A rock shelter is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long or wide, rock shelters are almost always modest in size and extent.
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,351. Its county seat is Sparta.
Warren County is a county located on the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,953. Its county seat is McMinnville. Warren County comprises the McMinnville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Van Buren County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,168, making it the second-least populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Spencer.
Missouri, a state near the geographical center of the United States, has three distinct physiographic divisions:
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the dissected plateau lands lying west of the main Appalachian Mountains. The terms stem from historical usage rather than geological difference, so there is no strict dividing line between the two. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau in Harlan County, Kentucky.
The Nashville Basin, also known as the Central Basin, is a term often used to describe the area surrounding Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in which Nashville is located. The Central Basin was caused by an uplifting which produced a dome known as the Nashville Dome. The Nashville Dome is evidenced by the underlying rock strata that all dip downward away from Nashville. The uplifting of the Nashville Dome fractured overlying strata, making it more easily eroded, and thus the "dome" resulted in a "basin". Uplifted strata in the center of a geological dome have higher potential erosive energy than the surrounding strata, because they are physically higher. Erosion thus acts on the uplifted area at a greater rate than on the surrounding flat-lying area, creating a low area, i.e., a basin. This area is more correctly referred to as the "Central Dome" of Tennessee.
The Highland Rim is a geographic term for the area in Tennessee, North Alabama, and Kentucky which surrounds the Central Basin. Geologically, the Central Basin is a dome. The Highland Rim is a cuesta surrounding the basin, and the border where the difference in elevation is sharply pronounced is an escarpment.
The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, southwestern West Virginia, the eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains. Their highest peak, with an elevation of 4,223 feet (1,287 m) above mean sea level, is High Knob, which is located near Norton, Virginia.
The Collins River is a 67-mile-long (108 km) stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It is a tributary of the Caney Fork, and is part of the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi watersheds. The river drains the scenic Savage Gulf area, located just below the river's source, and empties into Great Falls Lake at Rock Island State Park.
The Rocky River is a 31.0-mile-long (49.9 km) stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It is a tributary of the Caney Fork River, and is part of the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi watersheds. The lower portion of the river is part of the reservoir created by Great Falls Dam, which is located near the river's confluence with the Caney Fork.
The Falling Water River is a 46.8-mile-long (75.3 km) stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It rises just west of Monterey at the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, and traverses the Eastern Highland Rim before dropping off to the Nashville Basin and emptying into Center Hill Lake along the Caney Fork. The river is noted for the 136-foot (41 m) Burgess Falls, which it spills over near the end of its course.
Rock Island State Park is a state park in Warren County and White County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The park is named after the community of Rock Island, Tennessee, which in turn received its name from an island on the Caney Fork upstream from the Collins River confluence and Great Falls Dam. Rock Island State Park is centered on a peninsula created by the confluence of these two rivers and extends downstream to the headwaters of Center Hill Lake.
Edgar Evins State Park is a state park in DeKalb County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park consists of 6,300 acres (25 km2) along the shores of Center Hill Lake, an impoundment of the Caney Fork. The State of Tennessee leases the land from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Cumberland Caverns is a national natural landmark and show cave located in McMinnville, Tennessee. It is the second longest cave in Tennessee and the twelfth longest cave in the United States.
The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, commonly known as Big South Fork, preserves the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River and its tributaries in northeastern Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky.
Scott's Gulf is a canyon situated along the Caney Fork River in White County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The canyon stretches for approximately 18 miles (29 km) as the Caney Fork drops from the top of the Cumberland Plateau down to the eastern Highland Rim. This remote section of the river is home to a wilderness area consisting of a largely undisturbed deciduous forest, numerous waterfalls, caves and other geological formations, and Class IV and Class V whitewater rapids.
The U.S. state of Tennessee is geographically diverse, with varying terrains and several distinct physiographic regions. Its landforms range from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the eastern part of the state to flat and fertile plains along the Mississippi River. The state is geographically, legally, culturally, and economically divided into three Grand Divisions: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee.
Grassy Cove is an enclosed valley in Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The valley is notable for its karst formations, which have been designated a National Natural Landmark. Grassy Cove is also home to a small unincorporated community.
The Interior Low Plateaus are a physiographic region in eastern United States. It consists of a diverse landscape that extends from north Alabama across central Tennessee and Kentucky into southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Its natural communities are a matrix of temperate forests, woodlands, and prairies.
