Broad Top is a plateau located in south-central Pennsylvania. It extends into Huntingdon County to the north, Fulton County to the southeast, and Bedford County to the southwest. It is bounded to the west by Saxton Mountain and Terrace Mountain, and to the east by Sideling Hill. In Bedford County, Harbor Mountain forms the southern boundary. Trough Creek Valley lies between the mountains.
Pennsylvania State Game Lands 67, 121, and 267 lie on Broad Top. Part of Rothrock State Forest lies on Broad Top as well, as is most of Trough Creek State Park in Huntingdon County.
The bedrock of Broad Top consists of relatively flat-lying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that are stratigraphically higher, and thus younger than the rocks immediately surrounding the plateau. Mapped formations on the plateau include the Mississippian-Devonian Rockwell Formation, the Mississippian Pocono Formation and Mauch Chunk Formation, and the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Group, Allegheny Formation, and Conemaugh Group. [1]
Although Broad Top lies within the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province, it is actually more similar to the Allegheny Plateau due to its flat-lying rocks and stratigraphic similarity to rocks there.
Bituminous coal has been mined in the Broad Top area, and the coal field is known as the Broad Top Field. Nearly all of the coal lies within the Allegheny Formation. [2] Abandoned mines exist in the area and acid mine drainage is an environmental problem, where several fishless streams exist as a result of the discharge from the abandoned mines. [3]
Bedford County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,577. The county seat is Bedford.
Somerset County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,129. Its county seat is Somerset. The county was created from part of Bedford County on April 17, 1795, and named after the county of Somerset in England.
Fulton County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,556, making it the fourth-least populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is McConnellsburg. The county was created on April 19, 1850, from a part of Bedford County and named after inventor Robert Fulton.
Saxton is a borough in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 726 at the 2020 census.
Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad (H&BTM) is a former short line railroad company operating passenger and freight service on standard gauge track in south central Pennsylvania.
Blue Knob State Park is a 6,128-acre (2,480 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Kimmel, Lincoln, and Pavia townships in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The average annual snowfall at the park is about 12 feet (370 cm). The park is named for Blue Knob, the second highest mountain in Pennsylvania at 3,146 feet (959 m). It is the location of Blue Knob All Seasons Resort, the ski slope in Pennsylvania with the highest elevation. Blue Knob State Park is just off Interstate 99 on Pennsylvania Route 869 west of Pavia.
Trough Creek State Park is a 554 acres (224 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Cass, Penn and Todd Townships, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The majority of the park is in Todd Township along Pennsylvania Route 994, east of the unincorporated village of Entriken. Huntingdon is the nearest borough. The park borders Rothrock State Forest and Raystown Lake National Recreation Area. There is a growing population of bald eagles at the lake. Fourteen eagles were spotted in January 2007. This is up from two that were spotted in 1990, the first year that an eagle survey was taken. These three sections of state and federal owned property combine together to provide hunting, hiking and fishing opportunities for the outdoorsman.
Brush Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in the Appalachian Mountains of central Pennsylvania, United States, lying east of the Allegheny Front and west of Tussey Mountain. It runs along the southeast side of the Little Juniata River and forms a horseshoe around Sinking Run, and is the westernmost ridge in its section of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians. The western ridge line separates the Logan Valley from the Sinking Valley.
Tussey Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in central Pennsylvania, United States, trending east of the Bald Eagle, Brush, Dunning and Evitts Mountain ridges. Its southern foot just crosses the Mason–Dixon line near Flintstone, Maryland, running north 130 km (80 mi) to the Seven Mountains of central Pennsylvania, near Tusseyville, making it one of the longest named ridges in this section of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians.
Blue Knob is a summit in the eastern United States with a broad dome that is the northernmost 3,000-footer in the Allegheny Mountains. It is the highest point in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
The Geology of Pennsylvania consists of six distinct physiographic provinces, three of which are subdivided into different sections. Each province has its own economic advantages and geologic hazards and plays an important role in shaping everyday life in the state. From the southeast corner to the northwest corner of the state, the include: the Atlantic Plain Province province, the Piedmont Province, the New England Province, the Ridge and Valley Province, the Appalachain Province, and the Central Lowlands Province.
Bedford County, Pennsylvania is situated along the western border of the Ridge and Valley physiographic province, which is characterized by folded and faulted sedimentary rocks of early to middle Paleozoic age. The northwestern border of the county is approximately at the Allegheny Front, a geological boundary between the Ridge and Valley Province and the Allegheny Plateau.
The Ordovician Reedsville Formation is a mapped surficial bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, that extends into the subsurface of Ohio. This rock is a slope-former adjacent to the prominent ridge-forming Bald Eagle sandstone unit in the Appalachian Mountains. It is often abbreviated Or on geologic maps.
Wills Creek Formation is a mapped Silurian bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama. It is a major ridge-former in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of the eastern United States. The Pottsville Formation is conspicuous at many sites along the Allegheny Front, the eastern escarpment of the Allegheny or Appalachian Plateau.
The Marcellus Formation or the Marcellus Shale is a Middle Devonian age unit of sedimentary rock found in eastern North America. Named for a distinctive outcrop near the village of Marcellus, New York, in the United States, it extends throughout much of the Appalachian Basin.
Rays Hill is a mountain ridge in Pennsylvania's Ridge and Valley Appalachians region. It is bordered to the east by Sideling Hill. About halfway along its run, the west side of Rays Hill ties into Broad Top Mountain, a large plateau.
The Devonian Foreknobs Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Canoe Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in central Pennsylvania, United States, running east of the Allegheny Front and west of Tussey Mountain. It forms a continuous ridge with Brush Mountain to the west. To the south, across the water gap formed by the Frankstown Branch Juniata River, the ridgeline continues as Lock Mountain.
Birch Island Run is a stream in Cameron County and Clinton County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River and is 7.2 miles (11.6 km) long. There are a number of coal seams in the Birch Island Run watershed, as well as iron ore. Mining has been done in the watershed. The watershed is 15.3 square miles in area and is almost entirely forested. The stream's tributaries include Little Birch Island Run and Amos Branch. Parts of the watershed are affected by acid mine drainage. However, brook trout live in the stream.