Download The Cacapon Resort and Lost River State Parks

The
Geology
of
Cacapon Resort and
Lost River State Parks
West Virginia Department of Commerce
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
West Virginia State Parks
One in a Series of State Parks Bulletins
Ken Ashton, Geologist
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
GEOLOGIC MAPS
Cacapon Resort State Park and Lost River State Park
A geologic map shows the distribution of different kinds of rocks and
structural features (anticlines, synclines, faults, etc.) It is a summary
of all the geologist knows in an area, and is usually printed on top of
a topographic map, called a base map, for orientation. The base map
is printed with light colors so it doesn’t interfere with the geologic
features on the map. The geology is represented by colors, lines and
special symbols unique to geologic maps. The map itself is usually
accompanied by one or more vertical cross sections so that a person can
picture rocks at and below the surface in three dimensions.
The rock units depicted on these maps are described in the “Rocks
exposed in the parks” sections, beginning on page 9. The base maps
used are the standard USGS 7.5 minute topographic maps. Topographic
maps of West Virginia are available from West Virginia Geological and
Economic Survey.
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
Morgantown, WV
INFORMATIONAL LINKS
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West Virginia State Parks
1–800–CALL WVA
www.wvstateparks.com
Lost River State Park..........................www.lostriversp.com
Cacapon Resort State Park...................www.cacaponresort.com
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
.......................................................www.wvgs.wvnet.edu
West Virginia State Parks.....................www.wvstateparks.com
West Virginia Division of Tourism.........www.wvtourism.com
Berkeley Springs State Park.................www.berkeleyspringssp.com
Berkeley Springs Tourism....................www.berkeleysprings.com
Hardy County, WV..............................www.hardycountywv.com
Monongahela National Forest...............www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf
George Washington/Jefferson National Forests
.......................................................www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj
United States Geological Survey...........www.usgs.gov
Table of Contents
Overview of West Virginia Geology.....................3
Geology of Cacapon Resort
and Lost River state parks
Introduction.................................................8
Rocks exposed in the parks.............................9
Cacapon Resort State Park............................ 13
• Stratigraphic Features............................... 14
• Structural Features.................................... 17
• Topographic Features................................ 20
Lost River State Park.................................... 24
• Stratigraphic Features............................... 25
• Structural Features.................................... 31
• Lee Sulphur Springs.................................. 34
• “Lost” River............................................. 35
1
ARTWORK
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18
Figure 19
Figure 20
Figure 21
Figure 22
Figure 23
Figure 24
Figure 25
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 28
Figure 29
Figure 30
Figure 31
Figure 32
Figure 33
Figure 34
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Spruce Knob, West Virginia
Geological history of West Virginia
Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
Physiographic Provinces of West Virginia
Cross section of physiographic provinces
Locator map for Lost River and Cacapon Resort
state parks
Cacapon Mountain, Cranny Crow overlook
Generalized Stratigraphic Column
of West Virginia and Rocks Found in the Parks
Looking east from Cacapon Mountain
Cacapon Lake dam
Arenicolites on Keefer Sandstone
Arthrophycus alleghaniensi
on Tuscarora Sandstone
Marine fossils in Oriskany Sandstone
Differential weathering, Prospect Rocks
Pot holes, Prospect Rocks
Northeast dipping beds of Oriskany Sandstone Cacapon Resort State Park facilities map
Cross section of Cacapon Resort State Park
Southeast view of Cacapon Mountain
Stream flowing into sinkhole on golf course
Looking east from Cheeks Rocks
Ripple marks on bedding, Cheeks Rocks
Cross bedding, Hampshire Formation
Helmick Rock
Cabin 12 with stone chimney
Cranny Crow overlook Lost River State Park facilities map
Steeply dipping Hampshire Formation beds
Cheeks Rocks, near axis of Sideling Hill Syncline
Cross section of Lost River State Park
Lee Sulphur Springs
Hanging Rock
Lost River
Overview of West Virginia Geology
page 3
page 3
page 5
page 6
page 7
page 7
page 8
page 9
page 11
page 13
page 13
page 14
page 15
page 15
page 16
page 16
page 17
pages 18-19
pages 20-21
page 21
page 22
page 24
page 25
page 26
page 27
page 27
page 27
pages 28-29
page 30
page 31
pages 32-33
page 34
page 35
page 36
West Virginia is called the Mountain State largely because
the average elevation is over 1,500 feet above sea level.
This is the highest average elevation of
any state east of the Mississippi River. The
relief, difference between the highest and
lowest points, of the state is 4,613 feet.
The lowest point is at Harpers Ferry on
the Potomac River (247 feet); the highest
is at Spruce Knob on the Allegheny
Plateau in Pendleton County (4,860 feet).
The geologic history of West Virginia
prior to one billion years ago is poorly
understood. More recent geologic history
can be deciphered from clues found in
the exposed bedrock. For example, the
oldest exposed rock in the state is a
metamorphosed lava deposited 600 million
years ago called the Catoctin Greenstone.
The Catoctin is found in the Blue Ridge
Mountains of the Eastern Panhandle. Most
rocks in West Virginia are sedimentary and
were deposited during the Paleozoic Era,
542–245 million years ago.
