Cove (Appalachian Mountains)
Encyclopedia
In the central and southern Appalachian Mountains
of Eastern North America
, a cove is a small valley between two ridge lines that is closed at one or both ends.
Among the places where the word "cove" appears in the name of an Appalachian valley are Morrison Cove
in Pennsylvania
; Lost Cove, North Carolina
; Bumpass Cove, Tennessee; Doran Cove, Grassy Cove
, Ladd Cove, in or adjacent to the Sequatchie Valley
of Tennessee
and Alabama
; and numerous locations in the Great Smoky Mountains
, including Cades Cove
, Greenbrier Cove
, Miller Cove
, Tuckaleechee Cove
, and Wears Cove. Burke's Garden in western Virginia
is another example of a cove.
s formed by erosion that penetrated through the overlying thrust sheet, exposing the younger limestone
beneath. Cades Cove
and Wears Cove
in Tennessee are examples of limestone coves, in which fertile soil
s have formed on the limestone parent material in the valley bottoms.
associated with Appalachian mountain coves. Cove forests, which are unique to the Appalachian Mountains and are a subtype of Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
, are found in protected positions in the landscape at middle to low elevations and are typified by high species richness of both plants and animals. Canopy species in this forest type include American basswood, tulip poplar, sugar maple
, red maple
, yellow birch
, beech
, white ash
, bigleaf magnolia
, bitternut hickory
, and Eastern hemlock
. Carolina silverbell and eastern redbud
are important understory
trees. Notable flowering shrubs include rhododendron
, flame azalea, and mountain laurel. Animals noted for their abundance and diversity in cove forest habitats include salamander
s, bird
s, and small mammal
s.
The cove forest community is particularly well developed in the Great Smoky Mountains
, where some 72000 acres (291.4 km²) of cove forest are still old-growth. The forest there is categorized into three subclasses. The rich montane subclass is found in protected coves with nutrient-rich soils, typically at elevations of 610 to 1,400 m (2,000 to 4,600 feet), in eastern Tennessee
, western North Carolina
, and southwestern Virginia
. Dominant trees may include sugar maple, yellow buckeye, white ash, silverbell, or basswood, but yellow birch and beech are not dominant species. Bitternut hickory and northern red oak
also may be common in the canopy. A defining feature of the rich montane association is the presence of lush herbaceous flora, including calciphilic plants whose presence indicates soils of neutral to alkaline pH
(typically formed on limestone). The typic montane subclass of cove forest is characterized by the absence or scarcity of calciphilic species and is found on non-limestone soils at elevations of 600 to 1,370 m (2,000-4,500 feet) in the southern Blue Ridge
, including the Smoky Mountains, and 300 to 900 m (1,000-3,000 feet) in the northern Blue Ridge and adjacent Ridge and Valley. Dominant canopy trees include yellow buckeye, white ash, basswood, cucumber-tree magnolia, tulip poplar, red maple, Eastern hemlock, and black birch
. Typical subcanopy trees and shrubs include flowering dogwood
, striped maple
, sweetshrub, and rosebay rhododendron
. In the third subclass, the typic foothills type, tulip poplar is the dominant species, but the canopy also may include basswood, white ash, mockernut hickory, yellow buckeye, silverbell, American beech
, white oak
, and red maple. Fern
s are often common in the herbaceous layer. This subclass, found on protected sites at elevations mostly below 610 m (2,000 feet), lacks species typical of higher elevation cove forests.
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
of Eastern North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, a cove is a small valley between two ridge lines that is closed at one or both ends.
Among the places where the word "cove" appears in the name of an Appalachian valley are Morrison Cove
Morrison Cove
Morrisons Cove , is an eroded anticlinal valley in Blair and Bedford counties of central Pennsylvania, United States, extending from Evitts Mountain near New Enterprise, north to the Frankstown Branch Juniata River at Williamsburg...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; Lost Cove, North Carolina
Lost Cove, North Carolina
Lost Cove is a ghost town in Yancey County North Carolina. Located on the gorge above the Nolichucky River on the Tennessee - North Carolina border, a boundary dispute and its isolation reportedly made it attractive to moonshiners in the 19th century. It was settled shortly before the Civil War and...
; Bumpass Cove, Tennessee; Doran Cove, Grassy Cove
Grassy Cove
Grassy Cove is an enclosed valley in Cumberland County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The valley is notable for its karst formations, which have been designated a National Natural Landmark...
, Ladd Cove, in or adjacent to the Sequatchie Valley
Sequatchie Valley
Sequatchie Valley is a relatively long and narrow valley in the U.S. state of Tennessee and, in some definitions, Alabama. It is generally considered to be part of the Cumberland Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains; it was probably formed by erosion of a compression anticline, rather than...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
; and numerous locations in the Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
, including Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. The valley was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the national park...
, Greenbrier Cove
Greenbrier (Great Smoky Mountains)
Greenbrier is a valley in the northern Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. Now a recreational area, Greenbrier was once home to a string of Appalachian communities....
, Miller Cove
Walland, Tennessee
Walland is an unincorporated community in Blount County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Walland is the site of a post office and is the place name associated with zip code 37886, which covers an area beyond the Walland community...
, Tuckaleechee Cove
Townsend, Tennessee
Townsend is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 244 at the 2000 census. Townsend is one of three "gateways" to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the home of several museums and attractions relating to both the natural and human...
, and Wears Cove. Burke's Garden in western Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
is another example of a cove.
