the sandy, relatively flat outwash plain of the upper continental shelf, formed of unconsolidated Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments. Examples of the Fall Zone include the Potomac River's Great Falls and the rapids in Richmond, Virginia, where the James River falls across a series of rapids down to the tidal estuary of the James River. Columbia, South Carolina is similar as well with the Congaree River.

Before navigation improvements such as locks, the fall line was often the head of navigation on rivers due to rapids and waterfalls, such as the Great Falls of the Potomac River. Numerous cities were founded at the intersection of rivers and the fall line. U.S. Route 1 links many of the fall line cities.

Canada

• Montreal (St. Lawrence River).^{[citation needed]}