The original version of this prose appears below. I found it at a geology dept. website from a well-respected southern university. I find the writing difficult to follow and it seems to lack clarity. You can decide for yourself. The statistics suggest that this would be more difficult to read. Note especially the change in the max. sentence length.

[Statistics: 303 words, 13 sentences, average word length = 6, avg. words/sentence = 23, max. sentence length = 60 words]

 The Valley & Ridge province consists of elongate parallel ridges and valleys that are underlain by folded Paleozoic sedimentary rock.  The characteristic topography of this region is the result of differential weathering of linear belts of rocks that have been repeated by folding and faulting. Cambrian clastic sediments of the western Blue Ridge are overlain by carbonates that made up the Great American Bank. For at least 70 million years carbonates were deposited in a shallow tropical ocean along the southeast edge of North America. Today these carbonates (up to 3.5 km in thickness) are exposed in the Great Valley (known as the Shenandoah Valley in central and northern Virginia), the easternmost portion of the Valley & Ridge province. Well-developed karst topography is characteristic of the Great Valley and many caverns are located in the subsurface.

 By middle Ordovician time, clastic sediments were shed from highlands marking the onset of the Taconic orogeny. The Taconic orogeny uplifted mountains to the east (in the Piedmont). Late Ordovician and Silurian rocks of the Valley & Ridge record the uplift and subsequent erosion of the Taconic Mountains. By the late Silurian carbonates were again being deposited in this region. Deposition of sediments continued from the Silurian through the Carboniferous in the foreland (i.e. the Valley & Ridge and Appalachian Plateau) and record pulses of uplift & mountain building to the east. Continental collision in the late Paleozoic produced a fold and thrust belt in which the Blue Ridge was imbricated and thrust northwestward over the Paleozoic cover rocks . Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Valley & Ridge were also folded and moved westward along thrust faults. The Great Valley is underlain by a two-tier duplex in which the entire Cambro-Ordovician sequence is repeated. Between 50 and 75% shortening occurred in western Virginia during the late Paleozoic deformation event known as the Alleghanian orogeny.

Virginia's Valley and Ridge province consists of long, parallel ridges and valleys. This topography results from differential weathering of extensive, narrow belts of folded and faulted sedimentary rocks. Clastic outcrops typically form ridges whereas carbonate strata produce valleys. These rocks developed from the early to late Paleozoic Era in various marine environments.

At the base of the Paleozoic sequence, Cambrian-age clastic strata underlie Cambro-Ordovician carbonate strata of up to 3.5 km in thickness. For at least 70 million years, carbonates accumulated on the Great American Bank – a shallow tropical sea on the southeastern edge of North America. Today, these carbonates form the Great Valley, the easternmost part of the Valley and Ridge province. Also known as the Shenandoah Valley in central and northern Virginia, the Great Valley hosts well-developed karst topography with many caves.

By middle Ordovician time, uplift of highlands eastward in the Piedmont introduced fine-grained clastic sediments into the sea. This inhibited carbonate production and marks the start of the Taconic orogeny. Late Ordovician and Silurian clastic-dominated rocks of the Valley and Ridge record the uplift and subsequent erosion of the Taconic Mountains. By the late Silurian, carbonate deposits again dominated this region. Mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sedimentation during the Silurian through Carboniferous Periods records pulses of uplift and mountain building to the east. These deposits accumulated in a foreland basin occupying the Valley and Ridge and Appalachian Plateau to the west.

Crustal shortening of 50 to 75% occurred in western Virginia during the late Paleozoic deformation episode known as the Alleghanian orogeny. Continental collision to the east thrust faulted the Blue Ridge northwestward over Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. Imbricate thrust faulting in the Valley and Ridge also folded Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and moved them westward.  Consequently, a repeated section underlies the Great Valley -- the Cambro-Ordovician sequence occurring twice -- one section upon the other.

[Statistics: 303 words, 18 sentences, average word length = 6, avg. words/sentence = 17, max. sentence length = 24 words]