the park is located along the western part of the blue ridge anticlinorium, a regional-scale paleozoic structure at the eastern margin of the appalachian fold and thrust belt. rocks within the park were folded, faulted, distorted, and metamorphosed during the late paleozoic alleghanian orogeny (325 to 260 million years ago). the rugged topography of blue ridge mountains is a result of differential erosion during the cenozoic, although some post-paleozoic tectonic activity occurred in the region.