Figure 1. Harpers Ferry —
247 feet above sea level.
All sedimentary rocks were deposited
originally in rivers and streams on older
land surfaces (“terrestrial”) or in oceans
(“marine”), compressed by the weight
of deposits added on top, and generally
cemented by quartz or calcite. Clastic
sedimentary rocks contain particles and
grains of older rocks, disintegrated by
Figure 2. Spruce Knob —
weathering and carried by wind or water
4,860 feet above sea level.
to the site of deposition. “Calcareous”
rocks have been cemented with calcite
(calcium carbonate) and “siliceous” rocks by quartz
(silicon dioxide). A limestone contains mainly calcite,
deposited as grains, nodules or fossils, or formed by
3
chemical dissolution from water.
Nugget
The dominant
geologic
event in the
formation
of the
Appalachian
Mountains
began during
the Permian
Period
— more than
250 million
years ago.
West Virginia contains little igneous rock (molten
or volcanic source) or metamorphic rock (changed
from preexisting rock by heat, pressure, and time).
Exceptions include igneous bodies in Pendleton County
and the Catoctin Greenstone in the Eastern Panhandle.
Movements of the earth’s crust (tectonic plates) cause
episodes of mountain building, called orogenies, which
have major effects on the land surface of an area. The
Taconic Orogeny was the first of these to affect West
Virginia. This event formed mountains to the northeast
of the state that subsequently became a source of sands
and silts (clastics) and marine (carbonates) sediments
deposited during the Ordovician, Silurian and early
Devonian periods. Highlands to the northeast were again
uplifted during the Devonian Period in an episode called
the Acadian Orogeny, which provided a source of clastic
sediments in the Middle and Late Devonian. Shallow
seas covered West Virginia in the Middle Mississippian
Period (about 330 million years ago), during which time
carbonate sediments (limestones) were deposited. During
the Pennsylvanian Period, West Virginia was a low-lying
and swampy coastal plain that allowed the deposition of
sandstone, shale, and most importantly, the numerous
coal deposits for which West Virginia is famous.
The Appalachian Orogeny began during the Permian
Period. This was the dominant geologic event in the
formation of the Appalachian Mountains. Europe, Asia,
and North America (Laurasia) and Africa, South America,
Australia, Antarctica, and India (Gondwanaland) all
came together forming a supercontinent called Pangea.
This collision resulted in folding and thrust-faulting,
especially in the eastern part of the state, as the
Appalachian Mountains rose to heights approaching the
modern Alps. Erosion then became the predominant
geological process; hence, there are no sedimentary
rocks younger than the late Paleozoic Era found in West
Virginia. There are, however, several Mesozoic (Jurassic)
igneous bodies of rocks found in Pendleton County.
4
Although the mile-thick ice sheets of the “Ice Age”
Figure 3. Geological history of West Virginia.
5
(Pleistocene Epoch of the Neogene Period) never reached
West Virginia, they impacted the state by damming
rivers, forming lakes and creating new drainage patterns.
Lake Monongahela formed when advancing ice sheets and
glacial sediments dammed the ancestral Monongahela
River system near Pittsburgh. Farther south, Lake Tight
was formed when the ancestral Kanawha River, known
as the Teays River, was
blocked by ice and/or
glacial sediments.
Figure 4.
Seneca Rocks,
a Tuscarora
Sandstone
formation in
Pendleton
County.
During the Jurassic
Period of the Mesozoic
Era, tectonic activity
associated with the
opening of the Atlantic
Ocean caused fracturing
of the earth’s crust in the
Pendleton County area of
eastern West Virginia and
subsequent intrusion of mafic (iron rich) igneous dikes.
In the early Cenozoic period, more extensive igneous
activity in the same area resulted in the intrusion of
numerous igneous sills and dikes. A dike is an igneous
body that cuts across layers of adjacent rock. Sills are
igneous bodies that parallel adjacent beds. No known
tectonic event has been linked to the Cenozoic intrusives.
Figure 5. Physiographic provinces of West Virginia.
Physiographic Provinces
6
A physiographic province is a landform region underlain
by similar geologic structure where the terrain has been
shaped by a common geologic history. Most of West
Virginia is a dissected, westward-tilting plateau called
the Appalachian Plateau Province. In the northeast part
of this province, a subprovince called the Allegheny
Mountain Section combines elements of the folded
mountains to the east and the dissected plateau. The
eastern boundary of the Appalachian Plateau, called
the Allegheny Front, is a prominent geological and
topographic feature that runs northeast-southwest across
the state. East of the Allegheny Front are a series of
long folded mountains and valleys defining the Valley
Figure 6. Cross section of physiographic provinces.
and Ridge Province. East of the main group of folded
mountains and valleys is the Great Valley subprovince.
Along the eastern state boundary in Jefferson County is
the Blue Ridge Province.
