Kentucky River Palisades

However, the Kentucky River Fault system, part of which runs along the Palisades, provides another controlling factor.

The thick dolomites and limestones of the High Bridge Group (Tyrone, Oregon, and Camp Nelson formations) are resistant to erosion and tend to be cliff-forming.

The steep cliffs surrounding the Kentucky River harbor the largest concentration of forest within the Inner Bluegrass, which is otherwise developed or cleared.

Blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), chinquapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) are abundant on the steep limestone slopes, along with less common trees like rock elm (Ulmus thomasi), yellowwood (Cladrastis lutea) and yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra).

Sites on old sandy river terraces and bluff-top ridges have more acid or infertile soils and harbor beech (Fagus) and tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) trees more common in Appalachian Kentucky.