Wind gap in the context of "Gap (landform)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Wind gap

A wind gap (or air gap) is a gap through which a waterway once flowed that is now dry as a result of stream capture. A water gap is a similar feature, but one in which a waterway still flows. Water gaps and wind gaps often provide routes which, due to their gently inclined profile, are suitable for trails, roads, and railroads through mountainous terrain.

Examples of wind gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia include Swift Run Gap, Rockfish Gap, and Buford's Gap. The last was the original crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Bedford for the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, later the Norfolk and Western Railway, a precursor of today's Norfolk Southern Railway system. Another wind gap with substantial importance in U.S. history is the Cumberland Gap near the junction of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.

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👉 Wind gap in the context of Gap (landform)

A gap is a geological formation that is a low point or opening between hills or mountains or in a ridge or mountain range.

It may be called a col, notch, pass, saddle, water gap, or wind gap. Geomorphologically, a gap is most often carved by water erosion from a freshet, stream or a river. Gaps created by freshets are often, if not normally, devoid of water through much of the year, their streams being dependent upon the meltwaters of a snow pack. Gaps sourced by small springs will generally have a small stream excepting perhaps during the most arid parts of the year.

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Wind gap in the context of Stream capture

Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows down to the bed of a neighbouring stream. This can happen for several reasons, including:

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Wind gap in the context of Col

A col in geomorphology is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks. It may also be called a gap or pass. Particularly rugged and forbidding cols in the terrain are usually referred to as notches. They are generally unsuitable as mountain passes, but are occasionally crossed by mule tracks or climbers' routes. Derived from the French col ("collar, neck") from Latin collum, "neck", the term tends to be associated more with mountain than hill ranges. The distinction with other names for breaks in mountain ridges such as saddle, wind gap or notch is not sharply defined and may vary from place to place. Many double summits are separated by prominent cols.

The height of a summit above its highest col (called the key col) is effectively a measure of a mountain's topographic prominence.

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Wind gap in the context of Interstate 64 in Virginia

Interstate 64 (I-64) in the US state of Virginia runs east–west through the middle of the state from West Virginia to the Hampton Roads region, for a total of 299 miles (481 km). From the West Virginia state line to Chesapeake, it passes through the major cities of Lexington, Staunton, Charlottesville, the state capital of Richmond, Newport News, Hampton, and Norfolk. It is notable for crossing the mouth of the harbor of Hampton Roads on the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel (HRBT), the first bridge–tunnel to incorporate artificial islands, concurrent with U.S. Route 60 (US 60). Also noteworthy is a section through Rockfish Gap, a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which was equipped with an innovative system of airport-style runway lighting embedded into the pavement to aid motorists during periods of poor visibility due to fog or other conditions.

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Wind gap in the context of Halfaya Pass

31°30′N 25°11′E / 31.500°N 25.183°E / 31.500; 25.183Halfaya Pass (Arabic: ممر حلفيا, romanizedMamarr Ḥalfayā Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ma.marr ħal.fæyaː] ) is in northwest Egypt, 11.5 kilometres east of the border with Libya and 7.5 kilometres south of the other, more major pass in the ridge today. A 600-foot-high (180 m), narrow escarpment extends south then southeastwards for a total of 55 kilometres (34 mi) from a short distance east of the border. It hems in east-facing small harbour town of as-Salum, continuing as an east-facing sea cliff further north. Land to the east is lower than that to the west and the east side has steep slopes.

The pass is centred 1.6 miles (2.6 km) inland from the closest part of the shore. It makes for a subtle wind gap in the escarpment for the east-west land route. It made for the southern Mediterranean coastal road useful to Mediterranean civilizations until the pass at as-Salum was enlarged after World War II.

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Wind gap in the context of Water gap

A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a practical route for road and rail transport to cross the mountain barrier.

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Wind gap in the context of Blue Mountain (Pennsylvania)

Blue Mountain, Blue Mountain Ridge, or the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, is a ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania. Forming the southern and eastern edge of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians physiographic province in Pennsylvania, Blue Mountain extends 150 miles (240 km) from the Delaware Water Gap on the state's border with New Jersey in eastern Pennsylvania to Big Gap in Franklin County in south-central Pennsylvania at its southwestern end.

Views of Blue Mountain dominate the southern tier of most eastern and central Pennsylvania counties, providing an ever-visible backdrop cutting across the northern or western horizon. Most transport corridors and road beds piercing the barrier necessarily pass through large water gaps, including (west to east) the Susquehanna, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Delaware River valleys or wind gaps, low gaps in the ridge caused by ancient watercourses. The barrier ridge forms a distinct boundary between a number of Pennsylvania's geographical and cultural regions.

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Wind gap in the context of Longyear Valley

The Longyear Valley (Norwegian: Longyeardalen) is a valley and ravine in Svalbard. It slightly winds 40 kilometres (25 mi) WNW ending in Adventfjorden, facing west, the broadest inlet of Spitsbergen, the main landmass. It has a few wind gaps to the south and north-east over small glaciers, under which small streams form. It is between mountains Platåberget and Gruvefjellet. The town of Longyearbyen is at its foot, which is named for the American industrialist John Munro Longyear. The Longyear River is, like all the island's rivers, silted from surrounding glaciers.

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Wind gap in the context of Fox's Gap

Fox's Gap, also known as Fox Gap, is a wind gap in the South Mountain Range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, located in Frederick County and Washington County, Maryland. The gap is traversed by Reno Monument Road. The Appalachian Trail also crosses the gap along the ridgeline.

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