Forests of the Cumberland Mountains (1942)Braun, E. L. (1942). Forests of the Cumberland Mountains. Ecological Monographs, 413-447. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1943039?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Because of the structural features of the area and its physiographic history, a great variety of topo- graphic situations and hence of habitats are included. Longitudinal streams have cut deep valleys par- alleling the main structural features; most important of these is the Cumberland River and its major tributaries, Poor Fork, Martins Fork and Yellow Creek, and on the east side, Pound and Powell Rivers. Into these flow short lateral tributaries with steep gradients, streams which indent the mountain slopes, some forming broad and shallow coves, others, deep and narrow gorges. Such detail depends to a considerable extent upon the nature of the rock which is cut (and its dip); it affects the composition of the occupying forest. The strata of Cumberland and Stone Mountains on the one side, and of Pine Mountain on the other side, are dipping; those of the central mountain masses (Black and Log Moun- tains) and of the outlying section are nearly hori- zontal. The whole area, then, is a complex of mountains carved by erosion from horizontal strata (as Black and Log Mountains) and from more or less strongly dipping strata (Pine and Cumberland Mountains); of valleys worn down on weaker rocks between the principal mountains, valleys in which there are incipient floodplains and valley flats (Cum- berland valley and its major tributaries); of short tributary valleys of steep gradient indenting the mountain slopes. Elevations range from about 1,000 feet along the Cumberland River near Pineville, 1,200 feet at Harlan, and 1,700 feet near Eolia in the upper Cumberland valley, to 3,100 feet on the Log Mountains, 3,000 to 3,400 on Cumberland Moun- tain, 2,500 to 3,000 or over on Pine Mountain (3,200 feet at High Rock), and up to 4,250 feet on Black Mountain at the Doubles in Harlan County (indi- cated by A on map, Fig. 1) http://www.jstor.org/stable/1943039?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
|
