Earth and Environment Atlas

How The Planet Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Geological Formation

Willis Mountain

Inselbergs and Crystalline Monoliths

Willis Mountain is a narrow ridge of kyanite quartzite in Buckingham County, Virginia, about two miles long with steep rocky slopes rising some 150 meters above the adjacent valley to an elevation of 353 meters. The ridge originated as volcanic and volcanic-derived sediment that was hydrothermally altered by acidic fluids and then metamorphosed under high pressure and temperature into a rock unusually rich in kyanite, a mineral resistant enough to weathering that the ridge stands well above the surrounding, less resistant metamorphic terrain, its exposed rock characteristically etched with pits and furrows. Willis Mountain holds the largest of the region's kyanite deposits and has been mined since 1957.

Connections

Associated With

Cambrian, Eras
Source Willis Mountain (Wikipedia)
Gneiss, Materials
Source Willis Mountain (Wikipedia)
Quartzite, Materials
Source Willis Mountain (Wikipedia)
Schist, Materials
Source Willis Mountain (Wikipedia)

Caused By

Metamorphism, Processes
Source Willis Mountain (Wikipedia)
Orogeny, Processes

Wikidata P31 formation-type mapped to formative process Orogeny via reviewed judgment map (earth atlas); source citation is this entity's own cited Wikidata item.

Source Wikidata: Willis Mountain

In Discipline

Geomorphology, Disciplines

Wikidata P31 formation-type mapped to discipline Geomorphology via reviewed judgment map (earth atlas); source citation is this entity's own cited Wikidata item.

Source Wikidata: Willis Mountain
In the Other Atlases

Found In

United States

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikidata: Willis Mountain
Sources
Wikidata: Willis Mountain
Wikidata Q2805142, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Willis Mountain (Wikipedia)
  • Associated With: Quartzite, Lead paragraph
    Willis Mountain is well known as the site of a large deposit of kyanite quartzite that has been actively mined for kyanite for decades.
  • Associated With: Quartzite, Article text, rock Quartzite
    The kyanite quartzite and associated schist and gneiss consist of volcaniclastic sediments and volcanic rocks that have been altered by amphibolite grade metamorphism under pressure as high as 6.5 kb and temperatures as high as 600 °C.
  • Associated With: Schist, Article text, rock Schist
    The kyanite quartzite and associated schist and gneiss consist of volcaniclastic sediments and volcanic rocks that have been altered by amphibolite grade metamorphism under pressure as high as 6.5 kb and temperatures as high as 600 °C.
  • Associated With: Gneiss, Article text, rock Gneiss
    The kyanite quartzite and associated schist and gneiss consist of volcaniclastic sediments and volcanic rocks that have been altered by amphibolite grade metamorphism under pressure as high as 6.5 kb and temperatures as high as 600 °C.
  • Associated With: Cambrian, Article text, age Cambrian
    The schists are enveloped by biotite-amphibole gneiss of the Cambrian Chopawamsic Formation.
  • Caused By: Metamorphism, Article text, process Metamorphism
    The kyanite quartzite and associated schist and gneiss consist of volcaniclastic sediments and volcanic rocks that have been altered by amphibolite grade metamorphism under pressure as high as 6.5 kb and temperatures as high as 600 °C.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.