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The southernmost point of the mountain range (that extends into the northeastern part of the United States) forms the high peaks found in the Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge, and Blue Ridge regions of the state.

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The state of Georgia is located in the southeastern United States. It is located on the continent of North
America, and it is in the Northern (latitude) and Western (longitude) Hemispheres. Georgia is highlighted on the map below in red.

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Georgia is often referred to as a “Southern State” sometimes
people will mistakenly answer that it is located in the “Southern Hemisphere.”  Take a look at this video to see all four hemispheres.

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• Continent - the world’s largest land masses.
• Hemispheres - lines of latitude and longitude that divide the earth into halves.
• Nation - a land mass inhabited by people who share a common territory and government

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The state of Georgia extends from the Atlantic Ocean into the Blue Ridge Mountains. The state is divided into five regions based on its physical geography.  Review the map below to view the five regions.

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The form of the landscape and the climate of the area influenced the development of vegetation and animal life in each of these provinces. Take a closer look at each region with a virtual field trip.

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The Regions of Georgia virtual field trip takes students on a journey throughout the state of Georgia, guiding them through the five physiographic regions and explaining the relative location of each, as well as their characteristics, economic importance, and much more.

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• Appalachian Plateau - Georgia’s smallest region located in the northwestern corner of the state.

• Blue Ridge Region - Georgia’s northeastern region; receives more rainfall than any other region; many major rivers begin here.

• Climate - a composite of prevailing weather conditions of a location.

• Coastal Plain - Georgia’s largest region which makes up 3/5 of the state.

• Piedmont Region - Georgia’s most populated region known for its red clay; also known as “foot of the mountains”.

• Valley and Ridge - Georgia region characterized by low open valleys and narrow ridges.

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The Okefenokee Swamp covers 700 square miles and is the largest freshwater swamp in North America. Check out this video to experience the beauty of the park.

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Experience Swamp Zen at the Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, Georgia

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In the southern states, the Appalachian mountains are called the Blue Ridge due to the blue haze that appears around their peaks. Learn more about the natural resources and recreational opportunities from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

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The Blue Ridge Mountains in northeast Georgia make up the state's highest mountain range. The range of rugged ridges and rounded, weathered peaks varies in elevation from 1,600 to 4,700 feet and harbors spectacular mountain scenery, as well as some of the world's richest biological diversity. In addition, the range contains Georgia's wettest areas, with higher elevations getting more than eighty inches of rain annually on average.

The Blue Ridge, so named because its peaks and ridges often appear wrapped in a soft blue haze, consists of a nearly unbroken chain of mountains stretching from Virginia and North Carolina and extending nearly 100 miles into Georgia. It makes up the southernmost part of the Appalachian mountain chain, a vast complex of ranges that extends from north Georgia through New England.

Northwest Georgia consists of several smaller ranges-the Cohuttas, the Unakas, and the Cumberland Plateau. They are separated from the Blue Ridge by geologic formations known as the Hightower-Jasper Ridges and the McCaysville Basin in north central Georgia, along a boundary roughly marked by Georgia Highway 5. The Blue Ridge's southern boundary is along the Brevard Fault, at an elevation of 1,700 feet, where the Piedmont province begins. The Blue Ridge occupies all or portions of eleven counties in Georgia: Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, and White.

The Blue Ridge Mountains' crest, for much of its length, forms the drainage dividing line known as the Eastern Continental Divide, which separates rivers flowing eastward into the Atlantic Ocean from those flowing westward to the Gulf of Mexico. For instance, Georgia's Chattahoochee River basin, whose waters flow into the gulf, rises near the borders of Union and Towns counties. The Etowah River, which also flows to the gulf, rises in Lumpkin County. The headwaters of the Savannah River, which flows to the Atlantic, are the Chattooga River, which rises in the Blue Ridge near the juncture of the Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina borders.

Most of the Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the 750,000-acre Chattahoochee National Forest, managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Within its bounds are Georgia's highest peaks. The highest, Brasstown Bald (4,784 feet), is partly in Towns County and partly in Union County. Instead of rising to a distinctive peak, Brasstown Bald is unusual in that it is a barely discernible rise in Wolfpen Ridge, which extends for miles to the north and south. Other tall peaks include Rabun Bald (4,694 feet) in Rabun County and Tray Mountain (4,430 feet) in Towns and White counties. The southern terminus of the famed Appalachian Trail is on Springer Mountain (3,782 feet) in Gilmer County; Blood Mountain (4,461 feet) in Union County is the highest peak on Georgia's portion of the trail.

Some of Georgia's most-visited state parks are found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, including Amicalola Falls, Black Rock Mountain, Tallulah Gorge, Unicoi, and Vogel. The mountains also are home to most of Georgia's pristine wilderness areas, including Blood Mountain, Brasstown Bald, Ellicott Rock, Mark Trail, Raven Cliff, and Tray Mountain.

Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains are part of a longer geologic system that forms an almost unbroken wall running down the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge province from Virginia. Rarely more than a few miles wide in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the Blue Ridge mountain range turns to the west and widens up to sixty miles in some places within Georgia.

Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains enjoy one of the world's most botanically rich mixtures of temperate climate plants, with northern U.S. species mixing with their southern kin. Biologists contend that the Blue Ridge mountain range and its parent chain, the southern Appalachians, have the greatest mixture of temperate climate plants in the world, except for eastern temperate Asia, located at about the same latitude. Forests account for nearly 90 percent of the land cover in the Blue Ridge, a higher percentage than in any other region of the state. Agriculture and other land uses are limited primarily to the flat floodplains of creeks and rivers.

Examples of forest types found in the Blue Ridge include broadleaf deciduous cove forests on moist, cool north-facing slopes; stunted oak forests of ridges; and oak-hickory forests that comprise the bulk of the Appalachian slope forests. Shrub, grass, and heath balds, and hemlock and mixed oak-pine forests also are significant.

Black bear, grouse, songbirds, turkey, wild boar, whitetail deer, many species of amphibians and reptiles, thousands of species of invertebrates, and a variety of small mammals are found in the Blue Ridge. The area also is generally part of the Appalachian flyway for birds, especially tanagers, thrushes, vireos, and warblers.

This richness in flora and fauna is presumed to be the result of several factors, including rainfall, climate, and soil types. The common crystalline rock types include gneiss, quartzite, and schist, covered by well-drained, acidic, brownish, loamy soils. Many areas average more than 60 inches of rainfall a year; higher elevations may get as much as 80 inches. Temperatures in mountain valleys average six to eight degrees cooler than the nearby Piedmont in the summer months. At higher elevations the difference can be ten to twelve degrees.

The Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto was the first European to travel into the Blue Ridge Mountains, probably visiting the Nacoochee Valley and a site near Carters Lake. Naturalist William Bartram was introduced to the diverse plant life of the southern Appalachians by way of Georgia's Blue Ridge on a well-chronicled trip he made through the area in 1775.

After gold was discovered in Lumpkin and White counties in the late 1820s, the ensuing gold rush of the 1830s, along with a more general western migration by land-hungry settlers, precipitated the eviction of the Cherokees and their forced migration to Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears in 1838-39. The cooler climate and scenic beauty of the region led to the establishment of antebellum summer resorts in Clarkesville, Cleveland, and Tallulah Falls.

After the Civil War, the copper industry developed along the Tennessee-Georgia border, causing great damage to the forests because of the large amounts of timber needed to fuel copper smelters. Even greater forest damage resulted from the lumber industry that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. Mountain forests were stripped bare of trees by major logging operations centered near the towns of Dahlonega, Ellijay, and Helen, as well as by numerous smaller sawmills.

Similar devastations of other forests around the nation prompted the creation of a national movement to restore and preserve forests. Georgia's Blue Ridge mountain lands were some of the first acquired by the U.S. government for this purpose. The Chattahoochee National Forest was established in 1937. Since then, one of the most important benefits of the Chattahoochee forest has been a clean water source for metropolitan Atlanta.

It was also during the late nineteenth century that the production of illegal alcohol-particularly corn whiskey and apple or peach brandy-generated moonshine "wars" throughout the southern mountains. These wars extended well into the twentieth century and were particularly intense in Georgia's Blue Ridge, where Internal Revenue Service agents, or "revenuers," did battle with mountain residents who resented and resisted paying federal taxes on this traditional staple of mountain agriculture.

The magazine and books, published by students since the late 1960s, first at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School and today at Rabun County High School, have chronicled the history, culture, traditions, and daily life in Appalachia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. James Dickey's novel Deliverance, published in 1970, conveyed a very different, and far more negative, image of the region and its people.

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The Blue Ridge Mountains in northeast Georgia make up the state's highest mountain range. The range of rugged ridges and rounded, weathered peaks varies in elevation from 1,600 to 4,700 feet and harbors spectacular mountain scenery, as well as some of the world's richest biological diversity.

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The Chattahoochee River begins it journey to the Gulf of Mexico in the Blue Ridge region of the state and forms part of the border between Alabama and Georgia.

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The Barrier Islands, also known as the Sea Islands or Golden Isles, are a chain of sandy islands off the coastline of Georgia. These islands protect the mainland from wind and water erosion.

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What Are They?

Barrier islands are among the most beautiful and precious features of our coastline. A barrier island is defined as a long, offshore, dune-covered deposit of sand lying roughly parallel to and separated from the mainland by a shallow sound (lagoon) and/or salt marsh; barrier islands are separated from each other by tidal inlets. Our present barrier islands have evolved over thousands of years and are a wonderful example of a delicate but balanced system in a constantly changing environment.

Thirteen percent of the world's coastlines and more than one-third (33%) of the coast of North America is bordered by barrier islands. Along the Atlantic coast alone there are more than 300 barrier islands and spits (a spit is similar to a barrier island but is smaller and attached to the mainland) extending along the coasts of 18 states from Maine to Texas. Each barrier island is different and unique in its own way and although no two are exactly alike, they may have many similarities.

A typical mature barrier island consists of several distinct features or habitats including the ocean, beach, berm, primary dunes, secondary dunes, interdune meadows, shrub zone, maritime climax forest, salt marsh, tidal (or mud) flats and sounds. Many barrier islands also have freshwater sloughs that form in low areas and between old dune ridges. Each habitat, although existing in close proximity to the others, has its own unique characteristics.

Importance of Barrier Islands

Barrier islands are called "barrier islands" because they create a barrier between the mainland and the ocean. They shelter and protect the mainland from the powerful forces of wind, waves, tides, currents and the ravages of storms and hurricanes. They shelter the estuaries that form behind the barriers. Between 75% and 95% of all marine species are dependent upon these estuaries at some point in their lives. They allow marshes to build up in the quiet waters of the sound. The marshes filter the pollutants that come in from mainland rivers and when the marsh grasses die they create detritus, a valuable food source for small marine organisms.

Barrier islands provide valuable habitats for mammals, shellfish and fish including many endangered species, and offer a greater variety of bird species than any other ecosystem in the continental United States. They also serve aesthetic purposes and for years, have inspired artists, poets, writers, bird watchers, boaters, picnickers, sunbathers and swimmers.

Barrier islands are truly a most valuable resource. It is remarkable that although they constantly change and may become badly eroded (some even disappear entirely), they can rebuild if left alone.

Barrier Island Geology and Formation

There are several theories as to how barrier islands form. Georgia's barrier islands are thought to have formed as the result of world-wide sea level fluctuations caused by alternating periods of warm and cold during the Pleistocene Epoch that allowed great continental ice sheets to advance and retreat over the Northern Hemisphere. During glacial advances, huge amounts of water were locked in glaciers causing the sea level to fall. Then, during interglacial periods when it was warmer, the ice melted, causing sea level to rise.

Georgia was never covered by glaciers but it was affected by the rising and falling of the sea level about 40 million years ago. During the Pleistocene, in warm periods, sea level may have been as much as 50 to 100 feet higher than today with the ancient coastline lying along a sand ridge known as Trail Ridge. During times of extreme cold, the shoreline lay as much as 80 miles seaward of its current position.

One theory suggests that Georgia's present barrier islands may have formed during several consecutive periods of glacial melting. The older islands formed thousands of years ago when sea level rose flooding the coastline. (Dates for their formation are unclear and could have been any where from 25,000 to 100,000 years ago.) Ridges of sand dunes were left above sea level and gradually built into barrier islands. Over the next few thousand years sediments from rivers added material to fill in the area between these new islands and the mainland producing mud in which the vast expanses of salt marsh formed. As sea level stabilized these small remnants of old sand dunes gradually built into our older barrier islands. About 11,000 years ago near the end of the Pleistocene, sea level rose again, flooding the coastline to its present location. About 5,000 years ago the rise in sea level slowed to about four to six inches per century, allowing the formation and growth of our newer Holocene islands. Over the last few thousand years sediments from rivers and the islands' natural landward migration have filled in or partially filled in the area between these older and younger sets of islands. Today sea level is rising a little more than one foot per century.

Each period of ice formation and melting created a new sequence of barrier islands along the coast of Georgia. The oldest series of islands, the Wicomico Shoreline, formed when sea level was as much as 95 to 100 feet higher than it is today and is responsible in part for the creation of the Okefenokee Swamp. The next series of barrier islands, called the Penholoway Shoreline formed when sea level was 70 to 75 feet above its present level. The Talbot shoreline formed when sea level was 40 to 45 feet higher; the Pamlico shoreline formed when sea level was 25 feet higher. The Princess Anne shoreline formed when sea level was 15 feet higher, the Silver Bluff shoreline formed when sea level was 5 feet higher.

Courtesy of the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve
www.sapelonerr.org
Written by Margaret Olsen

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What Are They? Barrier islands are among the most beautiful and precious features of our coastline. A barrier island is defined as a long, offshore, dune-covered deposit of sand lying roughly parallel to and separated from the mainland by a shallow sound (lagoon) and/or salt marsh; barrier islands are separated from each other by tidal inlets.

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The Fall Line is a natural boundary (a wide zone) that separates the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain regions. Explore the Fall Line and all of its features via Google Arts & Culture

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The Fall Line - Georgia Public Broadcasting - Google Arts & Culture

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Georgia's Fall Line is a geologic boundary marking the prehistoric shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the division between the Piedmont and Coast...

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Many of Georgia’s most important cities such as Columbus, Macon, and Augusta are located on the fall line due to their location as the last navigable upstream points in the state. Check out this video.

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The swamp provides habitats to threatened and endangered species. Those species, now protected by the federal government, include amphibians that are bio-indicators of global health. Over 600 plant species are found in this ecosystem.

Want to learn more about the wildlife of the swamp? Take a look at  the detailed lists of species provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

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Wildlife & Habitat

Black bears are just one of the many different species of wildlife that call Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge "home".

American Alligator

Sandhill Crane

Gopher Tortoise

Longleaf Pine

Okefenokee Swamp

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Wildlife & Habitat - Okefenokee - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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Black bears are just one of the many different species of wildlife that call Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge "home". American Alligator Sandhill Crane Gopher Tortoise Longleaf Pine Okefenokee Swamp

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Today, the Chattahoochee is used primarily as a water source for the millions of Georgians living in the Piedmont area, though the river is also used for industry and recreation as well. In recent years, the states of Florida and Alabama have sued Georgia due to its unrestricted rights over the use the river. Read more below on the Georgia River Network's Website:

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Chattahoochee River - Georgia River Network

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The Chattahoochee River originates in the southeast corner of Union County, Georgia, in the southern Appalachian Mountains and flows southwesterly through the Atlanta metropolitan area before terminating in Lake Seminole, at the Georgia-Florida border. The river runs for a total distance of about 434 miles.

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The Savannah River forms the border between Georgia and South Carolina. One of Georgia’s longest waterways, the Savannah River begins in Hart County, forms Lake Hartwell, and then flows to the Atlantic Ocean.

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In addition to shipping, the river is used as a major source of drinking water for Savannah and Augusta, to cool nuclear power plants in Georgia and South Carolina, and to generate hydroelectric power. Other uses include irrigation for agricultural crops and recreation.

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Colonial settlers discovered that the marshlands around Savannah were ideal for the cultivation of a particular global commodity and staple-rice. However, slavery was prohibited in the colony in 1735, making rice cultivation in Georgia unprofitable.

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There are 14 Barrier Islands off Georgia’s coast including Tybee, St. Simons, Jekyll, and Cumberland. Some of the islands, such as Cumberland, are wildlife refuges and are national or state parks.

Take a look at the majestic and untouched beauty that is Cannon's Point. Located on St. Simons Island, Canon's Point is one of the last untouched maritime forests on the coast and is in dire need of preservation.