7
GEOLOGY of
CACAPON RESORT STATE PARK
and LOST RIVER STATE PARK
Introduction
Cacapon Resort and Lost River state parks are the
two largest parks located in West Virginia’s eastern
panhandle. Separated by about 53 miles, each park
has its own beauty and
character. However, they
are geologically similar
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in that both are located
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within the Valley and Ridge
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physiographic province
and the topography is
typical of this region.
Folded bedrock, combined
with differing rates of rock
weathering, has led to
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the development of long,
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parallel northeast trending
mountain ridges separated
by broad valleys.
Figure 7.
Cacapon
Resort State
Park and Lost
River State
Park locator
map.
8
All bedrock in these two
parks is of sedimentary
origin. Sedimentary
rocks usually have a layered or bedded appearance, and
are commonly seen in road cuts or exposed hillsides
in West Virginia. Loose sand became sandstone. Mud
compacted to form shale. Calcareous shells or chemical
precipitations from sea water became limestone. Thick
peat deposits from swamps compacted to form coal.
While there are some non-commercial coals found in
Devonian and Mississippian-aged rock, there is no coal
occurring in either park.
Much of the scenic splendor of Cacapon Resort State
Park and Lost River State Park is a direct result of what
underlies the surface. Bedrock type and character,
combined with the effect of the forces that have altered
the rock since the sediments were deposited and the rock
formed, have contributed to the topographic features
seen today in these beautiful parks.
Geological descriptions
The following section lists rock units found in Cacapon
Resort and Lost River state parks with descriptions
of each unit. Geologists describe rocks based on
constituents, such as grain and cement type; grain size
(for instance, sand and shale); color; thickness of the
layers that make up sedimentary rocks (massive, thinbedded); how resistant the rocks are to weathering;
depositional environment (terrestrial, marine); and
diagnostic features, such as characteristic way of
breaking or presence of nodules, fossils, and particular
bedding patterns (cross-bedding). With this information,
a person can recognize the units in the field. The
meaning of many of these terms should become clear in
the text that follows.
Figure 8.
Cacapon
Mountain
rises above
the lodge
at Cacapon
Resort State
Park. Inset,
the view from
the Cranny
Crow overlook
at Lost River
State Park.
Rocks exposed within Lost River State Park
Rockwell Formation (Mr) — Light gray to dark gray
sandstone with conglomeratic zones. Occasionally iron
9
stained; cross-bedded. Occasional plant fossils found.
Underlies Big Ridge north of Howards Lick in Lost River
State Park.
Hampshire Formation (Dhs) — Composed of terrestrial,
fine-grained red and reddish-gray sandstone and shale
with minor tan and light-green shale and sandstone
beds; mostly unfossiliferous. The Hampshire underlies
most of Lost River State Park.
Rocks exposed within Cacapon Resort
Mahantango Formation (Dmt) — Contains dark-gray
siltstones and mudstones with minor fine-grained
sandstone. These units frequently weather spheroidally,
separating along fractures and bedding into small chips.
Some beds of the Mahantango contain marine fossils
consisting of brachiopods, crinoids, tentaculites, and
trilobites. Underlies U.S. Route 522 outside of Cacapon
Resort State Park.
Marcellus-Needmore Shale (Dmn) — The Marcellus is
composed of black to dark-gray marine shales that easily
split along close planes. The Needmore Shale is medium
to dark greenish-gray to brownish-black with dark-gray
limestone nodules.
Oriskany Sandstone (Do) — The Oriskany is a white to
light-gray, medium- to coarse-grained, quartz sandstone
with quartz pebble conglomeratic zones. It frequently
exhibits cross-bedding and contains abundant marine
fossils (brachiopods). Carbonate and silica cement is
common.
10
Devonian and Upper Silurian-aged carbonates and
shales (DS) — These beds are subdivided into the
Helderberg group, the Tonoloway Limestone and the
Wills Creek Formation. The Helderberg Group is a marine
deposit composed mainly of massive gray limestone with
fossils. The Tonoloway Limestone is a thinly bedded finegrained, laminated gray argillaceous (clay-rich) limestone
that breaks into small, platy fragments. Occasionally,
salt crystal casts and mud cracks can be seen in the
Figure 9. Generalized Stratigraphic Column of West Virginia
and Rocks Found in Lost River and Cacapon Resort state parks.
Tonoloway, indicating deposition in repeatedly exposed
mudflats. The Wills Creek Formation is an assemblage of
gray and sometimes red shales, thin-bedded limestones,
and friable (easily crumbled) yellow-tan sandstone.
11
Bloomsburg Formation (Sb) — The Bloomsburg
Formation is a zone of thin-bedded, dark-red sandstones
with occasional red siltstones and shales that break with
an irregular fracture.
McKenzie Formation (Smc) — This formation is made
up of dark calcareous shales and thin-bedded, dark-gray
argillaceous limestones with marine fossils. The most
common fossils in the McKenzie limestones are ostracods
that appear as abundant tiny black oval shells.
Keefer Sandstone (Sk) — The Keefer is a relatively
erosion-resistant, dense, fine-grained, gray-white marine
sandstone; parts are iron stained, containing minor cross
bedding. It is marine in origin and commonly contains
traces of vertical (relative to bedding) worm burrows.
