The Appalachian Mountains and the Scottish Highlands are the same mountain range, because it is older than the continents moving apart.
The Atlantic Ocean is younger than the Appalachian Mountains.
And apparently the Scandinavian Mountains are also a part of the same mountain range. Cool!
TIL
That makes so much sense in context.
My favorite geological fact about Scotland is the super obvious fault line that slashes straight through it. The Great Glen.
I do regard them with terror, but this isn’t the reason why.
ominous banjo
Lol’d
Is it the deer? I’ve heard they’re sketchy round there.
The deer ticks will fuck you up if you don’t check for them.
Fallout 76 taught me how annoying Appalachian ticks can be
Because North America and Africa were once geographically connected, the Appalachians formed part of the same mountain chain as the Little Atlas in Morocco. This mountain range, known as the Central Pangean Mountains, extended into Scotland, before the Mesozoic Era opening of the Iapetus Ocean, from the North America/Europe collision (See Caledonian orogeny)
By the end of the Mesozoic Era, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain.[27] It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era that the distinctive topography of the present formed.
Most of the Appalachians is now located within the eastern part of the United States as runoff. Imagine how long it took for huge mountains to erode down and wash outwards into the ocean that distance.
And the Appalachians are still young compared to a few other mountain areas around the world.
Australia and South Africa giving me the willies.
Yup. Makhanjwa range in the north west of SA is three times as old as the Appalachians at 3.5 billion years. Days were only twelve hours long back then….
How old is the Australian Great Dividing Range (which has been worn down quite low)
Ed. It’s not on the top ten. The Australian old ranges include the Pilbara
This sound like the opening of some eldritch horror novel.
There’s unironically a bunch of Appalachian cosmic horror stuff out there. In fact iirc Savage Worlds has a setting for it called Holler and Monte Cook games published a ttrpg for the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast.
If I hadn’t burned myself out on Pseudopod, Welcome to Nightvale, The Black Tapes, and Limetown, I’d be a bigger fan.
But my friends swear up and down by Old Gods. Solid writing and a good creepy blend of the mundane and surreal.
The resting place of cthulhu’s rotten carcass
In the same vein, sharks are older than trees.
Sharks are older than Saturn’s rings.
They’ll kick your ass too. Source: hiked hundreds of miles therein
Keith Richards built the Appalachian mountains.
The Appalachian mountains are full of hillbillies. THAT’S the scary part.
Sometimes we move to the cities and fuck shit up there too.
Wouldn’t they be mountainbillies?
Banjo intensifies.
The hills have bones
Am I the only one who the image is not loading for?
Edit: It’s working now.
the appalachian mountains are older than saturn’s rings. the appalachian mountains are older than dinosaurs. the appalachian mountains are older than trees. the appalachian mountains are literally older than BONES. the appalachian mountains should be regarded with pure terror.
Isn’t that basically the plot of a season in the adventure zone?
There’s a Cypher System RPG called Old Gods of Appalachia that’s pretty neat too.
also a horror podcast
Old Gods of Appalachia
https://rss.acast.com/old-gods-of-appalachia
…radio drama came first, RPG followed a few year after…
didn’t realize there was a system adaptation based on it. very cool!
Also thematically related is The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher, which itself is a reinterpretation of The White Ones by Arthur Machen (written in the late 1890s). Appalachia has been creeping people out for a long time!
I loved that novel.
As I mentioned in another comment, but elaborating further here, there’s a Savage World’s setting that revolves around eldritch horror and rampant corporate industry called Holler.
This is one of those “Sharks are older than the North Star” things that’s going to live in my head rent free forever.
To expand on this, being older than bones is why you can’t find animal fossils in the Appalachian mountains.
Is that just for vertebrates? Seems that exoskeletons should still be fair game, right?
You are correct. I had a brain fart. There are shells and the like, but you won’t come across the next big T-Rex find.
How does one pronounce Appalachian?
Depends where you’re from lol.
The closer you get, the more it sounds like “App-uh-latch-uh”
Apple asian
al-paca-i-en
I’ll stick with Ah-pah-lah-shee-an
App uh latch e en
Alternatively can be pronounced app uh latch in
Edit: been told I’m wrong
Not App uh Lay shin?
From Western PA and this is the pronunciation I grew up with (but all others were also accepted)
Yeah, Pittsburgh here, I totally say lay-shun.
It’s been said the Pittsburgh accent is one of the least attractive so maybe don’t go mimicking our diction.
I dunno, the way I typed it is how the robots in Fallout 76 pronounce it haha. I could very well be wrong.
You cheeky bastard!
I’ve also heard apple-late-chin
Seems like North America has always had a thing for conservatism.
