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Piedmont (United States)

Piedmont (United States)

Piedmont is the region of the eastern United States which lies between the coastal plain, from which it is divided by the fall line, and the eastern mountain ranges, the Appalachian Mountains. The width of the Piedmont varies, being quite narrow or vanishing above the Delaware River, but nearly 300 miles (475 km) wide in the state of North Carolina. The surface relief of the Piedmont is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills with heights above sea level between 200 feet (50 m) and 800 feet to 1000 feet (250 m to 300 m). Its geology is complex, with numerous rock formations of different materials and ages intermingled with one another. Basically the Piedmont is the roots of an ancient coastal mountain chain that is now worn down to low relief. Category:Geography of the United States Category:Regions of the United States

Coastal plain

In geography, a coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in western South America. The southeastern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity. The coastal plain of North America extends northwards from the Gulf of Mexico along the Lower Mississippi River to the Ohio River, which is a distance of about 500 miles (circa 800 km). During the Cretaceous age, the central area of the United States was covered by a shallow sea, which disappeared as the land rose. Large fossilized aquatic birds called Hesperornis and Ichthyornis, found in western Kansas, indicate that the shallow sea was rife with fish. The coastal plain lying alongside the lower Mississippi River may be associated with the shallow sea which had existed 100 million years ago. The Israeli Coastal Plain ( מישור החוף in Hebrew ) is a name to the flat and low-lying narrow strip around the Mediterranean Sea. It includes (from north to south) the following regions:
- West Galilee (Rosh Hanikra - Haifa)
- Sharon - (Haifa - Herzliyya)
- Gush Dan - (Tel Aviv - Rishon LeZion)
- Southern Mishor Ha-hof (Rishon LeZion - Ashkelon)
- The Gaza Strip. The Israeli coastal plain has sandy beaches and moderate-warm climate. The Illawarra is a Coastal plain in Australia. category:landforms

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains are a vast system of North American mountains, partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States, extending as a zone, from 100 to 300 miles wide, running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, 1500 miles south-westward to central Alabama in the United States, although the northernmost mainland portion ends at the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3000 ft. The highest of the group is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina (2,040m, 6,684 ft.), which is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River as well as the second highest point in eastern North America.

Regions

North America North America North America The whole system may be divided into three great sections: the Northern, from Newfoundland to the Hudson river; the Central, from the Hudson Valley to that of New river (Great Kanawha), in Virginia and West Virginia; and the Southern, from New river onwards. The northern section includes the Shickshock Mountains and Notre Dame Range in Quebec, scattered elevations in Maine, the White Mountains and the Green Mountains; the central comprises, besides various minor groups, the Valley Ridges between the Front of the Allegheny Plateau and the Great Appalachian Valley, the New York-New Jersey Highlands and a large portion of the Blue Ridge; and the southern consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, the Unaka Range, and the Valley Ridges adjoining the Cumberland Plateau, with some lesser ranges. The major ranges comprising the Appalachian system include the Long Range Mountains and Annieopsquotch Mountains in Newfoundland, the Notre Dame Mountains in New Brunswick and Quebec, the Longfellow Mountains in Maine, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the Green Mountains in Vermont, the Taconic Mountains in New York and Massachusetts, the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts, the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in The Poconos Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, and the Blue Ridge Mountains that run from southern Pennsylvania to North Georgia. The Adirondack Mountains are sometimes considered part of the Appalachian chain but, geologically speaking, are a southern extension of the Laurentian Mountains of Canada. In addition to the true folded mountains, known as the ridge and valley province, the area of dissected plateau Blue Mountain (Pennsylvania) to the north and west of the mountains is usually grouped with them. This includes the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York, and the Allegheny Plateau of southwestern New York, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. The plateau does not change character but changes name to the Cumberland Plateau in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, eastern Tennessee. The dissected plateau area is popularly called mountains, especially in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and while the ridges are not high, the terrain is extremely rugged. In Ohio and New York, some of the plateau has been glaciated, which has rounded off the sharp ridges, and filled the valleys to some extent. The glaciated regions are usually referred to as hill country rather than mountains. The Appalachian region is generally considered the geographical dividing line between the eastern seaboard of the United States and the Midwest region of the country. The Eastern Continental Divide follows the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Before the French and Indian War, the Appalachian Mountains lay on the indeterminate boundary between Britain's colonies along the Atlantic and French areas centered in the Mississippi basin. After the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763 limited settlement for Great Britain's thirteen original colonies in North America to east of the summit line of the mountains (except in the northern regions where the Great Lakes formed the boundary). This was highly disliked by the colonists and formed one of the grievances which led to the American Revolutionary War. With the formation of the United States of America, an important first phase of westward expansion in the late 18th century and early 19th century consisted of the migration of European-descended settlers westward across the mountains into the Ohio Valley through the Cumberland Gap and other mountain passes. The Erie Canal, finished in 1825, formed the first route through the Appalachians that was capable of large amounts of commerce. The Appalachian Trail is a 2,175 mile hiking trail that runs all the way from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, passing over or past a large part of the Appalachian system.