Limestone coves
Geologically, some coves are windowWindow (geology)
thumb|right|350px|Schematic overview of a thrust system. The [[fault |hanging wall block]] is called a [[nappe]]. If an [[erosion]]al hole is created in the nappe that is called a window. A [[klippe]] is a solitary outcrop of the nappe in the middle of autochthonous material.A tectonic window...
s formed by erosion that penetrated through the overlying thrust sheet, exposing the younger limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
beneath. Cades Cove
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. The valley was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the national park...
and Wears Cove
Wears Valley, Tennessee
Wears Valley is an unincorporated area in Sevier County, Tennessee, treated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census county division. As of the 2000 Census, the population of Wears Valley was 6,486....
in Tennessee are examples of limestone coves, in which fertile soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
s have formed on the limestone parent material in the valley bottoms.
Cove forest
Cove forest is the name for a type of deciduous forest communityCommunity (ecology)
In ecology, a community is an assemblage of two or more populations of different species occupying the same geographical area. The term community has a variety of uses...
associated with Appalachian mountain coves. Cove forests, which are unique to the Appalachian Mountains and are a subtype of Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
The Appalachian-Blue Ridge Forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the Eastern United States, delineated by the World Wide Fund for Nature.-Setting:...
, are found in protected positions in the landscape at middle to low elevations and are typified by high species richness of both plants and animals. Canopy species in this forest type include American basswood, tulip poplar, sugar maple
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...
, red maple
Red Maple
Acer rubrum , is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern North America. It ranges from the Lake of the Woods on the border between Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to near Miami, Florida, and southwest to east Texas...
, yellow birch
Yellow Birch
Betula alleghaniensis , is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario, and the southeast corner of Manitoba in Canada, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.It is a...
, beech
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...
, white ash
White Ash
For another species referred to as white ash, see Eucalyptus fraxinoides.Fraxinus americana is a species of Fraxinus native to eastern North America found in mesophytic hardwood forests from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, south to northern Florida, and southwest to eastern...
, bigleaf magnolia
Bigleaf magnolia
Magnolia macrophylla, the bigleaf magnolia, is a deciduous magnolia native to the southeastern United States and eastern Mexico. This species boasts the largest simple leaf and single flower of any native plant in North America.-Classification:...
, bitternut hickory
Bitternut Hickory
Carya cordiformis, the Bitternut Hickory, also called bitternut or swamp hickory, is a large pecan hickory with commercial stands located mostly north of the other pecan hickories. Bitternut hickory is cut and sold in mixture with the true hickories. It is the shortest lived of the hickories,...
, and Eastern hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
. Carolina silverbell and eastern redbud
Eastern Redbud
Cercis canadensis L. is a large shrub or small tree native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario, Canada south to northern Florida, United States....
are important understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
trees. Notable flowering shrubs include rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
, flame azalea, and mountain laurel. Animals noted for their abundance and diversity in cove forest habitats include salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, and small mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s.
The cove forest community is particularly well developed in the Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
, where some 72000 acres (291.4 km²) of cove forest are still old-growth. The forest there is categorized into three subclasses. The rich montane subclass is found in protected coves with nutrient-rich soils, typically at elevations of 610 to 1,400 m (2,000 to 4,600 feet), in eastern Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
, western North Carolina
Western North Carolina
Western North Carolina is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains, thus it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It is sometimes included with upstate South Carolina as the "Western Carolinas", which is also counted as a single media market...
, and southwestern Virginia
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or...
. Dominant trees may include sugar maple, yellow buckeye, white ash, silverbell, or basswood, but yellow birch and beech are not dominant species. Bitternut hickory and northern red oak
Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubra, commonly called northern red oak or champion oak, , is an oak in the red oak group . It is a native of North America, in the northeastern United States and southeast Canada...
also may be common in the canopy. A defining feature of the rich montane association is the presence of lush herbaceous flora, including calciphilic plants whose presence indicates soils of neutral to alkaline pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
(typically formed on limestone). The typic montane subclass of cove forest is characterized by the absence or scarcity of calciphilic species and is found on non-limestone soils at elevations of 600 to 1,370 m (2,000-4,500 feet) in the southern Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
, including the Smoky Mountains, and 300 to 900 m (1,000-3,000 feet) in the northern Blue Ridge and adjacent Ridge and Valley. Dominant canopy trees include yellow buckeye, white ash, basswood, cucumber-tree magnolia, tulip poplar, red maple, Eastern hemlock, and black birch
Black Birch
Black Birch may refer to:* Betula lenta* Betula nigra* Black Birch Ridge outside of Blenheim on the South Island of New Zealand* the Black Birch Astrometric Observatory at Black Birch Ridge...
. Typical subcanopy trees and shrubs include flowering dogwood
Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida is a species of dogwood native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southern Ontario, Illinois, and eastern Kansas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, with a disjunct population in Nuevo León and Veracruz in eastern Mexico.-Classification:The flowering...
, striped maple
Striped Maple
Acer pensylvanicum is a species of maple native to northern and montane forests in eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey, and also at higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains south to northern Georgia.It is a small...
, sweetshrub, and rosebay rhododendron
Rhododendron maximum
Rhododendron maximum — also called great rhododendron, great laurel, rosebay rhododendron, American rhododendron or big rhododendron — is a species of Rhododendron native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia south to northern Alabama.-Description:R. maximum is an evergreen shrub growing to 4...
. In the third subclass, the typic foothills type, tulip poplar is the dominant species, but the canopy also may include basswood, white ash, mockernut hickory, yellow buckeye, silverbell, American beech
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...
, white oak
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...
, and red maple. Fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s are often common in the herbaceous layer. This subclass, found on protected sites at elevations mostly below 610 m (2,000 feet), lacks species typical of higher elevation cove forests.