South Mountain (eastern Pennsylvania)
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South Mountain is a mountain range in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. At times, it also been known as Durham Hills, Reading Hills, and the Lehigh Mountains. It is sometimes called Reading Prong by geologists.
South Mountain borders Emmaus, Pennsylvania, just to the south of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is comprised of a ridge of mountains. It is a continuation of the South Mountain of southern Pennsylvania, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains physiographic region (Thornbury 1965:97).
The ridge does not follow a straight line like Blue Mountain, located to the north of the Valley.
South Mountain ranges in elevation between 500 and 1,000 feet above sea level. The ridge is comprised of metamporphic rocks and gneiss, which date to the Precambrian era and range from about 570 to 1,600 million years old.
South Mountain is largely undeveloped due to conservation efforts and its steep slope. This makes it a beautiful backdrop to the viewpoints of the Lehigh Valley, including, at night, the city lights of Allentown.
South Mountain is also home to Lehigh University.
[edit] References
- Thornbury, William D. Regional Geomorphology of the United States. John Wiley & Sons: New York (1965).
