The purpose of the study was to document and examine the experiences and perspectives of students and staff who were affected by the closure of Mount Rogers Combined School in 2010. Mount Rogers Combined School was established in Grayson County, Virginia, by the concerted efforts of volunteers and community members who valued education and considered schooling a top priority for the area. The original four-room school was built of rocks and housed grades 1 through 11, taught by four teachers, one of whom also served as the principal (Grayson County School Board [GCSB], 1993). In 1990, it was the smallest school in the Commonwealth of Virginia (United States Department of Agriculture, 1990). A review of early education in Virginia and early education in Grayson County is documented to place the study in historical context. A brief history of Grayson County is also included in this paper. The qualitative case study documents the experiences and perspectives of the students and staff who went through the school's closure. Both primary and secondary sources were used to complete the study including interviews of students and staff who worked at or attended the school, reviews of official records and documents found in archives, examination of personal manuscripts, inspection of artifacts, and study of general histories. School divisions close and consolidate schools to improve instructional programs for students, offset student enrollment declines, provide adequate facilities for learning, and for economic savings. Communication, developing relationships, transportation, extracurricular activities and course offerings are variables that should be considered when planning a school closure. While transportation and changes in relationships are particular challenges, the overall benefits for former staff members include better access to more resources and professional development opportunities. Former students tend to adapt better than staff members when schools close due to more course offerings and access to a broader range of extracurricular activities. The findings are aligned with the literature that was reviewed for the study. / Ed. D.

Nine basement blocks were sampled from locations spanning from Pennsylvania to Georgia in the eastern United States. These basement blocks are similar in that they have radiometric ages of approximately 1.0 billion years (with one exception), they are all at upper amphibolite to granulite grades, and are compositionally similar. Whole rock lead isotopic studies were performed on these samples in order to distinguish any possible differences in source regions that could be used to discriminate potential terranes within this 2700 km long region of the Appalachians. The lead isotopic system was used to decipher differences between these basement blocks. Traditional display of the data, in the form of ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb-²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb-²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb diagrams did not adequately bring out the similarities or differences in the data. Therefore, another method of displaying the data (e.g. Hart, 1984) was used in which the data from the Blue Ridge of Virginia was used as the reference against which all other data were compared. This method proved successful and trends were recognized. There are at least three different isotopic reservoirs within the central and southern Appalachians. There is the reservoir represented by the Blue Ridge of Virginia and six of the basement blocks that are isotopically similar (Honeybrook Upland, State Farm Gneiss, Sauratown Mountain, Tallulah Falls, Corbin Gneiss, and Pine Mountain), a second reservoir represented by the Baltimore Gneiss, and the third represented by the 1.8 billion year Carvers Gap Gneiss. The terrane that is represented by the Blue Ridge of Virginia and the six isotopically similar basement blocks is defined by ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 16.5-17.5, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 15.4-15.5, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 36.0-37.0. The Baltimore Gneiss has ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Ph ratios ranging from 15.2-15.6 and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios ranging from 33.1- 38.1. These ratios although they show a broader range in values are elevated and suggest that the Baltimore Gneiss is isotopically different from the reference Blue Ridge. Carvers Gap Gneiss has ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 36.3-40.3 and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of 15.9-18.2. These ratios show that Carvers Gap Gneiss is isotopically dissimilar from the reference also. / Master of Science

Drift was measured monthly at four sites on a southern Appalachian stream in order to examine spatial and temporal patterns along elevational and stream size gradients. Measurements consisted of four, one-hour samples corresponding to dawn, mid-day, dusk, and mid-night monthly for 14 months. On average, only 10% of the drifting insects were terrestrial, but terrestrial inputs became numerically important during summer and fall. There were no significant differences among sites in aquatic insect drift density, although taxa richness and total drift (#/sec) increased significantly downstream. None of the sites exhibited a consistent diel pattern. But, all of the lower three sites exhibited decreased drift density during the day. <i>Baetis</i>, the dominant aquatic taxon in the drift, exhibited a typical alterans patterns at UBC, LBC, and CC. Aquatic insect drift density was highest in summer when flows were lowest, while total drift (#/s) was highest in late spring and winter. FPOM and mean daily water temperature accounted for 64% of the variation in total aquatic insect drift density and 60% of <i>Baetis</i> drift density, suggesting both passive and active components in drift. Both variables were also highly correlated with drift density. Taxonomic composition of drift differed from that of the benthos, indicating drift was not simply random, but that taxa vary in the propensity to drift. Overall, this study found more evidence of temporal (diel and seasonal) drift patterns than spatial (along the gradient). / Master of Science

