The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range in the eastern part of North America. The origin of the mountain ranges name came about when “Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were exploring the Florida coast in 1528, they found a Native American town with a name they transliterated as Apalachen. The word ‘Apalachen’ was also applied to an inland mountain range, and through the course of time it became applied to the entire range and its spelling was changed” (“Appalachian Mountains”).
These mountains are some of the oldest mountains on Earth. They even predate the formation of the North American continent. Scientists have measured the Appalachian Mountains to be 300 to 500 million years old. These mountains extend almost 2,000 miles from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador forming a zone approximately 90 to 300 miles wide, and run all the way down to Alabama in the United States. Additionally, these mountains are found in the following states: Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, New England area, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
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The Appalachian forms a natural barrier between the eastern coastal plain and the interior lowlands of North America (Aloian 4). The system is divided into three large physiographic regions: Northern Appalachians, Central Appalachians, and Southern Appalachians.
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The Northern Appalachian region
The subject of this cultural biography is the history of the region of Appalachia. It is an extensive profile on the cultural diversity of mid-to-late 20th century Appalachian people and illustrates how far from mainstream America their lives were. The authors include profiles of specific individuals, their influences on multi-generational traditions and how time had slowed to a minimal progression for these unique and fascinating people. The opening is a descriptive and comprehensive overview of the origins of this eighty-thousand square mile area. The founders of this region date back to settlers prior to the American Revolution who came for the fertile lands, mild climate and the picturesque beauty.
The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Piedmont extends through the central part of the state. It extends from the foothills of the Blue Ridge to the Fall Line. At the Fall Line, the rivers cascade down in elevation to the coastal plain located in the
The beauty of Arkansas did not magically appear overnight. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”(“Albert Einstein Quotes”). The geography of Arkansas is made of six different areas. The Ozark Mountains, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas River Valley make up the northwestern half of the great state of Arkansas. The Mississippi Delta, West Gulf Coastal plains, and Crowley's Ridge make up the southeastern half of the state of Arkansas. Three of these areas have been chosen to compare the similarities and differences based on their creation, foliage and climate. The areas chosen are the mystical Ozark Mountains, the stunning Ouachita mountains and the breathtaking Arkansas River Valley areas.
This area is also known as the Appalachian Mountains.
The first biome I would like to talk about is the grassland biome. There are two kinds of grassland biomes; tropic and temperate grasslands. West Virginia is part of the temperate grassland. Sometimes, the temperature can reach up to 100 degrees. In the winter, the temperatures are very cold. Grassland biomes receive between 10 to 30 inches of rain.
Appalachia is a region extending from Mississippi to New York and includes eleven states within its official
Appalachia is a 205,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains stretching from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It is home to more than 25 million people.
The Unaka Mountain forms part of the Appalachian mountain range of the United States. This mountain range covers 2,500 miles of Tennessee. In the
Appalachia is often portrayed as an arrested frontier, a geographically isolated subculture, and reservoir of culturally homogenous. Appalachians are pictured as proud, fiercely independent, and god-fearing southerners. But in all reality they are portrayed as fighting and feuding, barefooted and backward, ignorant degenerates, downtrodden by centuries of isolation, inbreeding, and poverty. So how was Appalachia discovered? Well Appalachia was prompted in the mid 1870s by local color writers such as Mary Murfee and John Fox Jr. who explored in fiction and travel sketches such mountain themes as conflicting Civil War loyalties, moon shining, and feuding. (Billings)
The Appalachian Plateau is located on the Southwest part of Virginia. It is only a very small part of Virginia. The counties Wise, Dickenson, and Buchanan are the only counties that are located in the Appalachian Plateau region. Sometimes people call this region the “toe of the boot”. Since a plateau is a piece of land that is raised, it makes this region higher than the Ridge and Valley region.
Quebec is the providence in Canada, covering nearly 600,000 square miles. The notable landmasses found within Quebec include the Canadian Shield and the Appalachian Mountains. The Encyclopedia of Britannica reveals that the Canadian Shield has ice-smoothed hills, and is the most massive area containing exposed Precambrian rock (Behiels). The Appalachian Mountains are the separating feature distinguishing the Quebec’s borders from Main, Vermont, and New Hampshire (“Quebec Mountains”). The St. Lawrence River flows southwest of Lake Ontario to the northeast. Attractions involving the river include the Québec-Lévis ferry, cruises, and strolls on the Promenade Samuel-De Champlain (Quebec).
One of the largest geological features shaped by tectonic plate activity is The Rocky Mountain Chain. This immense landform was initially formed 55 – 80 million years ago and is situated through Canada and the United States going through, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico and includes over 100 mountain ranges. The chain is over 3000 miles long and 300 miles wide in some places, the highest peak being Mount Elbert (4,401 m). The Rocky Mountains contain igneous rock (Basalt and Granite), sedimentary rock (Argillite) and metamorphic rock (Precambrian metamorphic). The Rockies are very resource rich in minerals including silver, gold, copper, coal, lead, zinc, oil shale and phosphate. This mountain chain provides the communities
Hess, D. (2011). Mcknight's Physical Geography; A Landscapes Appreciation. (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc
In New England, the Trail is both rocky and steep, and sometimes muddy and root-obstructed as well. The mid-Atlantic states have the lowest mountains, where the trail frequently leads along rocky ridges. The South has the highest mountains on the Trail, but those mountains have deep soils that allow for switchbacks. Lengthy, graded ascents and descents are frequent.
Rocks in this region are from the Mesozoic and recent times and therefore are considered geologically young compare to other regions in the state (Tew. Ebersole, 2013). The Piedmont Upland region in East Central Alabama is composed of the oldest rocks in Alabama. In this region you will find granitic gneiss (a gneissic rock with a general granitoid composition), amphibolite (a crystalloblastic rock consisting mainly of amphibole and plagioclase with little or no quartz), and migmatite (a composite of mixed rock) dating back to the Precambrian and Paleozoic ages (Schweitzer, 2013). This is the only part of Alabama with this type of rock composition, but it is also where the southernmost part of the Appalachian Mountains dips into Alabama. This part of the Appalachian Mountains are characterized by low rolling hills and the reason there is a special combination of rocks in this area is because piedmonts usually consist of the remnant of a mountain (Schweitzer, 2013). The Piedmont Upland only consumes about nine percent of all of Alabama (Tew. Ebersole, 2013). The North and Northeastern parts of Alabama are special because they consist of mostly the Appalachian