Rose Hill Formation (Srh) — The Rose Hill Formation
is a relatively thick assemblage of yellow-tan and red
marine shales with thin siltstone and sandstone layers. It
occasionally contains dense, red, hematitic (iron-laden)
sandstone layers.
Tuscarora Sandstone (St) — The Tuscarora is a white
to light-gray, resistant marine sandstone containing
occasional cross-bedded layers and conglomeratic zones
of quartz pebbles. It underlies the highest points on
Cacapon Mountain.
Juniata Formation (Oj) — The Juniata Formation
consists of thin- to thick-bedded red, cross-bedded
terrestrial sandstone and siltstone. Contains interbedded
shale and occasional thin light-gray sandstone. Underlies
the upper parts of the northwest slope and occasionally
the crest of Cacapon Mountain.
12
Oswego Sandstone (Oo) — The Oswego, the oldest
bedrock exposed, is a gray to light-green cross-bedded
sandstone with occasional pebble conglomerate zones. It
weathers to a tan color and is void of fossils. Underlies
the northwest slope of Cacapon Mountain in the
southwest corner of Cacapon Resort State Park.
Cacapon Resort State Park
Cacapon Resort State Park was acquired by the state
in 1934. Since that time additional purchases have
enlarged the park to its present area of 6,115 acres. The
park extends 12 miles
along the summit and
southeastern slopes of
Cacapon Mountain from
the northwestern corner
of Frederick County,
Virginia, northeastward
to within one mile of
the Potomac River and
the state of Maryland,
nearly all the way across Morgan County. Many of the
buildings, Cacapon Lake dam, and other facilities of the
park were constructed in the mid 1930s by the Civilian
Conservation Corps.
The relief (the difference between the highest and lowest
points) of the park is nearly 1,500 feet. The highest
altitude of 2,300 feet is near the southwestern end of
Figure 10.
Looking
east from
the Cacapon
Mountain
overlook.
Figure 11.
Cacapon Lake
dam.
13
the bedding. This fossil
is characteristic of the
Tuscarora Sandstone and
is used as a guide (guide
fossil) in the identification
of that formation.
Figure 12.
Arenicolites
on bedding
surface
of Keefer
Sandstone.
Nugget
Highest
point—2,300
feet—near
the southwestern
end of the
park. Lowest
point—850
feet—near
the park
entrance.
Relief—1,450
feet.
14
the park, where Batt Road turns to the northeast at the
summit of Cacapon Mountain; the lowest is about 850
feet, near the park entrance.
Stratigraphic Features
Boulders and blocks of Keefer Sandstone are numerous
throughout the main recreational areas of the park.
Many of the boulders contain what looks like small
rounded white pebbles, one-eighth to one-quarter of
an inch across. These are actually regular-shaped, long,
thin, quartz-filled tubes extending into or completely
through the sandstone layers. These features are burrows
called Arenicolites made by worms that lived in the
unconsolidated sands on the bottom of the shallow
Silurian seas. The tubes have since been filled with milkyquartz, precipitated from solutions seeping through
the sand, to give the appearance of pebbles when seen
in cross section. Similar, although less common fossil
markings, are found in the Tuscarora Sandstone.
Larger interlaced grooves, frequently one-half of an inch
wide, on the original upper side of beds in the Tuscarora
and corresponding ridges on the under side of the
adjacent beds, are trails and feeding tubes of unknown
ancient organisms. These features are called trace fossils,
which are important as they preserve evidence of how
animals lived and interacted with their environment.
The trace fossil Arthrophycus alleghaniensis differs from
Arenicolites by running parallel to, instead of across,
Fossils are more numerous
in the Helderberg
Limestone and Oriskany
Sandstone. Some layers in
these rocks consist almost
entirely of shells of marine
animals. Button-like forms
are impressions of parts
of the stems of plant-like
animals known as crinoids;
flat shells are those of
brachiopods and bivalves,
ancestors to present-day
clams; and coiled forms
are remains of gastropods
(snails).
Inorganic features of rocks
found in the park include
ripple-marks (shallow
depressions and ridges) formed by water currents moving
across loose sediment. Some bedding planes of the thinlayered Tonoloway Limestone, cropping out along the
main road and North Fork of Indian Run near the Old Inn,
are marked with a polygonal pattern of cracks or lines.
These are called mud cracks, caused by the shallow sea
bottom drying and shrinking from time to time. These
structures are identical to the cracks that form when a
mud puddle dries.
Curved, parallel streaks of persistent color may be seen
occasionally in the Keefer and Tuscarora sandstones.
These represent thin layers of sand of different mineral
content deposited at variable angles to the sea floor,
much as sand is deposited in sandbars today. Layering at
FIGURE 13.
Arthrophycus
alleghaniensi
on bedding
surface of
Tuscarora
Sandstone.
FIGURE 14.
Marine
brachiopod
(fossil shell)
remains in
Oriskany
Sandstone.
Structural Features
Figure 15.
Above,
differential
weathering
of Tuscarora
Sandstone
at Prospect
Rocks.
Figure 16.
Above right,
potholes
on bedding
surface of
Tuscarora
Sandstone
at Prospect
Rocks.
