Appalachian Mountains
This week, I once again find myself in familiar territory. My family has made the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains home for many generations of our family, now on both sides of my family tree. I grew up skiing the slopes of Seven Springs and Hidden Valley, never once stopping to think they had formed over 200 million years ago and used to reach heights that would make the Himalayas jealous!
The Appalachians began their formation nearly 460 million years ago in a flurry of volcanic activity which scientists now believe could have thrown the earth into an ice age! They continued their formation in the time of Pangea when the North American continent and the African continent came crashing together in slow motion, vaulting ancient oceanic sediment, igneous and metamorphic rocks skyward. I happen to live in the Crystalline Appalachians, an area of the mountain range that is named for its Precambrian and Cambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Many folds can be observed in the mountains and a thrusting fault pattern is dominant. Coal has been and continues to be mined in the basin of the Appalachians and has stood up the oil and gas industry for generations of peoples. All of this aside, it is a beautiful back drop to many family photos and familiar place to call home.
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