Alabama Landscapes

The Cumberland Plateau

River Systems

The Warrior and Tennessee River systems drain most of the Cumberland Plateau (Figure CR1).  Each has a distinctive drainage pattern.

Figure CR1.  Major drainage basins in the Cumberland Plateau.  (Cartographic Research lab., University of Alabama)

The Tennessee River System

The Tennessee River flows southwesterly in the Sequatchie Valley from the Alabama/Tennessee border to Guntersville (Marshall County), where it abruptly changes direction and flows northwesterly through the Jackson County Mountains and into the Highland Rim.  The abrupt change in flow direction has been attributed to a large NW-SE structure called the Anniston Cross-Strike Structural Discontinuity. The discontinuity acted something like a fault, causing a zone of weakness for in which the river to eroded. 

The Black Warrior River System

The Black Warrior system drains the Warrior Basin and has two different patterns on a regional scale.  Its eastern tributaries (The Mulberry and Locust Forks) rise between Cullman, Gadsden and Guntersville and flow southwesterly a trellis pattern, consisting of long relatively straight stream segments with smaller short tributaries joining at right angles. 

 The northern tributary (The Sipsey Fork) flows in a very distinctive rectangular pattern.  Several individual straight stream segments flowing either SW or SE make approximately right angle bends.  They coalesce at Smith Lake in Cullman County (Figure CR2). 

Figure CR2. Drainage pattern of the Sipsey fork of the Black Warrior River.

The Sipsey joins the Mulberry near the town of Sipsey (Walker County) and then joins the Locust Fork along the Walker County/Jefferson County border to the west of Short Creek. The river follows the county line to Burchfield Store and then flows more southwesterly towards Tuscaloosa (Tuscaloosa County).  The rectangular pattern continues to the SW, shown by abrupt bends in the river.

 Little River and Little River Canyon

Rising in northwest Georgia, Little River flows southwesterly near the eastern edge of Lookout Mountain into Cherokee County, Alabama at Cloudland State Park.  Just north of H35 the river begins to cut down into the plateau producing one of the most spectacular vistas in Alabama: the Little River Canyon (Figure CR3).  Below the falls at De Soto State Park it has incised about 90 feet into the plateau and occurs at an elevation of 1,143 feet. 

Figure CR3. Little River Canyon, DeKalb County. (Image © Mike Neilson)

 By the time the river flows out onto the Coosa River valley it has incised about 500 feet and flows at an elevation of 650 feet.  The valley profile is V-shaped, with the river occupying all of the lowlands.  The canyon is about 1200 feet wide at De Soto Falls and widens to about 2,600 feet at its mouth.  The river flows to the southwest throughout most of its course in the canyon, cutting through Pottsville sandstone.  Numerous waterfalls occur along its course where tributaries flow off the plateau to join the main part of the river.  About one mile before it exits the canyon, the river changes course to the southeast.  At the point of change, the river has cut through the Pottsville and begun to erode the softer Mississippian shale.

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