16
an angle to and between, bedding planes is called “crossbedding” and is a common feature of many sandstone
formations throughout the state.
Variation in the composition and amount of cement
bonding grains together often leads to interesting rock
shapes through “differential weathering.” The effects
of differential weathering can be seen at Prospect Rock.
Variations in the cementing material between successive
beds resulted in the deep horizontal grooves and “table
rock” feature. Variations in cementing material laterally
within a single bed have caused rounded depressions.
These hollows are similar in form to “potholes” formed
by erosion in rock floored stream channels at the sites of
rapids and waterfalls.
The Oriskany Sandstone’s constituent quartz grains
are held together by calcareous (limy) cement, which
is weaker than the silica cement bonding the grains
of the Keefer and Tuscarora. The limy cement is easily
removed by weathering so that quarries in the Oriskany
yield a very fine sand from the crumbly, weathered
layer. Oriskany sand has been hauled in from quarries
to form the beach of Cacapon Lake. The Oriskany also
is noted for its high-silica content and is produced for
making glass and other silica products from quarries in
Warm Springs Ridge, seen along Route 522 northeast of
Berkeley Springs.
Near the end of the Paleozoic Era, a collision between
sections of the earth’s crust, called tectonic plates,
exerted great horizontal pressure from the southeast
on the rocks of West Virginia. This caused an upward
buckling of the bedrock, resulting in the formation of the
Appalachian Mountains.
In the eastern portions
of the state, this uplift
caused the rocks to wrinkle
or fold into upwarps
and downwarps called
anticlines and synclines.
The ridge of Cacapon
Mountain directly overlies
the axis (center line) of
the Cacapon Mountain
Anticline. The bedrock
under the park to the
southeast of the anticlinal
axis dips (tilts) to the
southeast. Over the ridge,
on the northwestern slope
of Cacapon Mountain, the
rocks dip to the northwest.
Anticlines are commonly
bordered on either side
by downfolds called
“synclines” (beds concave to the surface). The axis
or center line of the first major syncline northwest of
the park is approximately on the crest of Sideling Hill,
where rocks of Mississippian age are exposed. There is a
spectacular exposure of the axis of this syncline where
Interstate 68 cuts through Sideling Hill, just west of
Hancock, Maryland. The axis of the first major syncline
to the southeast of the park is six miles distant from the
park entrance and about one mile beyond Sleepy Creek
Mountain, the first major ridge visible looking eastward
from the park. While the axes of anticlines and synclines
tend to control the trend or direction of valleys and
ridges, the crests and troughs of the underlying bedrock
Figure 17.
Northeast
dipping beds
of Oriskany
Sandstone
near park
entrance.
17
Cacapon Resort State Park
Figure 18. Cacapon Resort State Park facilities map.
FIGURE 19.
Generalized
cross section
of Cacapon
Resort State
Park and
Cacapon
Mountain.
do not always correspond to topographic highs and
lows. The adjacent synclines to the Cacapon Anticline
underlie highly elevated ridges, and it is not uncommon
for anticlines to underlie valleys (as at Canaan Valley).
Rather, the earth’s topographic features also result from
differences in the erosion and weathering rates of the
rock sections exposed. Where less resistant formations
were at the surface, they were worn away to valleys;
where there were more resistant ones, ridges remain.
Topographic Features
20
The recreation hall and entrance to the beach are on the
lowest ridge known as Warm Spring Ridge. The resistant
formation is the Oriskany Sandstone. An outcrop of the
Oriskany can be seen along the north side of the road
just after entering the park. This gap in the ridge, eroded
by Indian Run, has provided an easy access route from
the main entrance to the lodge and cabin areas.
Along the northwestern slope of Warm Spring Ridge,
outcrops of blue-gray Helderberg Limestone can be seen.
Some of these beds consist mostly of fossils of marine
animals, ancestors to present-day clams, oysters, and
snails.
The golf course and main lodge are underlain by thinbedded limestones and shales of the Upper Silurian and
Lower Devonian. Limestone and shale generally weather
and erode faster than sandstone. Weathering of these
soft rocks has formed the valley between Warm Spring
and Piney Ridge.
Limestone is chemically weathered as weak acids
21
FIGURE 20.
Southwest
view from
golf course
showing
Piney Ridge
and Cacapon
Mountain.
dissolve the soluble calcium carbonate. Rain and stream
water dissolve carbon dioxide, forming carbonic acid.
Forest vegetation can contribute tannic acid to stream
and groundwater. Groundwater can become acidified
from carbon dioxide in soils. Dissolving of limestone
occurs not only at the surface, forming valleys and
small depressions, but also in the sub-surface. As acidic
groundwater moves through fractures in the limestone,
it dissolves the rock, forming voids. Over time, these
voids grow larger, forming caverns. When the ceiling
of a cavern nears the surface, it can become weak and
collapse. The surface feature which develops is called a
sink hole. There are some shallow sink holes in the park
in the northeast part of the golf course.
Shale, composed of extremely fine-grained clay minerals,
is not soluble by weak acids; however, the bedding is
much thinner than in most limestone or sandstone.
