Virgin Falls
Virgin Falls, the namesake of the Virgin Falls State Natural Area, is a rather unique geological feature of the Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee. The water flowing over the falls literally emerges from a hole in the ground, Virgin Falls Cave, about 150 feet upstream from the lip of the falls. After a 110 foot drop over the falls the flow travels only 10 feet or so before dropping into the Virgin Falls Pit and disappearing underground again.
The source of the water for Virgin Falls was a mystery for many years but a local geologist used dye tests to prove the water flowing over the falls originated from a sinking creek in Lost Creek Cove about three miles away. Lost Creek Cove is a “karst polje” or “karst field” a geologic feature that consists of a very large, closed depression, or polje, where all the water drains underground due to the underlying karst topography. A karst topography is a area of sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, swallow holes, polje and other underground passages that occur when mildly acidic rain or soil water leach through and slowly dissolve bedrock of limestone or other soluble rock. One of the sinking creeks in Lost Creek Cove re-emerges at Virgin Falls and the other re-emerges at Lost Creek Falls, 1.8 miles west of Virgin Falls.
Virgin Falls, Virgin Falls State Natural Area, Tennessee, USA. Elevation: 1,245 ft., April 25, 2017.
Virgin Falls
Virgin Falls, the namesake of the Virgin Falls State Natural Area, is a rather unique geological feature of the Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee. The water flowing over the falls literally emerges from a hole in the ground, Virgin Falls Cave, about 150 feet upstream from the lip of the falls. After a 110 foot drop over the falls the flow travels only 10 feet or so before dropping into the Virgin Falls Pit and disappearing underground again.
The source of the water for Virgin Falls was a mystery for many years but a local geologist used dye tests to prove the water flowing over the falls originated from a sinking creek in Lost Creek Cove about three miles away. Lost Creek Cove is a “karst polje” or “karst field” a geologic feature that consists of a very large, closed depression, or polje, where all the water drains underground due to the underlying karst topography. A karst topography is a area of sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, swallow holes, polje and other underground passages that occur when mildly acidic rain or soil water leach through and slowly dissolve bedrock of limestone or other soluble rock. One of the sinking creeks in Lost Creek Cove re-emerges at Virgin Falls and the other re-emerges at Lost Creek Falls, 1.8 miles west of Virgin Falls.
Virgin Falls, Virgin Falls State Natural Area, Tennessee, USA. Elevation: 1,245 ft., April 25, 2017.