Alabama Landscapes
The Cumberland Plateau
Introduction
The Cumberland Plateau section of the Appalachian Plateau Province occupies about 15% of the state. It occurs as a roughly rectangular-shaped area of central and northeastern Alabama bounded by Russellville (Franklin County), Huntsville (Madison County), Center (Cherokee County) and Tuscaloosa (Tuscaloosa County) and continues through northeastern Georgia into Tennessee. The plateau is bordered by the Valley and Ridge Province to the southeast, the Coastal Plain Province to the west and the Highland Rim to the north (Figure C1).
Figure C1. Location Map of The Cumberland Plateau. (Base map Dept. of Geography, University of Alabama)
The landscape, which has developed on folded and thrust-faulted Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, consists of flat topped high elevation regions called plateaus, separated by deep steep-sided valleys. The plateaus slope gently from the northeast to the southwest. Elevations are above 1500 feet in Jackson, DeKalb and eastern Madison counties, whereas elevations near Holt Lock and Dam, in Tuscaloosa County are about 200 feet.
Valley Head (DeKalb County) is one of the coldest places in the state. Average annual temperature is 57oF and rainfall is 58”. Along the western boundary of the plateau, mean annual temperatures increase to 61oF (Fayette, Fayette County).
In 2000 the Cumberland Plateau contained about 430,000 people. Seventy two percent lived in rural areas: Albertville (Marshall County) with about 17,000 persons, is the largest city in the area. Population density is about 72 persons/square mile. Whites dominate the population (92%) Two interstate highways run through the Cumberland Plateau: I-59, which connects Birmingham and Chattanooga, runs in Big Wills Valley and I-65 runs due north from Birmingham to Huntsville. Highway 78 (which parallels the new Corridor X), from Birmingham to Winfield passes through the main coal country of the plateau.
A abbreviated version of this article occurs in The Encyclopedia of Alabama (http://eoa.auburn.edu/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1301)
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