Therefore, shale is easily broken into platy fragments by
frost and water.
22
Piney Ridge is a line of knobby hills and terraces along
the upper slopes of Cacapon Mountain. Here, the
resistant Keefer Sandstone has slowed the wearing away
of the land. The most spectacular outcrops of Keefer
Sandstone in the park are southeast of the parking
overlook on Batt Road about half a mile below the
summit where the South Fork of Indian Run has cut
through Piney Ridge. Boulders and blocks of Keefer
Sandstone are abundant throughout the park below
Piney Ridge. They have been widely used in construction
of the buildings, retaining walls, gate-posts, and Cacapon
Lake dam.
The Rose Hill Formation underlies the area between
Piney Ridge and the summit of Cacapon Mountain. The
Rose Hill consists of several hundred feet of red, olive,
or buff shales interbedded with red sandstone layers less
than a foot thick in most places.
The summit of Cacapon Mountain is underlain by the
oldest and toughest formation in the park, the Tuscarora
Sandstone, a very hard, erosion-resistant rock. The
Tuscarora consists almost entirely of medium- to thickbedded white, gray, or pinkish sandstone that weathers
to a dirty gray and is often covered with leathery-leaved
plant growths called “lichens.” The grains of sand in
the Tuscarora are firmly cemented with silica (quartz)
which creates a strong enough bond that breaks occur
across, rather than around, the constituent grains.
This results in fresh fractures appearing smoother and
brighter than in the weaker calcite-cemented Oriskany
Sandstone. Exposures of Tuscarora may be observed
closely for several hundred feet along Batt Road below
the summit where they form the northwest bank of the
road. Prospect Rocks, near the northeastern end of the
park, are a series of northwest-facing cliffs also cut into
the Tuscarora.
FIGURE 21.
Stream
flowing into
sink hole
developed in
limestones
under golf
course.
Nugget
The oldest
rock
formation
in the park
is Tuscarora
Sandstone
under
Cacapon
Mountain.
23
park. The scenery, topography, and geology of the park
area is typical of the Valley and Ridge physiographic
province with parallel northeast-trending mountain
ridges and broad valleys visible eastward from summits in
the park.
Figure 22.
Looking
east from
Cheeks Rocks,
Rockwell
Formation.
24
Lost River State Park
Lost River State Park, located in south-central Hardy
County, covers an area of 3,712 acres. The park extends
northeast from Howards Lick Run for five miles along
the summit and slopes of Big Ridge, one of the highest
ridges in the vicinity. The park continues for 1.5 miles to
the southwest of Howards Lick Run. This section includes
most of the recreation facilities and cabin sites along
Cabin Fork, and also extends up the slopes of Piney Ridge
to the west and East Ridge to the southeast. These ridges
are essentially lower, southwestward continuations of Big
Ridge. Many of the buildings and other facilities of the
park were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Altitudes in the park range from 1,750 to 3,210 feet,
thus the “relief” of the park (the difference between the
highest and lowest points) is 1,460 feet. The highest
point is about one mile northeast of the Cranny Crow
overlook at the summit of Big Ridge, and the lowest is
along Howards Lick Run at the main entrance to the
Stratigraphic Features
The Hampshire Formation underlies most of the park
and generally consists of mostly six- to 12-inch layers of
brownish-red sandstone, which are interbedded in many
places with thin layers of red and green shales and less
frequently with conglomerate. The colors are caused by
different forms of iron oxide distributed between the
grains of the rocks. Red shows the presence of ferric
oxide (Fe2O3) and green indicates ferrous iron (FeO).
Ferrous iron may form from ferric iron by the reducing
action of organic matter such as decaying plants
buried with the sediments and now almost completely
consumed. Differing amounts of original organic matter
from place to place may explain the presence of both
colors in one rock layer. Individual blocks long separated
from the parent layer may appear gray through leaching
of the surface iron, but broken open they usually show
the original red.
The Hampshire and Rockwell were deposited by streams
that flowed across a low coastal plain along the eastern
Figure 23.
Ripple marks
on underside
of bedding,
Rockwell
Formation
sandstone at
Cheeks Rocks.
Nugget
Highest
point—3,210
feet—summit
of Big Ridge.
Lowest
point—1,750
feet—at
the park
entrance.
Relief—1,460
feet.
25
Figure 24.
Cross beds in
Hampshire
Formation
outcrop
above first
sharp turn
on Fire Tower
Road.
side of a broad arm of the ocean that covered large areas
of North America during the late Devonian and early
Mississippian. As the sand grains, pebbles, and clays were
being deposited, currents sometimes swept the loose
sediments into parallel shallow depressions and ridges
(ripples). These were frequently preserved by burial
and cementing of the grains. Now they are exposed on
bedding planes at many places in and near the park as
ripple marks.
Figure 25. Helmick Rock on South Branch Mountain. 200 feet of relief in
Rockwell Formation. Talus slope at base provided stone for many buildings
at Lost River State Park.
As the channels carrying these streams migrated across
the coastal plains, the sediments deposited would record
changing channel positions in the form of cross-bedding.
