Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations
Roan Mountain Highlands · By Dirk Frankenberg and Jennifer Godwin-Wyer
A high-elevation creek
Figure 15. At high elevations, small creeks leave rocks untouched. (Photograph by Dirk Frankenberg. More about the photograph)
Figure 15 shows another view of the high-elevation northern hardwoods community with the headwaters of a typical mountain drainage creek. Note the relatively large size and square shape of the stones in the creek. This is what we would expect in small headwater drainage that has neither the force to move large boulders downstream nor the water volume necessary to reduce their size and round their sharp edges by erosion. We will follow this creek down slope for over 2000 feet and see these characteristics of its boulders change as the creek becomes larger.
