How were the Appalachian Mountains formed?

Question

with the coal on the west side and limestone on the east side of the mountains was the west side once a beach and another land mass moved into it from the east?

Answer 1

use this website...

http://www.scotese.com/cretaceo.htm

you'll see when and how and by what they were formed.....

You'll have to back it up some and I'm not able to do so... if you find out how, please come back and tell me????

never mind.. I got it.... use this and clik on 'earth history'... go thru each screen till you see the Appies forming....

http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm

Answer 2

The simple answer is Gondwanna crashing into Laurentia. The Appalachian formation can be separated into 3 orogenies. The Taconic, the Acadian, and the Alleghenian. These orogenies should not be really looked at as single events but rather as long stages in the formation of the the mountains. This is the simple answer. Its not easy to explain hundreds of millions of years of geologic activity in one paragraph. Your best bet is to look up these orgenies and do some of your own research. I suggest papers by Steltenpohl, Hatcher, Hooper, and McBride.

Answer 3

Appalachian Geosyncline



Great downbuckle in the Earth's crust in the region of the present Appalachian Mountains.

It was in the Appalachians that James Hall first worked out the geosynclinal theory of mountain building (see geosyncline).