Previous historical and cultural geographic studies of the cemetery suggest that gravemarkers are surrogates for ethnicity and cultural assimilation. While studies of this type among single ethnic groups are common, examination of the multiethnic cemetery has largely been ignored. This study focuses on the necrogeography (regional burial practices) of the Melungeons, an understudied and underrepresented minority group. Their diverse ancestry purportedly includes a mixture of European, Native American, and African heritage. They have settled primarily in the Central Appalachian region, and more specifically within Hancock County, Tennessee. Their traditional burial practices include the construction of a unique gravehouse. I conducted personal interviews with Melungeons, religious leaders, and cemetery workers to determine the social meanings attached to these unique gravemarkers. I inspected 116 cemeteries located within Hancock County. A Melungeon Burial Index (MBI) was calculated based on the number and type of gravemarkers in individual cemeteries. The MBI acts a cultural inventory to measure varying degrees of Melungeon burial assimilation. Next, I interpreted the spatial patterns of assimilation to describe qualities of material cultural diffusion in the area. My findings show that traditional gravehouses are gradually being abandoned by the residents and over 93% of cemeteries exhibit complete burial assimilation. This suggests that gravehouse construction, a material and cultural practice of a U.S. minority group, has ended. / Master of Science

The Striped Rock pluton of the late-Proterozoic Crossnore Plutonic-Volcanic suite is located beneath the Fries Thrust zone in the Blue Ridge province of southwest Virginia. The multiphase granite pluton has been affected by episodes of brittle and crystal plastic deformation at both the microscopic and mesoscopic scales. Brittle deformation preceded and postdated crystal plastic deformation. The pluton is cut by pervasive centimeter-scale cataclasite zones and ductile shear zones that vary in width from a few millimeters to several hundred meters. The majority of mylonite zones in the pluton strike east and northeast and are inclined moderately southeast. Cataclasite zones strike northeast and northwest. Deformation is most intense along the southern contact with the Cranberry gneiss where both pluton and country rock are deformed into a northeast-striking zone of mylonitic augen gneiss. The intensity of deformation decreases northwestward. Southeastdirected normal fault displacement is common to east and northeast-trending shear zones. A minor group of northwest-oriented shear zones dip moderately southwest and northeast and show sinistral, strike-slip displacement. Quartz-, chlorite- and stilpnomelane-filled cracks and veins with northeast and northwest trend uniformly overprint mylonite and cataclasite zones of all scales. Microstructure changes progressively with increasing strain. Feldspar grains are cut by at least two generations of mineralized, dilatant microcracks. Minerals precipitated in the early set of microcracks have undergone extensive crystal plastic deformation. Late-stage microcracks are filled with completely undeformed minerals. The spatial distribution of normal fault mylonite zones is geometrically consistent with generation during 1) late-Proterozoic extension, 2) Mesozoic extension, 3) rigid-body rotation during Paleozoic thrusting, or 4) "gravitational collapse" during Paleozoic thrusting. Field and microstructural evidence favor (4). The exact timing of deformation is not, however, well-constrained. / Master of Science

The central concern of the present study is to determine the extent to which economic and subregional structure of the Appalchian Region affects the rate of in-migration. Previous work has centered on the massive out-migration from the Region during the forties and fifties, the economic destitution of the mountain dwellers, and the success of the stem-family structure in maintaining lines of communication between the mountain base and the urban branches. However, Appalachia is a heterogeneous and changing Region. Recently, the Appalachian Regional Commission (1977) has documented a net positive rate of in-migration to two of the Subregions, while at the same time noting the further economic development of the Region. Research by Lowry (1966) and Todaro (1976) offer the most useful economic explanations for migration for the Appalachian situation. A regression analysis was applied to Census data gathered on thirty-eight urbanized areas situated in or adjacent to the Appalchian Region. It was found that in-migration to these urbanized areas is dependent upon the availability of economic opportunity as well as subregionalization of the area. In-migration was determined in large part upon the fluctuation of employment opportunities in the form of either unemployment rates or the percent of persons employed in tertiary occupations. Adjusted income was only of secondary importance. When controlling for all other variables, location of an urbanized area in the Northern Subregion resulted in a substantial reduction in the rate of in-migration. / Master of Science

In the southern Appalachians, unforested openings known as balds persist on or near mountain peaks. These high elevation openings support a variety of unusual biota and are considered globally rare as a result of their biodiversity. Balds have historically been subject to both natural and human disturbances. Such historical and more recent disturbances have had a profound impact on vegetation dynamics in these systems. With the use of dendrochronology and GIS, this research project was aimed at 1) reconstructing the temporal and spatial patterns of tree encroachment into Craggy Gardens, a grass/heath bald, and determining the causal factors, and 2) investigating tree-growth responses of Quercus rubra L. to climatic factors at Craggy Gardens and Big Bald, North Carolina (high elevation forest-grass ecotones). Results indicate that historical grazing and land management have been responsible for vegetation changes at Craggy Gardens, in particular the advancement of Quercus rubra L. into the grass bald. Dendrochronological analyses showed that incremental growth of Quercus rubra L. growing in and adjacent to the balds was controlled by spring temperatures and drought conditions over most of the past century, until around 1970, when tree began responding primarily to growing year summer temperatures over the last four decades. This study concluded that land-uses overprinted on climatic conditions have governed local-scale vegetation structure over the past 150 years and without continuing management, trees may continue to advance into Craggy Gardens. Changing human disturbances along with observed climate changes in recent decades provides will most assuredly set the stage for future vegetation changes in southern Appalachians balds. / Master of Science

M.S.

