Alex Petrovnia tweeted this thread filled with amazing facts about the Appalachian Mountains for all you geology nerds out there! It starts off with why there are no fossils in the Appalachians (spoiler alert, there are, it’s just not what you would expect). It’s because the Appalachian Mountains are incomprehensibly old. I’m talking hundreds of millions of years. There’s no fossils because the mountains are older than bones. They may not look like much compared to other mountain ranges, but they are incredible. Anyway, read the whole thread about the ancient wonder that is the Appalachians:
Source: Alex Petrovnia
(via: I steal tweets)
There are fossils of large prehistoric animals in Appalachia. We found them all the time building Pipelines all over Eastern Kentucky. No one was allowed to mention them to anyone because the job would be shut down. We just buried them back. I did keep a few sand castings. I believe that’s what they’re called of some weird trees.
My only complaint about this thread is that the only part of the original mountain chain still in Europe is the Scottish highlands, the rest are in Northern Africa, the Atlas mountains.
GREAT analysis, Alex! Clear enough so that a third-grader could understand it. Dang, you ought to be teaching geology! This is so good, I want to save it for future references. Spot on perfect Science. And you’re one of my tribe! I am so proud.