Appalachian Mountains becoming more rugged (2007)(geotimes.org)
geotimes.org
Appalachian Mountains becoming more rugged (2007)
http://www.geotimes.org/mar07/article.html?id=geophen.html
4 comments
I’ve always heard the saying “stones are the bones of dead mountains” Turns out it could be true.
That's great news. When I was a kid, I was kind of disappointed at growing up on the side of the country with such a lame mountain range.
"Geologic Time includes Now"
If you hike on the west coast in say, the Cascades, the mountains look steep and rocky, but the trails are much more gradual and dirt covered. It was a huge surprise to me after moving to the east coast.
My own personal theory is that since the Appalachians are older, the mountains are simply crumbling. Instead of being huge rocks, they're huge piles of rocks. That, combined with having way more precipitation to erode the topsoil away makes for the more rugged trails on the east coast.