The chief summits

The Appalachian belt includes, with the ranges enumerated above, the plateaus sloping southward to the Atlantic Ocean in New England, and south-eastward to the border of the coastal plain through the central and southern Atlantic states; and on the north-west, the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus declining toward the Great Lakes and the interior plains. A remarkable feature of the belt is the longitudinal chain of broad valleys--the Great Appalachian Valley--which, in the southerly sections divides the mountain system into two subequal portions, but in the northernmost lies west of all the ranges possessing typical Appalachian features, and separates them from the Adirondack group. The mountain system has no axis of dominating altitudes, but in every portion the summits rise to rather uniform heights, and, especially in the central section, the various ridges and intermontane valleys have the same trend as the system itself. None of the summits reaches the region of perpetual snow. Mountains of the Long Range in Newfoundland reach heights of nearly 2000 ft. In the Shickshocks the higher summits rise to about 4000 ft. elevation. In Maine four peaks exceed 3000 ft., including Katahdin (5200 ft.). In New Hampshire, many summits rise above 4000 feet, including Mount Washington, in the White Mountains (6298 ft.), Adams (5805), Jefferson (5725), Clay (5554), Monroe (5390), Madison (5380), Lafayette (5269. In the Green Mountains the highest point, Mansfield, is 4364 ft.; Lincoln (4078), Killington (4241), Camel Hump (4088); and a number of other heights exceed 3000 ft. The Catskills are not properly included in the system. The Blue Ridge, rising in southern Pennsylvania and there known as South Mountain, attains in that state elevations of about 2000 ft.; southward to the Potomac its altitudes diminish, but 30 m. beyond again reach 2000 ft. In the Virginia Blue Ridge the following are the highest peaks east of New river: Mount Weather (about 1850 ft.), Mary's Rock (3523), Peaks of Otter (4001 and 3875), Stony Man (4031), Hawks Bill (4066). In Pennsylvania the summits of the Valley Ridges rise generally to about 2000 ft., and in Maryland Eagle Rock and Dans Rock are conspicuous points reaching 3162 ft. and 2882 ft. above the sea. On the same side of the Great Valley, south of the Potomac, are the Pinnacle (3007 ft.) and Pidgeon Roost (3400 ft.). In the southern section of the Blue Ridge are Grandfather Mountain (5964 ft.), with three other summits above 5000, and a dozen more above 4000. The Unaka Ranges (including the Black and Smoky Mountains) have eighteen peaks higher than 5000 ft., and eight surpassing 6000 ft. In the Black Mountains, Mitchell (the culminating point of the whole system) attains an altitude of 6711 ft., Balsam Cone, 6645, Black Brothers, 6690, and 6620, and Hallback, 6403. In the Smoky Mountains we have Clingman's Peak (6611), Guyot (6636), Alexander (6447), Leconte (6612), Curtis (6588), with several others above 6000 and many higher than 5000. In spite of the existence of the Great Appalachian Valley, the master streams are transverse to the axis of the system. The main watershed follows a tortuous course which crosses the mountainous belt just north of New river in Virginia; south of this the rivers head in the Blue Ridge, cross the higher Unakas, receive important tributaries from the Great Valley, and traversing the Cumberland Plateau in spreading gorges, escape by way of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to the Ohio and Mississippi, and thus to the Gulf of Mexico; in the central section the rivers, rising in or beyond the Valley Ridges, flow through great gorges (water gaps) to the Great Valley, and by south-easterly courses across the Blue Ridge to tidal estuaries penetrating the coastal plain; in the northern section the water-parting lies on the inland side of the mountainous belt, the main lines of drainage running from north to south.

Geology

Main article: Geology of the Appalachians The Appalachians are old mountains. A look at rocks exposed in today's Appalachian mountains reveals elongated belts of folded and thrust faulted marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and slivers of ancient ocean floor, which provides strong evidence that these rocks were deformed during plate collision. The birth of the Appalachian ranges, some 680 million years ago, marks the first of several mountain building plate collisions that culminated in the construction of the supercontinent Pangea with the Appalachians near the center. Because North America and Africa were connected, the Appalachians form part of the same mountain chain as the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Morocco During the middle Ordovician Period (about 495-440 million years ago), a change in plate motions set the stage for the first Paleozoic mountain building event (Taconic orogeny) in North America. The once-quiet Appalachian passive margin changed to a very active plate boundary when a neighboring oceanic plate, the Iapetus, collided with and began sinking beneath the North American craton. With the birth of this new subduction zone, the early Appalachians were born. Along the continental margin, volcanoes grew, coincident with the initiation of subduction. Thrust faulting uplifted and warped older sedimentary rock laid down on the passive margin. As mountains rose, erosion began to wear them down. Streams carried rock debris downslope to be deposited in nearby lowlands. The Taconic Orogeny was just the first of a series of mountain building plate collisions that contributed to the formation of the Appalachians (see Appalachian orogeny). By the end of the Mesozoic era, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era that the distinctive topography of the present formed. Uplift rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define the folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. Other streams downcut so rapidly that they cut right across the resistant folded rocks of the mountain core, carving canyons across rock layers and geologic structures. The Appalachian Mountains contain major deposits of Anthracite coal as well as Bituminous coal. In the folded mountains the coal is in metamorphosed form as anthracite represented by the Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania and discovered by Necho Allen. The Bituminous coal fields of western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia is the sedimentary form.

Flora and fauna

Much of the region is covered with forest yielding quantities of valuable timber, especially in Canada and northern New England. The most valuable trees for lumber are spruce, white pine, hemlock, cedar, white birch, ash, maple and basswood; all excepting pine and hemlock and poplar in addition are ground into wood pulp for the manufacture of paper. In the central and southern parts of the belt oak and hickory constitute valuable hard woods, and certain varieties of the former furnish quantities of tan bark. The tulip tree produces a good clear lumber known as white wood or poplar, and is also a source of pulp. In the south both white and yellow pine abounds. Many flowering and fruit-bearing shrubs of the heath family add to the beauty of the mountainous districts, rhododendron and kalmia often forming impenetrable thickets. Bears, mountain lions (pumas), wild cats (lynx) and wolves haunt the more remote fastnesses of the mountains; foxes abound; deer are found in many districts and moose in the north.

Influence on History

For a century the Appalachians were a barrier to the westward expansion of the British colonies; the continuity of the system, the bewildering multiplicity of its succeeding ridges, the tortuous courses and roughness of its transverse passes, a heavy forest and dense undergrowth all conspired to hold the settlers on the seaward-sloping plateaus and coastal plains. Only by way of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys, and round about the southern termination of the system were there easy routes to the interior of the country, and these were long closed by hostile aborigines and jealous French or Spanish colonists. In eastern Pennsylvania the Great Valley was accessible by reason of a broad gateway between the end of South Mountain and the Highlands, and here in the Lebanon Valley settled German Moravians, whose descendants even now retain the peculiar patois known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." These were late comers to the New World forced to the frontier to find unclaimed lands. With their followers of both German and Scotch-Irish origin, they worked their way southward and soon occupied all of the Virginia Valley and the upper reaches of the Great Valley tributaries of the Tennessee. By 1755 the obstacle to westward expansion had been thus reduced by half; outposts of the English colonists had penetrated the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus, threatening French monopoly in the transmontane region, and a conflict became inevitable. Making common cause against the French to determine the control of the Ohio valley, the unsuspected strength of the colonists was revealed, and the successful ending of the French and Indian War extended England's territory to the Mississippi. To this strength the geographic isolation enforced by the Appalachian mountains had been a prime contributor. The confinement of the colonies between an ocean and a mountain wall led to the fullest occupation of the coastal border of the continent, which was possible under existing conditions of agriculture, conducing to a community of purpose, a political and commercial solidarity, which would not otherwise have been developed. As early as 1700 it was possible to ride from Portland, Maine, to southern Virginia, sleeping each night at some considerable village. In contrast to this complete industrial occupation, the French territory was held by a small and very scattered population, its extent and openness adding materially to the difficulties of a disputed tenure. Bearing the brunt of this contest as they did, the colonies were undergoing preparation for the subsequent struggle with the home government. Unsupported by shipping, the American armies fought toward the sea with the mountains at their back protecting them against Indians leagued with the British. The few settlements beyond the Great Valley were free for self-defence because debarred from general participation in the conflict by reason of their position.

Name pronunciation and origin

The primary standard pronunciation of the range is with a long-A, as "app-uh-LAY-chan". The alternative pronunciation, with a short-A, "app-uh-LATCH-an" is often used east of the range in the Piedmont region, such as in North Carolina. The short-A pronunciation is used for Appalachian State University of Boone, North Carolina. It turns out that the short-A version, used by a minority, is arguably the correct way to say it. When the Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were exploring the Florida coast in 1528, they found a Native American town which they transliterated as Apalachen (ah-pah-LAH-chen). This name and its short-A pronunciation were applied to a nearby body of water, now spelled Apalachee Bay, to the Apalachicola River and the Apalachicola Bay, and to the city known as Apalachicola, Florida. The word "Apalachen" was also applied to an inland mountain range, and through the course of time it became applied to the entire range and its spelling was changed. Although the long-A pronunciation for the mountain range is standard, it is at odds with its origin.

References

- Topographic maps and Geologic Folios of the United States Geological Survey
- Bailey Willis, "The Northern Appalachians," and C. W. Hayes, "The Southern Appalachians," both in National Geographic Monographs, vol. i.
- chaps, iii., iv. and v. of Miss E. C. Semple's American History and its Geographic Conditions (Boston, 1903).
-

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms; the general idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state has transferred certain aspects of its sovereign powers to the federal government while retaining the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.

Legal relationship

At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776, the 13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states, which became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the Vermont Republic; for a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations. But upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law, empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations, albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via ratification of the United States Constitution, beginning in 1789. Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and - at the time - slave status. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic. The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual", and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union". In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
- Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.
- States are free to organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state supreme court for more information. For example, most lawsuits in the state of New York are filed in the Supreme Court, and then appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest court in New York is the Court of Appeals.
- The joint resolution which admitted the Republic of Texas to the Union as a state guaranteed Texas the right to divide itself up into up to 5 states. This clause may be redundant, however, as any such state would arguably require Congressional approval, just as when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; it may also be unconstitutional, as reducing the equal suffrage of the other states in the United States Senate.

List of states

The states, with their U.S. postal abbreviations, traditional abbreviations, capitals and largest cities, are as follows. For a complete list of non-state dependent areas and other territory under control of the U.S., see United States dependent areas. State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. (See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies for more detail.)
- Southern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York.
- Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Kansas, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, and others.
- Because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain or Mexico, many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names. They include Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada.
- Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is named after the Louis XIV (King of France at the time).
- The origins of the names of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Rhode Island are unknown, although various theories exist.

Trivia

Names

- "Georgia" can refer to either a U.S. state or to an independent country in the Caucasus.
- The name "New York" can refer to any one of three geographical levels: a state, a city in that state, or a county (coterminous with the borough of Manhattan) in that city.
- "Washington" is a state, a city corresponding to the District of Columbia (and thus not part of any state), and a number of cities and counties in various states. See the list of places named for George Washington.
- The state of Washington is the only state named after a U.S. President (or after a person born within the area now comprising the U.S., for that matter).
- The official name of Rhode Island is "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
- Only two states have state capitals named for the state (however, such name-sharing occurs commonly with states and provinces in some other countries, where the state or province actually often takes its name from a capital city): Oklahoma, with capital Oklahoma City, and Indiana, with capital Indianapolis (which means Indiana City). Iowa City, Iowa was the first state capital of Iowa but the capital was later moved to Des Moines, Iowa.
- Maine is the only state with a one-syllable name.

Geography

- Colorado and Wyoming are bounded by two circles of latitude and two meridians each, i.e. they appear to be rectangles in a cylindrical map projection.
- Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are the only states whose borders are made up of only straight lines (taking meridians and circles of latitude as straight lines) and, thus, the only states whose borders completely ignore natural features.
- Every state—except Hawaii, which has no land boundaries—has straight lines as at least part of its boundaries. These are usually combined with rivers (see river borders of U.S. states), ridge lines and other natural boundaries. Pennsylvania and Delaware are unique in that their common border is an arc of a circle, see The Twelve-Mile Circle.
- The lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; Louisiana is shaped like a boot.
- Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia have panhandles.
- Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico and Mississippi have bootheels.
- Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that are not physically connected to other states; Maine is the only state that borders only one other state. Missouri and Tennessee each border eight other states, the most for any state.
- Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah are the only four states to share a common border, known as the "Four Corners."
- Appearances given by the stereographic projection to the contrary, Minnesota is the northernmost of the forty-eight contiguous United States, as a northern spur of the state contains a portion of Lake of the Woods. At one time it was thought that Lake of the Woods contained the headwaters of the Mississippi River (now known to be at Lake Itasca).
- Alaska is the northernmost state and the westernmost state. Some would argue that it is also the easternmost state, as the Aleutian island chain crosses the 180º line of longitude.

Grouping of the states in regions

Alaska, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

State lists

References

External links

- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_US9S_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)]
- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US9_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org US Newspapers by State]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html Origin of State Names] United States, States of the Category:Subdivisions of the United States
- U.S. State ja:アメリカ合衆国の地方行政区画 ko:미국의 주 simple:List of U.S. states th:มลรัฐของสหรัฐอเมริกา zh-min-nan:Bí-kok ê hêng-chèng-khu

North Carolina

North Carolina is a Southern U.S. state in the United States, also considered a Mid-Atlantic state in some cases. North Carolina is one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. It is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The state is named for King Charles I of England (in Latin, Carolus means Charles). The USS North Carolina was named in honor of this state. North Carolina has 3 metropolitan combined statistical areas with a population of over 1 million. As of July 1, 2004:
- Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC - population 2,067,810
- Raleigh-Durham-Cary - population of 1,467,434
- Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point - population of 1,335,217 Source: US Bureau of the Census Released April 2005

History

North Carolina was originally inhabited by a number of native tribes, including the Cherokee, Creek, Tuscarora, Lumbee, and Catawba. North Carolina was the first American territory the English attempted to colonize. Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom the state capital is named, chartered two colonies on the North Carolina (then Virginia) coast in the late 1580s, both ending in failure. The demise of one, the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island, remains one of the great mysteries of American history. Virginia Dare, the first English child to be born stateside, was born in North Carolina. Dare County is named for her. The first permanent European settlers of North Carolina were poor English and Scots-Irish settlers who had failed at establishing themselves in Barbados. By the late seventeenth century, several permanent settlements had taken hold in the Carolina territory, which encompassed present-day South Carolina and Tennessee as well. The Carolina territory was a gift from King Charles II of England to the so-called Lords Proprietors, a group of noblemen who had helped restore Charles to the English throne in 1660. In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony. With the exception of the Earl Granville's holdings, it became a royal colony seventeen years later. According to legend, on May 20 1775, Mecklenburg County became the first North Carolina county to declare its independence from Great Britain. (No period documentation survives to verify this legend.) On April 12 1776, the colony became the first to instruct its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence from the British crown. The dates of both of these independence-related events are memorialized on the state flag and state seal. On November 21, 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution to become the twelfth state in the Union. Between the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, North Carolina worked to establish its state and local governments. In 1840, it completed the state capitol building in Raleigh, still standing today. In mid-century the state's rural and commercial areas were further connected by construction of a 129 mile (208 km) wooden plank road, known as a "farmer's railroad," from Fayetteville in the east to Bethania (northwest of Winston-Salem). In 1860 North Carolina was a slave state, however according to the Museum of the Cape Fear, it was only two percent of the population that owned over 99 percent of the slaves in the state. There were also about 30,000 free blacks residing in the state. Somewhat divided on whether to support the North or the South in the Civil War, North Carolina was the last state to secede from the Union in 1861. Governor Ellis, leader of the state at the war's beginning in 1861, famously declared in response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops to suppress the "rebellion" that "you can get no troops from North Carolina." However, under his leadership and that of his successor, Governor Zebulon Baird Vance of Asheville, elected in 1862, the Tar Heel State did provide 125,000 troops to the Confederacy, more than any other Confederate state. Approximately 40,000 of those troops never returned home, dead of battlefield wounds, disease and privation. Although few major engagements took place in North Carolina itself, her troops served in virtually all the major battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. The largest battle that occurred in North Carolina was at Bentonville, a futile attempt by Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston to slow Union Gen. Sherman's advance into the Carolinas in the spring of 1865. Gen. Johnston surrendered one of the largest Confederate armies near Durham in late April 1865, weeks after Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, but the final surrender in North Carolina came at Waynesville in Western North Carolina in May, when remnants of Thomas' Cherokee Legion laid down their arms. Today, North Carolina is home to Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville; it is one of the largest and most comprehensive military bases in the United States and is the headquarters of the XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Next to Fort Bragg is Pope Air Force Base. North Carolina is also home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune which, when combined with nearby Marine bases MCAS Cherry Point, Camp Geiger, Camp Johnson, Stone Bay and Courthouse Bay, makes up the largest concentration of Marines and sailors in the world. Over the past century, North Carolina has grown to become a national leader in agriculture, financial services, and industry. The state's industrial output—mainly textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, paper and paper products—ranked eighth in the nation in the early 1990s. Tobacco, one of North Carolina's earliest sources of revenue, remains vital to the local economy. Recently, technology, research, and banking has become a driving force in the state, especially with the creation of the Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham in the 1950's, along with Charlotte's newfound international status as the second largest banking center in the entire United States. The state is also a center of American motorsports with many NASCAR racing teams and related industries located near Charlotte. In 2005, the state Legislature voted to implement a state lottery, killing North Carolina's reputation as the "anti-lottery" state, where owning a lottery ticket, even from another state, was once a felony. North Carolina has had three constitutions:
- 1776: This one was ratified December 18, 1776, as the first constitution of the independent state. The Declaration of Rights was ratified the preceding day.
- 1868: This was framed in accordance with the Reconstruction Acts after North Carolina was readmitted into the Union. It was a major reorganization and modification of the original into fourteen articles. It also introduced townships which each county was required to create, the only Southern state to do so.
- 1971: This is a minor consolidation of the 1868 constitution and subsequent amendments.

Law and Government

The capital of North Carolina is Raleigh. North Carolina's governor is Mike Easley, a Democrat. Its two U.S. senators are Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, both Republicans.

Executive branch

The governor, lieutenant governor, and eight elected department heads form the North Carolina Council of State. Ten other department heads appointed by the Governor form the North Carolina Cabinet. The state's current governor is Democrat Mike Easley. See List of North Carolina Governors

Legislative branch

The North Carolina General Assembly consists of two houses, a 50-member Senate and a 120-member House of Representatives. For the 2005–2006 session, the current President Pro Tempore of the Senate is Democrat Marc Basnight (the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the President of the Senate); The House Speaker is Democrat James B. Black. The prior term's power sharing Co-Speaker arrangement is no longer in effect, as the House Democrats won a decided victory and majority of the seats in the 2004 election.

Judicial branch

The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court; it numbers seven justices. The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state; it consists of fifteen judges who rule in rotating panels of three. Together, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals constitute the Appellate division of the court system. The Trial division includes the Superior Court and the District Court. All felony criminal cases, civil cases involving more than $10,000 and misdemeanor and infraction appeals from District Court are tried in Superior Court. A jury of 12 hears the criminal cases. In the civil cases, juries are often waived. Civil cases such as divorce, custody, child support and cases involving less than $10,000 are heard in District Court, along with criminal cases involving misdemeanors and infractions. The trial of a criminal case in District Court is always without a jury. The District Court also hears juvenile cases involving children under the age of 16 who are delinquent and children under the age of 18 who are undisciplined, dependent, neglected or abused. Magistrates accept guilty pleas for minor misdemeanors, accept guilty pleas for traffic violations, and accept waivers of trial for worthless-check cases among other things. In civil cases, the magistrate is authorized to try small claims involving up to $4,000 including landlord eviction cases. Source: [http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Default.asp North Carolina Court System official site]

Economy

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state's 2003 total gross state product was $314 billion. Its 2003 Per Capita Personal Income was $28,071, 38^th in the nation. North Carolina's agricultural outputs are poultry and eggs, tobacco, hogs, milk, nursery stock, cattle, and soybeans. Its industrial outputs are tobacco products, textile goods, chemical products, electric equipment, machinery, and tourism. Charlotte, the largest city in the state, is also the nation's largest banking presence outside of New York City. North Carolina is also the largest film making state outside of California. Movie studios are located in Shelby, Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, and the most popular, EUE Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington. Some of the films and television shows filmed there include: Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Cape Fear, Maximum Overdrive and The Crow.

Demographics

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2004, North Carolina's population was 8,541,221. :See Metropolitan_Combined_Statistical_Area The racial makeup of the state is:
- 70.2% White Non-Hispanic
- 21.6% Black
- 4.7% Hispanic of any race
- 1.4% Asian
- 1.2% Native American
- 1.3% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in North Carolina are: African American (21.6%), American (13.9%), English (9.5%), German (9.5%), Irish (7.4%). It is probable that most of those claiming "American" descent are descended from the early Scots-Irish settlers who settled primarily in the Piedmont and the mountains. African-Americans are concentrated in the state's eastern Coastal Plain and in parts of the Piedmont Plateau where plantation agriculture was most dominant (See "History"). Until the mid 1860s, North Carolina had more small farms and fewer plantations than adjacent South Carolina and Virginia. These farmers were called "Yeoman" farmers who were non-slave owning, private land owners of tracts of approximately 500 acres (2 km²). North Carolinians of British ancestry are concentrated in the western mountains, coastal areas, and Piedmont areas. Residents who claim American descent are most prevalent in the rural areas of the central Piedmont and most of the mountains. The tri-racial Lumbee Indians, who claim descent from the Lost Colony survivors, live primarily in Robeson County, and the Cherokee Indians live in western Swain County. The state has one of the fastest growing Latino and Asian populations in the country; these populations have nearly quintupled and tripled respectively between 1990 and 2002. 6.7% of North Carolina's population were reported as under 5, 24.4% under 18, and 12.0% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.
Transportation

Airports

- Asheville Regional Airport
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport
- Fayetteville Regional Airport - Grannis Field
- Piedmont Triad International Airport (Greensboro/High Point)
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport
- Wilmington International Airport
Major Highways

- Interstate 26
- Interstate 40
- Interstate 74
- Interstate 77
- Interstate 85
- Interstate 240
- Interstate 277
- Interstate 440
- Interstate 485
- Interstate 540
- U.S. Highway 1
- U.S. Highway 15
- U.S. Highway 17
- U.S. Highway 19
- U.S. Highway 25
- U.S. Highway 52
- U.S. Highway 64
- U.S. Highway 70
- U.S. Highway 74
- U.S. Highway 76
- U.S. Highway 117
- U.S. Highway 158
- U.S. Highway 178
- U.S. Highway 220
- U.S. Highway 421
- U.S. Highway 501
- NC 147 (Durham Freeway)
Religion
North Carolina, like other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant, with the largest Protestant denomination being the Baptists. The current religious affiliations of the people of North Carolina are shown below:
- Christian – 88%
- Protestant – 77%
- Baptist – 40%
- Methodist – 10%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 24%
- Roman Catholic – 10%
- Other Christian – 1% (Eastern Orthodox, etc.)
- Non-Religious – 11% (atheists, agnostics, etc.)
- Other Religions – 1% (Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.)
Important cities and towns
Small towns/areas with interesting names:
- Bat Cave (in Henderson County, near Asheville)
- Climax (in Guilford County, near Greensboro)
- Frog Level (in Pitt County)
- Frying Pan Landing (in Tyrrell County)
- Fuquay-Varina (in Wake County)
- Kill Devil Hills (in Dare County)
- Lizard Lick (in Wake County, near Raleigh)
- Mount Airy (in Surry County, was the inspiration for Mayberry in the popular TV program The Andy Griffith Show, and is Griffith's birthplace)
- Rich Square (in Northampton County)
- Rockfish (in Hoke County)
- Soul City (in Warren County)
- Tickbite (in Pitt County)
- Welcome (in Davidson County)
Education

Colleges and universities

Professional sports teams
Despite having over eight million people, the disbursement of North Carolina's population over three major metropolitan areas left the state unable to attract any major professional sports league teams until recently. North Carolina remains without a Major League Baseball team despite numerous efforts to attract a team to the state. Although more populous New Jersey also does not have an MLB team, North Carolina is the most populous state without a team from each of the major leagues either within or very close to the state's borders.
Miscellaneous information

- North Carolina state symbols
- North Carolina Award
- List of individuals executed in North Carolina
- List of television stations in North Carolina
- List of radio stations in North Carolina
- List of famous North Carolinians
See also

- North Carolina communities
- North Carolina subcategories
- Order of the Long Leaf Pine
External links

- [http://www.ncgov.com North Carolina government]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37000.html US Census Bureau]
- [http://www.bluenc.com BlueNC] Multi-author blog about progressive politics in North Carolina.
- Category:States of the United States ko:노스캐롤라이나 주 ja:ノースカロライナ州

Sea level

:For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise.

Definition

Mean sea level (MSL) is the average height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level [http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/puscience/index.html#1], however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult.

Measurement

sea level rise To an operator of a tide gauge, MSL means the "still water level"—the level of the sea with motions such as wind waves averaged out—averaged over a period of time such that changes in sea level, e.g., due to the tides, also get averaged out. One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land. Hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates.

Difficulties in utilization

To extend this definition far from land means comparing the local height of the mean sea surface with a "level" reference surface, or datum, called the geoid. In a state of rest or absence of external forces, the mean sea level would coincide with this geoid surface, being an equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field. In reality, due to currents, air pressure variations, temperature and salinity variations, etc., this does not occur, not even as a long term average. The location-dependent, but persistent in time, separation between mean sea level and the geoid is referred to as (stationary) sea surface topography. It varies globally in a range of ±2 m. Traditionally, one had to process sea-level measurements to take into account the effect of the 228-month Metonic cycle and the 223-month eclipse cycle on the tides. Mean sea level does not remain constant over the surface of the entire earth. Mean sea level at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal stands 20 cm higher than at the Atlantic end. Despite the difficulties, aviators flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) must have accurate and reliable measurements of their altitudes above (or below - see Schiphol Airport) mean sea level, and the altitude of the airports where they intend to land. That problem can compound when landing on an aircraft carrier in a gravitational anomaly. In aviation mean sea level is increasingly being defined with reference to an ellipsoid defined by the World Geodetic System. Compared to a geoid, an ellipsoid is simpler to model mathematically and therefore lends itself to use with the Global Positioning System. Several terms are used to describe the changing relationships between sea level and dry land. When the term "relative" is used, it connotes change that is not attributed to any specific cause. The term "eustatic" refers to changes in the amount of water in the oceans, usually due to climatic changes. The term "isostatic" refers to changes in the level of the land masses due to thermal buoyancy or tectonic effects and implies no real change in the amount of water in the oceans. The melting of glaciers at the end of ice ages is an example of eustatic sea level rise. The subsidence of land due to the withdrawal of groundwater is an isostatic cause of relative sea level rise. Paleoclimatologists can track sea level by examining the rocks deposited along coasts that are very tectonically stable, like the east coast of North America. Areas like volcanic islands are experiencing relative sea level rise as a result of isostatic cooling of the rock which causes the land to sink. On other planets that lack a liquid ocean, planetologists can calculate a "mean altitude" by averaging the heights of all points on the surface. This altitude, sometimes referred to as a "sea level", serves equivalently as a reference for the height of planetary features.

Changes through geologic time

planetologist planetologist Sea level has changed over geologic time. As the graph shows, sea level today is very near the lowest level ever attained (the lowest level occurred at the Permo-Triassic boundary about 250 million years ago). For this reason, sea level is more prone to rise than fall today, and small changes in climate can have noticeable effects during human lifetimes. During the most recent ice age (at its maximum about 20,000 years ago) the world's sea level was about 130 m lower than today, due to the large amount of sea water that had evaporated and been deposited as snow and ice in northern hemisphere glaciers. The majority of the glaciers had melted by about 10,000 years ago, but minor glacial melting has continued (with occasional reversals) throughout recorded human history. More detail about the changes in sea level for the past 140,000 years can be seen by accessing [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/fig11-4.htm this chart]. Hundreds of similar glacial cycles have occurred throughout the Earth's history. Geologists who study the positions of coastal sediment deposits through time have noted dozens of similar basinward shifts of shorelines associated with a later recovery. This results in sedimentary cycles which in some cases can be correlated around the world with great confidence. This relatively new branch of geological science linking eustatic sea level to sedimentary deposits is called sequence stratigraphy.

External links

- [http://164.214.2.59/GandG/datums/vertdatum.htm National Imaging and Mapping Agency article]
- [http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/ Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level]
- [http://www.agu.org/revgeophys/dougla01/dougla01.html Global sea level change: Determination and interpretation]
- [http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterPublicationsSeaLevelRiseIndex.html Environment Protection Agency Sea level rise reports] Category:Oceanography Category:Cartography simple:Sea level

Geology

Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, "the earth") and λογος (logos, "word", "reason")) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history, and the processes that shape it. It is one of the Earth sciences. Geologists have helped establish the age of the Earth at about 4.5 billion (4.5x10⁹) years, and have determined that the Earth's lithosphere, which includes the crust, is fragmented into tectonic plates that move over a rheic upper mantle (asthenosphere) via processes that are collectively referred to as plate tectonics. Geologists help locate and manage the earth's natural resources, such as petroleum and coal, as well as metals such as iron, copper, and uranium. Additional economic interests include gemstones and many minerals such as asbestos, perlite, mica, phosphates, zeolites, clay, pumice, quartz, and silica, as well as elements such as sulfur, chlorine, and helium. Astrogeology refers to the application of geologic principles to other bodies of the solar system. However, specialised terms such as selenology (studies of the Moon), areology (of Mars), etc., are also in use. The word "geology" was first used by Jean-André Deluc in the year 1778 and introduced as a fixed term by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure in the year 1779. An older meaning of the word was first used by Richard de Bury. He used it to distinguish between earthly and theological jurisprudence.

History

In China, the polymath Shen Kua (1031 - 1095) formulated a hypothesis for the process of land formation: based on his observation of fossil shells in a geological stratum in a mountain hundreds of miles from the ocean, he inferred that the land was formed by erosion of the mountains and by deposition of silt. The work on rocks Peri lithon by Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, remained authoritative for millennia. However, its interpretation of fossils was not overturned until after the Scientific Revolution. It was translated into Latin and the other languages of Europe such as French. Georg Bauer (Georg Agricola), a physician, summarised the knowledge of mining and metallurgy in 1556. Georg Agricola (1494-1555) wrote the first systematic treatise about mining and smelting works, De re metallica libri XII, with an appendix Buch von den Lebewesen unter Tage (book of the creatures beneath the earth). He covered subjects like wind energy, hydrodynamic power, melting cookers, transport of ores, extraction of soda, sulfur and alum, and administrative issues. The book was published in 1556. By the 1700s Jean-Etienne Guettard and Nicolas Desmarest hiked central France and recorded their observations on geological maps; Guettard recorded the first observation of the volcanic origins of this part of France. James Hutton recorded his Theory of the Earth in the 1788 Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, later called uniformitarianism. William Smith (1769-1839) drew some of the first geological maps and began the process of ordering rock strata (layers) by examining the fossils contained in them. James Hutton is often viewed as the first modern geologist. In 1785 he presented a paper entitled Theory of the Earth to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his paper, he explained his theory that the Earth must be much older than had previously been supposed in order to allow enough time for mountains to be eroded and for sediment to form new rocks at the bottom of the sea, which in turn were raised up to become dry land. Followers of Hutton were known as Plutonists because they believed that some rocks were formed by vulcanism which is the deposition of lava from volcanoes, as opposed to the Neptunists, who believed that all rocks had settled out of a large ocean whose level gradually dropped over time. In 1811 Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart published their explanation of the antiquity of the Earth, inspired by Cuvier's discovery of fossil elephant bones in Paris. To prove this, they formulated the principle of stratigraphic succession of the layers of the earth. They were independently anticipated by William Smith's stratigraphic studies on England and Scotland. Sir Charles Lyell first published his famous book, Principles of Geology, in 1830 and continued to publish new revisions until he died in 1875. He successfully promoted the doctrine of uniformitarianism. This theory states that slow geological processes have occurred throughout the Earth's history and are still occurring today. In contrast, catastrophism is the theory that Earth's features formed in single, catastrophic events and remained unchanged thereafter. Though Hutton believed in uniformitarianism, the idea was not widely accepted at the time. catastrophism illustrated on relief globe of the Field Museum ]] By 1827 Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology reiterated Hutton's uniformitarianism, which influenced the thought of Charles Darwin. 19th Century geology revolved around the question of the Earth's exact age. Estimates varied from a few 100,000 to billions of years. The most significant advance in 20th century geology has been the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s. Plate tectonic theory arose out of two separate geological observations: seafloor spreading and continental drift. The theory revolutionised the Earth sciences. The theory of continental drift was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912 and by Arthur Holmes, but wasn't broadly accepted until the 1960s when the theory of plate tectonics was developed.

Important principles of geology

There are a number of important principles in geology. Many of these involve the ability to provide the relative ages of strata or the manner in which they were formed. The Principle of Intrusive Relationships concerns crosscutting intrusions. In geology, when an igneous intrusion cuts across a formation of sedimentary rock, it can be determined that the igneous intrusion is younger than the sedimentary rock. There are a number of different types of intrusions, including stocks, laccoliths, batholiths, sills and dikes. The Principle of Cross-cutting Relationships pertains to the formation of faults and the age of the sequences through which they cut. Faults are younger than the rocks they cut; accordingly, if a fault is found that penetrates some formations but not those on top of it, then the formations that were cut are older than the fault, and the ones that are not cut must be younger than the fault. Finding the key bed in these situations may help determine whether the fault is a normal fault or a thrust fault. The Principle of Inclusions and Components states that, with sedimentary rocks, if inclusions (or clasts) are found in a formation, then the inclusions must be older than the formation that contains them. For example, in sedimentary rocks, it is common for gravel from an older formation to be ripped up and included in a newer layer. A similar situation with igneous rocks occurs when xenoliths are found. These foreign bodies are picked up as magma or lava flows, and are incorporated, later to cool in the matrix. As a result, xenoliths are older than the rock which contains them. The Principle of Uniformitarianism states that, the geologic processes observed in operation that modify the Earth's crust at present have worked in much the same way over geologic time. A fundamental principle of geology advanced by the 18th century Scottish physician and geologist James Hutton, is that "The Present is the Key to the Past." In Hutton's words: "the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now." The Principle of Original Horizontality states that, the deposition of sediments occurs as essentially horizontal beds. Observation of modern marine and nonmarine sediments in a wide variety of environments supports this generalisation (although cross-bedding is inclined, the overall orientation of cross-bedded units is horizontal). The Principle of Superposition states that, a sedimentary rock layer in a tectonically undisturbed sequence is younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it. Logically a younger layer cannot slip beneath a layer previously deposited. This principle allows sedimentary layers to be viewed as a form of vertical time line, a partial or complete record of the time elapsed from deposition of the lowest layer to deposition of the highest bed. The Principle of Faunal Succession is based on the appearance of fossils in sedimentary rocks. As organisms exist at the same time period throughout the world, their presence or (sometimes) absence may be used to provide a relative age of the formations in which they are found. Based on principles laid out by William Smith almost a hundred years before the publication of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the principles of succession were developed independently of evolutionary thought. The principle becomes quite complex, however, given the uncertainties of fossilisation, the localisation of fossil types due to lateral changes in habitat (facies change in sedimentary strata), and that not all fossils may be found globally at the same time.

Fields or related disciplines

- Earth science
- Economic geology
- Mining geology
- Petroleum geology
- Engineering geology
- Environmental geology
- Geoarchaeology
- Geochemistry
- Biogeochemistry
- Isotope geochemistry
- Geochronology
- Geodetics
- Geomicrobiology
- Geomorphology
- Geophysics
- Glaciology
- Historical geology
- Hydrogeology or geohydrology
- Marine geology
- Mineralogy
- Paleoclimatology
- Paleontology
- Micropaleontology
- Palynology
- Petrology
- Plate tectonics
- Sedimentology
- Seismology
- Soil science
- Pedology (soil study)
- Speleology
- Stratigraphy
- Biostratigraphy
- Structural geology
- Volcanology

Regional geology

- Geology of the Alps
- Geology of the Himalaya
- Geology of Victoria (Australia)

United Kingdom

- Geology of Dorset
- Geology of Hampshire
- Geology of Hertfordshire

United States

- Geology of the Bryce Canyon area(Utah)
- Geology of the Canyonlands area (Utah)
- Geology of the Capitol Reef area (Utah)
- Geology of Connecticut
- Geology of the Death Valley area (California)
- Geology of the Grand Canyon area (Arizona)
- Geology of the Grand Teton area (Wyoming)
- Geology of the Lassen area (California)
- Geology of Mount Shasta (California)
- Geology of the Yosemite area (California)
- Geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area (Utah)
- Glacial geology of the Genesee River (New York, Pennsylvania)

National geology

- Geology of Australia
- Geology of Victoria
- Geology of Iran
- Geology of India
- Geology of Sikkim
- Geology of the United States of America
- Geology of California
- Geology of the Grand Canyon area
- Geology of the United Kingdom
- Geology of Japan

Planetary geology

- Geology of Mars
- Geology of the Moon

External links

- James Hutton's [http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/essays/Hutton.htm Theory of the Earth]
- James Hutton's [http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/hutton/hutton.htm Theory of the Earth & Abstract of the Theory of the Earth] Category:Geology ko:??? ja:??? th:?????????

Category:Geography of the United States

Category:United States United States United States ja:Category:アメリカ合衆国の地理 ko:분류:미국의 지리

Danske Statsbaner

right DSB, an abbreviation of Danske Statsbaner (Danish State Railways), is the largest Danish train operating company. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, goods transport and railway maintenance are outside its scope. DSB runs a light railway, called S-tog, in the area around the Danish capital, Copenhagen, that connects the different areas and suburbs in the greater metropolitan area. DSB was founded in 1885 when the government-owned companies De jysk-fynske Statsbaner and De sjællandske Statsbaner merged.

History

On September 1, 1867, the Danish state took over Det danske Jernbane-Driftsselskab (The Danish Railway Operation Company), the major railway company in Jutland and Funen, and consequently, De jysk-fynske Statsbaner (The State Railways of Jutland and Funen) were formed. The Danish state took over Det sjællandske Jernbaneselskab (The Railway Company of Zealand) on January 1, 1880, forming De sjællandske Statsbaner (The State Railways of Zealand). With the majority of railways on both sides of the Great Belt thus owned by the Danish state, it was not until October 1, 1885 that the companies of Jutland/Funen and Zealand merged into one national railway company, De danske Statsbaner (The Danish State Railways), the merger being finalised on April 1, 1893. 1893.]] Coinciding with the opening of the Little Belt Bridge in 1935, DSB introduced their new express train concept known as lyntog ('lightning trains'). These diesel-powered trains featured a then-impressive top speed of 120 km/h as well as a high level of comfort, and they proved themselves DSB's most commercially successful initiative of the 1930s. World War II left DSB with a fleet of outdated and worn-out trains, and although the use of motorised locomotives and DMUs was slowly starting to prevail during the 1920s and '30s, the diesel trains could not immediately satisfy the needs for pulling power. Thus, it was not until the mid-1950s that diesel locomotives got a real foothold with DSB. DSB's class MY diesel locomotives, delivered from NOHAB starting in 1954, proved themselves very reliable and economically feasible compared to the steam locomotives, eventually putting the age of steam to an end as well as being a decisive factor in DSB's choice of motive power for nearly three decades. 1954 The 1960s were marked by an increasingly poor economy for DSB, leading to a steady staff reduction throughout the decade. However, this was also accompanied by the appearance of new technology, notably the utilisation of electronic equipment, improving the safety and efficiency of DSB's railway traffic. In 1972, along with the celebration of the 125th anniversary of railways in Denmark, DSB introduced a new, mainly red design (with engine rooms of locomotives painted black), replacing the traditional maroon livery with yellow winged wheel symbols. DSB's position was additionally strengthened by the oil crisis in 1973. 1973.]] In 1990, after a delay of several years, the IC3 trains came into use, initially as lyntog, and in 1991 as ordinary intercity trains. The IC3 trains, being a specimen of the 'Flexliner' type of multiple units, have a distinct appearance due to the rubber-framed ends, allowing access between separate trainsets when coupled together. The Great Belt fixed link was opened for railway traffic in 1997 (a year before road traffic), replacing DSB's railway ferries. In 1997, infrastructural duties were branched off into a new agency under the Danish Ministry of Transport, Banestyrelsen (now: Banedanmark), leaving DSB with the task of train operation. A new design was presented in 1998, as well as the announcement of the Good Trains for All plan, seeking to replace old and less comfortable trains by 2006/2007. DSB was turned into an independent public corporation on January 1, 1999. The goods department of DSB, DSB Gods, was merged with Railion in 2001, and DSB now solely manages passenger rail service, including the operation of railway stations.

Corporate profile

DSB is an independent public state-owned corporation under the Danish Ministry of Transport and Energy. This has been the case since 1999, and is the result of a political desire to liberalise the Danish railways. Thus, DSB now operates on a for-profit basis, although it retains certain public service commitments via contracts with the Ministry of Transport and Energy. As of 2005, DSB employs about 9,000 people; the current president and CEO is Keld Sengeløv.

Divisions

- DSB Salg (sales and marketing)
- DSB Produktion (operation and maintenance of trains, except S-Trains)
- DSB S-tog a/s (operation of the S-Train network)
- DSB Detail a/s (management of shops on DSB stations)
- DSB International (train operation abroad)

Piedmont (United States)

Coastal plain

Appalachian Mountains

Regions

The chief summits

Geology

Flora and fauna

Influence on History

Name pronunciation and origin

See also

References

Further reading

U.S. state

Legal relationship

List of states

Trivia

Names

Geography

Grouping of the states in regions

State lists

See also

References

External links

North Carolina

History

Law and Government

Executive branch

Legislative branch

Judicial branch

Economy

Demographics

Transportation

Airports

Major Highways

Religion

Important cities and towns

Education

Colleges and universities

Professional sports teams

Miscellaneous information

See also

External links

Sea level

Definition

Measurement

Difficulties in utilization

Changes through geologic time

See also

External links

Geology

History

Important principles of geology

Fields or related disciplines

Regional geology

United Kingdom

United States

National geology

Planetary geology

See also

External links

Category:Geography of the United States

Danske Statsbaner

History

Corporate profile

Divisions

See also