Cross-beds can be seen in some outcrops of the Rockwell
Formation.
Some of the bedding planes are marked by a roughly
polygonal pattern of cracks, ridges, or lines. These are
impressions of mud cracks caused by the occasional
drying and shrinkage of sediments in the shallow streams
and lakes on the ancient coastal plain, similar to the
cracks formed when a mud puddle dries. At times of low
flow, mud cracks can be seen on bedding plane surfaces
of Hampshire Formation rocks in the bed of Howards Lick
Run.
26
Most of the sandstone seen in the chimneys and walls
of park buildings was brought from Helmick Rock
Figure 26. Silurian Tuscarora Sandstone
was used to make the base of the chimney
of Cabin 12 at the park.
Figure 27. Cranny Crow
overlook.
27
LOST RIVER State Park
Figure 28. Lost River State Park facilities map.
Figure 30.
Cheeks Rocks,
near axis of
the Sideling
Hill Syncline.
Rockwell
Formation
sandstones
dipping
southwest.
Structural Features
Figure 29.
Steeply
dipping
beds of the
Hampshire
Formation
at road
intersection.
30
on the northwest slope of South Branch Mountain.
Helmick Rock is a sandstone outcrop of the Rockwell
Formation, the same rock unit underlying Big Ridge.
As weathering and erosion remove material from joints
and bedding planes, large sandstone blocks fall from
the two-hundred-foot cliffs and are strewn along the
northwestern side to form a “talus slope.” Helmick
Rock is about seven miles from the park, on the road to
Moorefield (county Route 12).
Silurian Tuscarora Sandstone also has been used in
some of the park buildings, for instance, the base of the
chimney of Cabin 12. This probably came from the gap
east of Mathias where the Tuscarora surfaces. Not all of
the flat flagstones of the walks are of local origin. Slabs
of red sandstone forming the porch of the restaurant in
the administration building were brought from Watoga
State Park in Pocahontas County. The most distant source
for rock used in the park would be the algae-covered
marble blocks lining Lee Sulphur Spring. It is believed
that these were imported from Italy and installed by
General Henry Lee in 1801.
Near the end of the Paleozoic Era, a collision between
tectonic plates of the earth’s crust caused great
horizontal pressure from the southeast to be exerted
on the rocks of West Virginia. This caused a buckling
upward of the bedrock resulting in the formation of the
Appalachian Mountains. In the eastern portions of the
state, this uplift caused the rocks to wrinkle or fold into
upwarps and downwarps called anticlines and synclines.
The formation of the Appalachian Mountains caused
the originally flat-lying deposits of the Hampshire and
Rockwell to be greatly deformed. At the road junction
just below the swimming pool, layers of red and green
shale stand nearly vertical, a result of localized folding
of the weak shales as stronger sandstones above and
below slid against them. Polished and grooved fractures
(slickensides) found in some of the sandstone sections
show that those beds broke across the bedding, as well
as slipped along bedding planes.
A major structural feature, the Sideling Hill Syncline,
passes through the park. The axis of the fold is
centered along the summit of Big Ridge. It continues
northeastward through Maryland, where the axis can
easily be seen in a spectacular roadcut through Sideling
Hill on Interstate 68, west of Hancock. The crests
and troughs of folded formations do not nessessarily
31
Nugget
The axis of
the Sideling
Hill Syncline
can be
seen in a
spectacular
roadcut on
Interstate
68, east of
Hancock, Md.
Figure 31.
Generalized
Cross Section
of Lost River
State Park
area.
correspond respectively to mountains and valleys. Rather,
the topography results from differences in erosion and
weathering rates of the rock sections which were exposed
in linear belts after the folding. Resistant formations
such as the upper Hampshire and Rockwell form ridges;
whereas, less resistant rocks generally underlie valleys.
The valley of Cabin Run in the area of the administration
building and cabins follows the upended shale mentioned
before, while the wide valley of Lost River from Mathias
to Baker follows the much broader belt of nonresistant
Middle Devonian shale.
32
The synclinal structure of Big Ridge can be seen from the
trails in the vicinity of Cheeks Rocks. On the southeast
side the sandstone layers tilt (dip) northwest, while on
the northwest side they dip southeast. The exact axis or
line of reversal of dip also may be seen in the Rockwell
sandstone outcrops about 650 feet northeast of the
fire tower on the summit of Big Ridge. Along the axis
at Cheeks Rocks and Millers Rocks dips are relatively
flat. Many unusual rock shapes can be found along the
extremities of Big Ridge. These are formed by differential
weathering. Variations in the strength of the material
cementing the grains together have resulted in deep
horizontal grooves and “table rock” features. Vertical
cracks or joints in the layers have been widened to form
miniature canyons and, in a few cases, small natural
bridges. Joints were formed by tension that pulled the
rock layers apart across the bedding as they were folded.
They are common structures throughout the park.
33
Figure 32.
Lee Sulphur
Springs.
Marble blocks
lining spring
are reported
to have been
imported
from Italy.
