Nashville Basin
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The Nashville Basin, also known as the Central Basin, is a term often used to describe the area surrounding
Nashville is located in the northwestern portion of the Central Basin. 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 state line. Travelers leaving Nashville in a northerly or easterly direction will soon begin the climb up the escarpment that marks the bordering geographic/geologic province, the Highland Rim and further eastwards, the Cumberland Plateau. The southern edge of the Highland Rim is more distant and somewhat less pronounced. The only downhill routes leaving the area follow the course of the Cumberland River as it flows northwest toward Ashland City and Clarksville, Tennessee.
The Central Basin is underlain primarily by limestone from the Ordovician Period. The Nashville Basin and a similar but smaller area surrounding Lexington, Kentucky referred to as the "Kentucky Bluegrass" area, are the two primary areas of this sort in the world.[citation needed]
The Inner Basin of the flattest terrain and most limestone-derived
References
- ^ United States Geological Survey (1998). Ecoregions of Tennessee (PDF) (Map).
- ^ "Field Guide to the Limestone Cedar Glades". Center for Cedar Glades Studies at Middle Tennessee State University. Nashville Geology Homepage. 24 September 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Common and Endemic Herbaceous Plants of Cedar Glades by Scientific Name". Bioimages. Vanderbilt University. May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.