TOPOGRAPHIC MAP EXERCISES - Toms Brook Quadrangle
Quadrangle Name: TOMS BROOK, VIRGINIA
Physiographic Region: RIDGE AND VALLEY
This map is in the Ridge and Valley region.
- On the North Fork Shenandoah River, in how many places can you see undercutting
(erosion) on one side of a meander opposite to deposition on the other side? (If you have
trouble with this question, go back to the explanation about large circles and small
circles on the New Kent map.)
- Can you find one or two examples of where the river has cut off or abandoned a meander?
- What different man-made features follow the length of the valley running diagonally
across the center of the map?
- Areas marked by round light-green dots are orchards. Can you find three examples? What
kind of fruit is probably grown here?
- What activity is found in town just above the word "Toms" in the name Toms
Brook? Knowing this is the floor of the Valley, what mineral is probably here?
- Check the contour interval at the bottom of the map. What is the elevation of Round Hill
near the center of the map toward the north? What is the elevation of the point marked
"Fetzer" on Little North Mountain in the northwest corner of the map?
- Intermittent streams are ones that flow only when the ground is soaked with water,
usually during and after heavy rains. They are indicated by blue dashed lines. How many
intermittent streams can you find flowing southeast from Little North Mountain?
- Notice the symbol for rapids. If you went white-water rafting down the whole length of
the North Fork Shenandoah shown on the map, how many stretches of rapids would you go
through?
- Hatchured contour lines look like this:
This means the area is a pit or depression
rather than a hill. The Valley has a lot of these depressions called sinkholes because the
limestone rock underneath is relatively soft and it collapses from underground water
erosion. Can you find several sinkholes along Route 11 within one-quarter mile of the
highway? Can you find any with water in them? How deep is the deepest one you can find?
(Note: the depressions in the Northeast corner of the map are quarries, not sink holes.)
Virginia Topographic Map Exercises Index
Answers
Go to Geography at OUZ