The geological formation you see is made up of folds. Folds can be convex or concave, with respect to the ground. A formation made up of convex folds is called an anticline, and a formation made up of concave folds is called an syncline. You can see a diagram of anticlines and synclines here: http://www.devils-punchbowl.com/pages/nhistory/geology/folding.html
The shape is caused by the particular movement of the tectonic plates over the earth's mantle. While the mantle is solid, it is ductile, and thus allows the plates to move. The deformations that caused these folds likely occurred during the Mississippian period (360-325 million years ago).
Before you enter your log, please e-mail us your answers to the following question:
Are you looking at anticlines or synclines?
If you can, please take a photo and post it. If you are a geologist, please tell us more about this site.
Please note that logs w/out approval from the CO will be deleted. So don't forget to send in your answer BEFORE logging the cache.
We are making this a sister cache to another earthcache of a very similar dramatic formation. (Not sure the concept of a sister cache exists, but it ought to.) It's in one of our favorite spots on the planet - a tiny village on the south coast of Crete called Hagios Paulos. The cache name is: "The Earthcache of Aghios Pavlos" and its # is GC254K. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC254GK But that one is gothic (as in the architecture, not the freshly exhumed look).
Thanks to Dr. Spotila from Virginia Tech for the geological information. Any errors and omissions in this description are due to the authors.
Thanks also to team TBose of Blacksburg, for suggesting that we make this an earthcache.