One of my geography professors stated that there are no mountains east of the Mississippi river. Why?

Question

Related to altitude or form?

Out of 14 answers so far, I don't believe one of them is correct, people are taking this to personal. If a street is named "Grand River", it doesn't mean it can be swam. Simply calling features mountains doesn't make them mountains. Another example is the "Detroit River". Loosly translated "Detroit" means "strait". The French had this correct.

Answer 1

No mountains? What does he call the Appalachians, the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains? Maybe they're not as tall as the Rockies, but there are certainly mountains east of the Misssissippi river.

Answer 2

I have to agree with Timothy C. The appalachain chain was not formed (that we know of) by the tectonic action as the himalayas and the rockies. But they are older and have a lot more character than either of the chains, that can be told by how gravity and weather has worn down the peaks.
There are high points in this chain one off the top of my head is Clingmans dome in TN. It doesnt have the altitude that the rockies have but it is there.
Form i'd say would go to my above statement. But if your teacher thinks that only mountains are made from the action of tectonic plates then he would absolutely believe that there are no mountains east of the mississippi river.

Answer 3

That's a huge misstatement. I live east of the Mississippi and I'm surrounded by mountains. Perhaps he just meant that to the IMMEDIATE east, there are no mountains. If I'm not mistaken, for about 50 to 100 miles east of the Mississippi River, there are no mountains, or at least small mountains. Tennessee is covered with mountains and plateaus in the eastern half of the state and the western half has very few mountains which makes the area very prone to destructive tornadoes.

Answer 4

It's about Plate tectonics. The Rockies are the product of a relatively recent (in geologic terms) collision between plates. The Himalayas, same thing. What is India and the Subcontinent is being pushed into Asia, pushing up these jagged, tall and as yet uneroded mountains. The Adirondacks, etc in the eastern United States are mountains (ask anyone who ever tried to ride a bike over one...) but they are very old. Worn down by time, as it were. I think I'm right in saying that where one plate is being forced under another (Subduction), there you have active mountain building, and I believe, volcanic activity (Pacific Northwest.) The most active geologic force in the recent past for the Norhteastern US was glaciers - natures bulldozer.

Answer 5

Because he bought his degree online?

Actually, for people heading from the East coast to California during the Gold Rush, crossing the Alleghenies in Western Pennsylvania/ West Virginia was more difficult in terms of steep climbs than crossing the Rockies. The mountain passes in the Alleghenies generally run North-South, meaning there was no easy East-West route across them - you had to conquer each mountain range you encountered. The Rockies had several mountain passes running East-West, making the climb more gradual and meaning pioneers never had to scale the highest part of the mountains.

Of course, since the Front Range of the Rockies starts out at around a mile high in elevation at its base, the weather in the Rockies was a lot more severe and caused pioneers a lot more problems than the climbs.

In other words, you professor must have been referring to altitude rather than the size of the mountain, itself.

Interesting side note illustrating the difference in how people think about mountains: Mt Everest isn't the largest mountain in the world - Mt McKinley in Alaska is. However, Mt McKinley's base starts from less than 500 feet, while Mt Everest starts at an altitude of around 10000 feet. Being spotted at least 9500 feet, Mt Everest easily reaches a higher altitude than Mt McKinley in spite of being smaller.

Edit: The comment about Mt McKinley turns out not to be true. One of the mountains in Hawaii has its base far below the ocean, making it the biggest mountain in the world, even if most of it is below sea level.

Answer 6

How do you define "mountain"? And what are the Appalachians? I have driven up things that seemed like mountains in North Carolina, what were those? North Carolina is still east of the Mississippi river isn't it? The Appalachians may not be as tall as the Rockies, but that just because they're older and have had more time to be worn away by erosion....but, they're still mountains.

Answer 7

of course there are mountains east of the Mississippi ; they are called the Appalachians and they most defiantly are mountains.. He may be a Westerner who thinks that altitude is a requirement. for a mountain. ask him to hike Mt. Washington NH [ ht 6288 , highest wind velocity ever recorded on the planet record 231 mph - average days in January with wind speed exceeding 100 mph 12 } On Washingtons birthday- assuming he survives it ask him if it qualified as mountain.

HEY Timothy and Bludyone time to send you to remedial geology.
All mountain building is the result of plate tectonics. with one exception
Mountains come in five basic varieties;
those that are volcanoes- Mt. Shasta
Those that are the the result of block faulting- the Sierras , the Tetons
Those that are the result of folding the Appalachians the Rockies the above White mtns.
Those that are the result of domes - the Adirondaks of NY
those that are the result of erosion- the exception

Answer 8

The entire west coast of north america (and in truth, most of the pacific rim) are along a convergant techtonic plate boundary. A convergant plate boundary is one in which plates are coliding. When plates bump into each other, this results in violent reshaping of the terrain, to include earthquakes and volcanic activity. The rockies are fault-block mountains, caused directly by coliding plates.

The eastern boundary of the North American plate is divergant, which means it's moving away from the adjoining plate. This means changes are less violent, and therefore less dramatic. Thus, less dramatic mountain formations.

You can actually monitor seismic activity (earthquakes) on a daily basis at the website below. You'll see that the vast majority of earthquakes occur daily along the west coast of North America and the east edge of Asia.

Answer 9

where is your geography teacher from?? ..there are the Allegheny, Appalachian and the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia, they aren't as big as the Rocky Mountains but there are mountains on the east coast. then there are ranges in Pennsylvania, Pocono's, Allegheny, in New York is the Catskills, Adarondaks. there are mountains all over the mid-atlantic and northeast, so i don't know what he is talking about. he isn't much of a geography professor if he doesn't know about mountains east of the mississippi. all mountains are made the same way, plates of the earth moving against each other lifting up..a few from volcano's, mountains are mountains, in geography you don't have to relate them to altitude and form, they are what they are, mountains. if you have to cut a road around them or thru them..they are mountains, if you can just drive over them with no problems they are hills. we do have mountains here. ok i looked up on my map on the wall here are the lists of states and the big mountains that are listed in each one:Vermont: Mt Mansfield, New Hampshire: Mt Washington, Maine: Mt Katahdin, New York:Mt Marcy, Pennsylvania: Mt Davis, Georgia: Mt Oglethorpe and Brasstown Bald, South Carolina: Sassafras Mt, North Carolina: Mt Mitchell, Virginia: Mt Rogers, Alabama: Cheaha Mt....these are the major mountain peaks east of the mississippi, so i figure he didn't check the maps, me and my husband just looked them up for him. so let him know that for a so called professor of geography, i'm really disappointed in him, me being a geography nut, i knew there were mountain ranges and mountains east of the Mississippi

Answer 10

The mountains on the east coast are very, very old and are worn down by erosion. Perhaps your prof comes from the West where the mountains are new and craggy, and really impressive. But he's wrong to say there are no mountains in the east.

I live in Montreal, and used to live in Alberta and British Columbia, so I chuckle at the little bump called Mount Royal.