Georgia BCRAP The Appalachian Plateau is found in
Georgia BCRAP
The Appalachian Plateau is found in the Northwest corner of Georgia. It is the SMALLEST GA region.
This area has flat top mountains with narrow flat areas in between them.
General Sherman started his famous “March to the Sea” in the Appalachian Plateau. The second bloodiest battle in the Civil War happened at Chickamauga. People come here to visit historical sites and the canyons. Tourism is important here. The economy is also dependent on services like hotels, restaurants, and medical services like EMT’s and hospitals.
There are lots of caves and trees here. People like to visit the caves. They take care of the trees, and cut some of them down. When people do this to protect the forests but make money at the same time, it is called “forestry”. This makes a lot of money for the Appalachian Plateau!
Ridge and Valley
The Ridge and Valley region has mountains that have steep sides pointed tops (ridges) with wide valleys (flat lands in between mountains).
This region is in North Georgia between the Appalachian Plateau and the Blue Ridge region. It is the second smallest region.
Carpet factories have given people many jobs in the Ridge and Valley region. These factories were one of the biggest parts of the economy here for many years. When the U. S. economy was hit hard, the carpet business went down, but it is trying to grow strong again.
Places like the Mercier Orchards, grow thousands of tons of apples every year. The climate is good for growing apples in the Ridge and Valley—lots of water and cooler temperatures help make them perfect. People come from miles around to buy the apples and other products (pies, cakes, & jellies!!!), too.
The valleys are also great places to raise cattle. People sell milk, things made from the milk, like cheese, and beef. It is another big part of the Ridge and Valley economy.
Blue Ridge
The Blue Ridge region is the most mountainous region in the state. It has the highest mountains in Georgia.
In this region, the mountains have pointed peaks and few valleys. Most of the precipitation in the state happens here. This region supplies the whole state with water!!
There are many rivers and waterfalls in this region. The Chattahoochee River starts in this region. It takes water from the mountains across Georgia to Alabama, South Georgia and Florida!
The economy is based mostly on tourism and services, but forestry and farming are important here, too!
Piedmont Region
Coming out of the mountains, the land becomes rolling hills and flat lands. This is the Piedmont Region. The soil is even different here. It has red clay over a granite rock base.
A very large piece of granite we can see in the Piedmont is Stone Mountain. This is the kind of rock that is found all over the Piedmont Region.
Atlanta is a great place to visit in the Piedmont Region. Most of the people in the state live around Atlanta because there are many jobs in industry (factories), tourism and services. The Piedmont has the highest population!
We are an important part of the Piedmont!
The Fall Line
You can see on this map that the Fall Line is not a thin, little area. It is actually pretty wide. It separates the Piedmont Region from the Coastal Plain region. They call it the Fall Line because the elevation goes from hilly to almost completely flat very quickly so there are lots of waterfalls in the area.
When people started moving away from Savannah in colonial times, they couldn’t get over the falls so they stopped and built homes, and then towns along the Fall Line.
Coastal Plain
The Coastal Plain is the largest region of Georgia in terms of land area, but it has a much smaller population than the Piedmont. People are very spread out here.
It is almost like the Coastal Plain is two regions. The lower coastal plain, near the ocean, has lots of swamps and marshlands. It has the Okefenokee Swamp. The soil is very sandy; it is not very good for farming. It can grow lots of pine trees, though! The upper Coastal Plain has good soil and is better for farming. Most of Georgia’s farming takes place here. Cotton, pecans, peanuts, onions and many other crops here. This is a picture of President Jimmy Carter. He was a peanut farmer in the Coastal Plain before he became president!
The Okefenokee is a major ecosystem in the Coastal Plain. Its plants and animals are protected. There have been two wildfires that have damaged 1000’s of acres of the land.
The Barrier Islands are another important part of the Coastal Plain. They help protect the mainland along the coast. The mild weather brings many people for vacations and weddings. Millionaires used to go to places like Jekyll Island because the weather was so much nicer than their home areas during the winter and fall. Tourism and the services that help it are a big part of the economy here.
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