HELP PLEASE!!! Why do the Adirondack Mountains have rounded not sharp peaks?

Question

i am thinking it has something to do with plate tectonics but i cant seem to find the answer.......please help me......thank you......

Answer 1

they are very old mountains. the tops have worn down from erosion, freezing and thawing, just from eons of exposure to the weather.

younger mountain ranges, like the rockies, have the sharp, exposed tops.

the adirondacks were formed many millions of years before the rockies. when the adirondacks first were formed, they did have the sharp peaks.

Answer 2

At one time the whole Applachian mountain range as well as the Adirondacks had very large peaks, even greater than the Rockies. However, they are a very old mountain range and over time, the peaks were worn down by erosion.

Answer 3

Plate tectonics explains how mountains are formed.
Once a mountain is formed, it starts to erode - from wind, rain, snow, freezing and thawing splitting the rock, etc.
The older the mountain the more weathered it is.

Think of a stone in a creek. Its worn smooth by the action of the water and sand in the creek. Same thing with mountains.

Answer 4

Osto 11 is right, give him the credit.

The Adirondack Mountains, and the Appalachian mountains in general, are very old. So old that they have been worn down by erosion (including glacial erosion from the last ice age).

Younger mountain ranges (like the Rockies) are point because they are geologically much younger and have not been worn down and smoothed out by erosion.

Answer 5

the short answer it's because they're really old, and all the sharp peaks have been eroded away.

Also, sharp peaks are indicitive of faulting in upper strata, as you would see in the grand tetons, but much of the adarondacks are intrusive igneous/metamorphic which formed deeper, are faulted less, and are naturally more apt to being rounded.