Dudley Falls on the Paint Creek EarthCache
Dudley Falls on the Paint Creek
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The Paint Creek Falls is off of the Paint Mountain Road
from Highway 107 off of US 70 south of Greenville, TN. Turn left
onto the Paint Mountain Road and follow your GPSr.
Following the above directions will allow you to pass
another EarthCache. It is the Paint Rock (GC1MVG9 ) and well worth
your time to stop and take it in! From this location you will not
only view the Paint Rock you will also see the meandering French
Broad River. From Paint Rock, do a U turn and re-cross the bridge
and turn right on the Lower Paint Creek Road to the Falls
EarthCache.
The origin of the Paint Creek Falls is found by tracing the
Paint Creek to where it begins which is high up on the Paint
Mountain. It eventually empties into the French Broad River near a
wonderful outcrop named “Paint Rock”. Paint Rock gets
its name from ancient Indian paintings called pictographs. As one
can easily see, because of the Paint Rock, its name was lent to
naming many surrounding geological features such as the Mountain,
Creek and the Falls
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The Paint Creek Falls is part of the Ocoee Supergroup,
which is part of the Blue Ridge Belt. The Ocoee Supergroup consists
primarily of slightly metamorphosed sandstones, possibly quartzite
and normal sandstones, phyllites, schists, and slate.
These rocks here formed over a billion years ago from the
accumulation of marine sediments and igneous rock in a primordial
ocean. In the Late Precambrian period, this ocean expanded, and the
more recent Ocoee Supergroup rocks formed from accumulations of the
eroding land mass onto the ocean's continental shelf. By the end of
the Paleozoic period, the ancient ocean had deposited a thick layer
of marine sediments which left behind sedimentary rocks such as
limestone. During the Ordovician period, the North American and
African plates collided, destroying the ancient ocean and
initiating the Alleghenian orogeny — the mountain-building
epoch that created the Appalachian range. During the Mesozoic
period, the rapid erosion of the softer sedimentary rocks from the
new mountains re-exposed the older Ocoee Supergroup
formations.
Paint Creek Falls
During this process another sedimentary rock was formed. It
was sandstone which has several varieties. One of those varieties
is Arenite. Arenite is a "clean" sandstone that is well-sorted and
contains little or no matrix material, and has a relatively simple
mineralogy composition. The base rock of the Paint Creek
Falls is this arenite sandstone. Well polished by both wind and
water, the Paint Creek sandstone gives the appearance of pure
polished quartz. While not a rare gem, arenite sandstone is fairly
rare in this area. Notice the 'glow' of the stone just to the right
of the main falls.
Structure of a waterfall
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There are many types or forms of waterfalls. Please
review the diagram of waterfall forms as you must identify which
type is the Paint Creek Falls. Among them are
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Please Note: In order for you to claim a find of
this EarthCache, you must complete the following tasks and email
the answers. 1. From the above description of waterfall
forms, which best describes the Paint Creek Falls? 2.
Estimate the height and width of the Falls. 3. Please post a
photo of you at the Falls. You do not have show yourself in the
photo, but the falls must be featured. Another option is to show
your GPSr with the Falls in the background.
Bonus Falls across the road....can you find
it?
We sincerely hope you have a good time visiting the Falls
and learning a little bit about waterfalls in general. There are
many stops along the Lower paint Creek Road so keep your camera
handy.
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