The Early Ordovician, Upper Knox Group consists of meter-scale shallowing-upward cycles that were deposited on a low-sloping ramp. Cycles formed in response to short term (<100 k.y.) eustatic sea-level fluctuations and typically have well developed tidal flat caps. Cycles are bundled into five transgressive-regressive sequences which correspond to third order (1-10 m.y.) sea-level fluctuations defined by Fischer plots. The Upper Knox Group is 90% dolomite of which greater than 75% predates Middle Ordovician, Knox Unconformity development. Early dolomitization occurred penecontemporaneously with tidal flat progradation during fifth-order (up to 100 k.y.) sea-level falls as indicated by: abundant dolomite in cycles with well-developed tidal flat caps and scarce dolomite in cycles with no or thin laminite caps; decrease in dolomite abundance with distance below tidal flat caps; dolomitized cycles decrease basinward; and dolomite clasts veneer cycle tops and the Knox Unconformity surface. Third-order sea-level fluctuations also strongly controlled early dolomitization as indicated by Fischer plots; limestone, subtidal-dominated cycles correspond to third-order sea level rises and completely dolomitized, peritidal-dominated cycles correspond to third-order sea level falls. "Early" dolomite was metastable and its geochemical composition was modified during initial stabilization by marine brines during progradation of each cycle, and by mixed fresh/marine waters of the Knox aquifer associated with unconformity development. Much "early" dolomite however, remained metastable into the deep burial environment where it was replaced and overgrown by burial fluids as suggested by: covariant trends between crystal size, mole % CaCO₃, Sr²⁺, Mn²⁺ and δ¹⁸O; similar regional trends defined by stable isotope values of "early" dolomites and burial dolomites; and water-rock modeling of trace element and stable isotopic trends. Trace element and stable isotope compositions of least-altered "early" dolomite however, record a memory of a precursor evaporative dolomite. Cathodoluminescent dolomite stratigraphy defines five generations of burial dolomite that can be correlated over 100,000 km². Burial dolomites postdate a regional dissolution event attributed to migration of organic acid-rich fluids through the Knox carbonates. Regional dolomitization occurred coeval with Late Paleozoic deformation and was closely associated with MVT mineralization and hydrocarbon migration. The δ¹⁸O values and trace element contents of burial dolomites in conjunction with fluid inclusions, suggest that burial fluids were warm (135 to 200°C), saline (13 to 22 wt. % NaCl equiv.), ¹⁸O-enriched (+2 to +9 % SMOW) fluids with geochemical compositions similar to present day basinal brines. Mn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ contents of the dolomites suggest a redox control over Mn and Fe fluid chemistry, and in conjunction with regional δ¹³C trends, likely record precipitation from organic acid-rich fluids. Regional trace element and δ¹⁸O trends record a basinal fluid source and regional northwestward flow. Stable isotope values of burial dolomites and fluid inclusions from dolomites and associated minerals, define a prograderetrograde sequence that formed during basinwide, gravity-driven fluid flow which developed in response to Late Paleozoic thrusting and uplift. / Ph. D.

The history of Appalachian Bible College, under the administration of its first president, is the story of an institutional dream that changed. This study seeks to document and explain those changes. The college began with seven students, meeting in borrowed facilities, but it grew to have nearly 300 students and its own multi-million dollar campus. Early students were deliberately drawn only from the Southern Highlands, but that distinctiveness slowly gave way to a much more cosmopolitan blend. The curriculum evolved from a single program required of all students to multi-vocational (albeit singularly church-related) offerings. General Studies, that originally had almost no place in the curriculum, came to occupy nearly a third of a student’s time. The behavioral restraints that were placed upon students changed significantly over the years. The tightly knit “missionary team” that subsisted on a minimal family-allowance was gradually transformed into a differentiated staff with a graduated salary scale. Bureaucratic organization replaced the President’s earlier charismatic style of administration, just as more traditional financial procedures were substituted for the “no-indebtedness” and “no-solicitation” policies of the early years. Tuition-free arrangements were dropped in favor of standard college practices, and professional accreditation eventually led to the granting of a Bachelor of Arts degree. The research led to the following conclusions: (1) The model around which Appalachian Bible College was organized shifted from that of a home mission organization to that of a collegiate institution; (2) Many of the practices related to finances and leadership at Appalachian Bible College moved from a basis in principled idealism to pragmatic expediency; and (3) The institution’s response to culture changed from “separatism” to “conversionism” (as these terms are defined by H. Richard Niebuhr, in <u>Christ and Culture</u>). / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata