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The Nashville Basin is a geographic term used to describe the area surrounding Nashville, Tennessee. The term would not be correct in the
geologic sense, as geologically this structure is more properly known as the Nashville Dome, as the underlying
rock strata all dip downwards away from Nashville. In fact, this contributed to the formation of the area, as the uplift caused
the exposure of strata (rock layers) which were softer and more easily erosible. This area is also sometimes referred to as the
Central Basin of Tennessee.
It is apparently uphill in any direction out of Nashville, Tennessee, as a visit to any of the taller bulidings in the
downtown area will readily make apparent. Nashville itself is located in the northwestern portion of this basin. Travelling north
or west out of Nashville one will soon begin the climb up the escarpment that
marks the bordering geographic/geoloigic province, the Highland Rim. The
basin extends for approximately forty-five to sixty miles to the east of Nashville, and about eighty miles to the south, near the
Tennessee-Alabama line.
The Nashville Basin is underlain primarily by limestone from the Ordovician Period. This area and a similar, but smaller area surrounding Lexington, Kentucky referred to as the "Kentucky Bluegrass" area, are the two primary areas of this sort in the
world.
The Inner Basin of the flattest terrain and most limestone-derived soil chemistry is located to the south and
east of Nashville, primarily in the counties of Maury, Rutherford, Coffee, and Bedord. Here also are seen the horse farms
somewhat reminiscient of the Kentucky Bluegrass region. Supposedly the underlying rock weathers to a soil particularly suited to
the growing of the sorts of grasses most favored by horses. Limestone glades, open areas where the flat
limestone rock is denuded of overlying soil or nearly so, provide an environment for flora unlike any other in the world.
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