Fall line

A fall line (or fall zone) is the geomorphologic break between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls. Many times a fall line will recede upstream as the river cuts out the uphill dense material, often forming “c”-shaped waterfalls. Because of these features riverboats typically cannot travel any farther inland without portaging, unless locks are built there. On the other hand, the rapid change in elevation of the water, and the resulting energy release, makes the fall line a good location for water mills, grist mills, and sawmills. Because of the need for a river port leading to the ocean, and a ready supply of water power, settlements often develop where rivers cross a fall line.

United States

The slope of fall zones on rivers played a role in settlement patterns. For example, the fall line represents the inland limit of navigation on many rivers. As such, many fall line cities grew around transferring people and goods between land-based and water-based transportation at this point. Also, fall lines proved useful for hydroelectric dams such as those at Rochester, New York (on the Niagara Escarpment), at Columbia, South Carolina, and at Conowingo, Maryland, on the Susquehanna River (on the Atlantic Seaboard fall line). Cities established along fall lines in the United States include:

Fall line (skiing)

In alpine skiing, a fall line refers to the line down a mountain or hill which is most directly downhill. That is, the direction a ball would roll if it were free to move on the slope under gravity. A skier is said to be "skiing the fall line" if he is skiing a line with his skis pointing generally down, rather than traversing across it.

Mathematically the fall line, the line of greatest slope, is the negative of the gradient (which points uphill) and perpendicular to the contour lines.

Fall-Line Analysis: An evaluation of the mountain terrain in terms of the natural fall-line. The fall-line is the path an object takes as it moves down a slope perpendicular to the contour lines. Fall-line skiing provides for the natural flow of skier routes which will serve all skier ability levels, from the top of the mountain to the base areas, on a consistent basis. Consistency of fall-line provides the best recreational skiing experience with the least amount of environmental disruption due to minimal requirements for earthwork during ski trail construction.

Fall Line Studios

Fall Line Studio was a start up studio of Disney's Disney Interactive Studios. It is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., and is the sister studio to Disney's Avalanche Software, also based in the city.

Fall Line Studio is dedicated to releasing games based on Disney characters, television shows, and entertainment franchises exclusively for Nintendo consoles such as the Nintendo DS and Wii systems, in addition to original titles. The company also helped develop Disney's upcoming DGamer network.

Video games

References

External links