34
Lee Sulphur Springs
“Lost” River
Ever since the first Lee ownership, the spring has been a
center of health-seeking and recreation. General Henry
(Light Horse Harry) Lee,
father of Robert E. Lee,
is said to have built the
family cabin in 1800. It
still stands in restored
condition near the spring.
He later built a two-story,
100-by-49-foot log hotel
that stood up-slope from
the present swimming
pool. The hotel burned in
1910. Many more curative
results were ascribed to
drinking and bathing in
this and other mineralized
spring water in the 19th century than today, which
made the area a popular destination for visitors from
throughout the middle Atlantic states.
The Lost River, for which the park takes its name,
parallels state Route 259 in a northeast trending valley,
underlain by less resistant
Devonian shales, which
is typical of the Valley
and Ridge physiographic
province. Howards Lick
Run, the main stream in
the park, empties into
Lost River at Mathias.
North of the town of
Baker, Lost River turns
eastward, cutting a narrow
gap through the ridge
underlain by the Hanging
Rock Anticline, exposing
rocks older than those
found in the park. Old
state Route 55 follows Lost
River through this gap.
The principles controlling such springs are fairly simple.
Rainwater seeps into a porous and permeable bed, such
as sandstone, at points higher on a structure, in this
case perhaps to the west along the Whip Cove anticline.
Water flows beneath the surface due to gravity between
impermeable beds like the interbedded shale in the
Hampshire until the carrier bed (aquifer) is exposed
at a lower level or the water can work its way to the
surface along faults or joints. In its passage through the
rocks it dissolves mineral matter and may pick up gases,
additional water, and other liquids from the pores of
surrounding rocks. The flow rate of Lee Sulphur Spring is
less than one gallon per minute, small compared with a
giant spring, such as Berkeley Springs in Morgan County
(Berkeley Springs State Park) that discharges as much as
2,000 gallons per minute. The water is pleasant tasting
but the odor of sulfur and hydrogen sulfide, which gives
it a “rotten egg” smell, can be strong.
Entering the gap from the
west, late Silurian/early
Devonian carbonates
(limestone and dolomite)
are exposed. Being on
the western side of the
axis (centerline) of the
anticline, these rocks dip
to the northwest. Continuing eastward through the gap,
across the axis, rocks dip to the southeast. It is on this
side that an exposure of the Silurian-aged Tuscarora
Sandstone nearly overhangs the road in a feature called
Hanging Rock, also the source name of the anticline.
This structure is nicely exposed by roadcuts made in
construction of new Route 55.
Four miles east of Hanging Rock, the Lost River flows
over an exposure of limestone. Eroded voids in the
bedrock cause some of the river’s water to be diverted
Figure 33.
Hanging
Rock.
35
Figure 34.
Lost River,
looking
downstream
from beneath
the old state
Route 55
bridge. During
times of very
low flow, the
river sinks
at this point
into voids in
underlying
limestone.
36
underground for about two miles before it reemerges. The
water follows joints and bedding planes in the Tonoloway
Limestone that have been enlarged by acids in the
water, dissolving the soluble limestone. During periods
of very low flow, all water in the Lost River channel
may be diverted underground. This feature is what gives
the river its name. The river flows underground in a
northeast direction to its resurgence east of Sandy Ridge,
paralleling the strike (direction of the axes of anticlines
and synclines) of the bedrock. Pressure is built up as the
water is confined underground, causing it to emerge with
force forming Cacapon River.
GEOLOGIC MAPS
Cacapon Resort State Park and Lost River State Park
A geologic map shows the distribution of different kinds of rocks and
structural features (anticlines, synclines, faults, etc.) It is a summary
of all the geologist knows in an area, and is usually printed on top of
a topographic map, called a base map, for orientation. The base map
is printed with light colors so it doesn’t interfere with the geologic
features on the map. The geology is represented by colors, lines and
special symbols unique to geologic maps. The map itself is usually
accompanied by one or more vertical cross sections so that a person can
picture rocks at and below the surface in three dimensions.
The rock units depicted on these maps are described in the “Rocks
exposed in the parks” sections, beginning on page 9. The base maps
used are the standard USGS 7.5 minute topographic maps. Topographic
maps of West Virginia are available from West Virginia Geological and
Economic Survey.
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
Morgantown, WV
INFORMATIONAL LINKS
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West Virginia State Parks
1–800–CALL WVA
www.wvstateparks.com
Lost River State Park..........................www.lostriversp.com
Cacapon Resort State Park...................www.cacaponresort.com
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
.......................................................www.wvgs.wvnet.edu
West Virginia State Parks.....................www.wvstateparks.com
West Virginia Division of Tourism.........www.wvtourism.com
Berkeley Springs State Park.................www.berkeleyspringssp.com
Berkeley Springs Tourism....................www.berkeleysprings.com
Hardy County, WV..............................www.hardycountywv.com
Monongahela National Forest...............www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf
George Washington/Jefferson National Forests
.......................................................www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj
United States Geological Survey...........www.usgs.gov
The
Geology
of
Cacapon Resort and
Lost River State Parks
West Virginia Department of Commerce
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
West Virginia State Parks
One in a Series of State Parks Bulletins
Ken Ashton, Geologist
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey