Nashville Basin

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Nashville Basin

The Nashville Basin is a term often used to describe the area surrounding Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the Capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis, Tennessee....
. The Central Basin was caused by an uplifting known as the Nashville Dome. The Nashville Dome is evidenced by the underlying rock strata

Stratum

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The Nashville Basin is a term often used to describe the area surrounding Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguishes it from contiguous layers....
that all dip downwards away from Nashville. The uplifting of the Nashville Dome fractured overlying strata, making it more easily eroded and thus the "dome" resulted in a "basin". Uplifted strata in the center of a geological dome have higher potential erosive energy than the surrounding strata, because they are physically higher. Erosion thus acts on the uplifted area at a greater rate than on the surrounding flat-lying area, creating a low area, i.e. a basin. This area is more correctly referred to as the 'Central Basin' of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
.

It is apparently uphill in any direction out of Nashville, as a visit to any of the taller buildings in the downtown area will readily make apparent. Nashville itself is located in the northwestern portion of this basin. Travelling north or west out of Nashville one will soon begin the climb up the escarpment

Escarpment

In geomorphology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves a sharp, steep elevation differential, characterized by a cliff or steep slope....
that marks the bordering geographic/geologic province, the Highland Rim

Highland Rim

The Highland Rim is a geographic term for the area in Tennessee surrounding the Nashville Basin. Nashville, Tennessee is largely surrounded by higher terrain in all directions....
. The basin extends for approximately forty-five to sixty miles to the east of Nashville, and about eighty miles to the south, near the Tennessee-Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
line.

The Central Basin is underlain primarily by limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
from the Ordovician

Ordovician

The Ordovician is a geologic period, the second of six of the Paleozoic era , and covers the time between 488.3?1.7 to 443.7?1.5 million years ago ....
Period. This area and a similar, but smaller area surrounding Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World," it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region....
referred to as the "Kentucky Bluegrass

Bluegrass region

The Bluegrass Region is a region of the United States, mostly in northern Kentucky, containing a majority of the state's population. The region is centered on , with other major metropolitan areas including and , as it extends into southern Ohio....
" area, are the two primary areas of this sort in the world.

The Inner Basin of the flattest terrain and most limestone-derived soil chemistry is located to the south and east of Nashville, primarily in the counties of Maury, Rutherford, Coffee, and Bedford. Here also are seen the horse farms somewhat reminiscent of the Kentucky Bluegrass region. Supposedly the underlying rock weathers to a soil particularly suited to the growing of the sorts of grasses most favored by horses. Limestone glades (or cedar glades

Cedar glades

A cedar glade is a habitat type unique to the central eastern United States. Cedar glades occur where limestone bedrock occurs near or at the surface....
), open areas where the flat limestone rock is denuded of overlying soil or nearly so, provide an environment for flora unlike any other in the world.