Willis Mountain is a
monadnock
An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...
rising from the rolling
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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hills of Buckingham County, Virginia, near the geographic center of the state. It is composed of
Kyanite
Kyanite is a typically blue aluminosilicate mineral, found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and sedimentary rock. It is the high pressure polymorph of andalusite and sillimanite, and the presence of kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally ...
-bearing quartz that weathers more slowly than the surrounding material.
The Kyanite Mining Corporation of
Dillwyn has mined Willis Mountain long enough to reduce significantly the profile of the mountain.
References
External links
*
Northern Virginia Community College: "Kyanite Mining at Willis Mountain, Virginia"
Inselbergs of North America
Mountains of Virginia
Landforms of Buckingham County, Virginia
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