Talk:Appalachian Mountains

Incomplete primary maps
Shouldn't a map of the Appalachian Mountains featured in this article include more than just the extent of the range within the United States? They also extend into the Maritime provinces, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the island of Newfoundland, do they not? That means they lie within three countries&mdash;the U.S., Canada and a territory of France. A primary map ought to cover this extent. - Gilgamesh (talk) 08:00, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I came here to post this exact same concern only to discover I'd already done so back in 2019 and forgot about it. This article still needs a primary Appalachian map that includes more than just United States territory. - Gilgamesh (talk) 01:16, 9 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I have been looking diligently for a map that crosses the border. Unfortunately, free use maps tend to be published by the governments, and government maps tend to be constrained by political instead of physical boundaries.  The search will continue. Deanrah (talk) 12:04, 16 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Map_of_Appalachian_Highlands_and_Appalachian_Lowlands.png
 * An attempt to integrate the Canadian government and US government's physiographic regions. Comments are welcome. Deanrah (talk) 18:09, 19 August 2023 (UTC)
 * File:Appalachian Uplands Canada.png Deanrah (talk) 18:21, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

Appalachian Mountains are not located in France. That would be the Alps.
I removed France from the list of countries section. This correction was reverted I believe in error, possibly automatically. If a reason can be given, or if the correction can be reinstated, that would be great. Thanks! - BananaSepps (talk) 23:25, 30 November 2022 (UTC)


 * There's an apparently reliable source which says it's part of France. If you want to alter that, you'll need an equally valid source which tells the reader why this is no longer a fact TEDickey (talk) 23:40, 30 November 2022 (UTC)


 * As surprising as it may seem, the Appalachians apparently extend as far north as Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which is indeed an overseas territory of France; . OhNo itsJamie Talk 01:56, 1 December 2022 (UTC)
 * It might be worth footnoting just to avoid confusion. 74.73.224.126 (talk) 19:01, 14 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Agreeing with that, there are persistent editors who do not bother with reliable sources, but provide their own facts TEDickey (talk) 18:53, 14 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Where is the reliable source that says the mountains run through Saint Pierre and Miquelon? That needs to be in a note that explains this unusual situation.   Deanrah (talk) 01:22, 15 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Read the thread: a previous comment points to the CIA Factbook. Independently of that, I can see a paper whose abstract says "The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon are part of the Avalon Zone, located in the northern Appalachian Oregon of North America. The geology of St. Pierre and Miquelon is similar to that of the Burin peninsula in Newfoundland. U-Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating on plutonic units intruding a foliated metamorphic unit establishes the existence of a ca. 610-620 Ma magmatic event, significantly older than the ca 580 Ma of the volcanic St. Pierre Group".  If you're able to copy/paste from other documents, you can do the same for this TEDickey (talk) 07:49, 15 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Endnote and reference included to clarify that the Appalachians don't cross into Europe. Deanrah (talk) 20:22, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

New introductory section to more broadly define Appalachian Mountains
The article leaves the reader confused about the Appalachian Mountains (a broad somewhat undefined mountain range in the eastern portion of North America, many times compared to the Rocky Mountains) from the Appalachian Plateau, one of the 25 physiographic provinces of the United States. Perhaps most importantly, as defined in the map shown, the Appalachian Mountains include the Blue Ridge Mountains that are over 1.2 billion years old compared to the Appalachian Plateau which is only 480 million years old.

Deanrah (talk) 19:57, 13 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Proposed insertion as a note.


 * This article uses the most broad classification to describe the Appalachian Mountains. It provides detailed information on one of the two major mountain ranges that run through North America, not just through the United States. It is more broad than other classifications that use the "Appalachian" moniker.  The Appalachian Highlands are one of eight physiographic regions that are used by the USGS to divide the United States.  A subdivision of that classification system uses the term "Appalachian Plateau" to define a province in that schema. The Appalachian/Alleghanian orogeny is a very specific mountain-building event that shaped part of the mountain range between 325 to 250 million years ago.  Deanrah (talk) 20:15, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Remove phrase saying the Appalachian Mountains were formed 480 million years ago.
I propose removing this phrase:

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"The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. "

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Reason 1: In the definition implied in this article, the Appalachians are the entire system that includes the Blue Ridge Mountains that were formed during the Grenville Orogeny between 1.3 billion years ago and 1.0 billion years ago.

Reference: Birth of the Mountains:  The Geologic Story of the Southern Appalachians.

A Supercontinent Forms

The rocks at the core of the Appalachian Mountains formed more than a billion years ago. At that time, all of the continents were joined together in a single supercontinent surrounded by a single ocean. Remnants of the supercontinent make up much of the North American core and are composed of minerals that are more than a billion years old. We can see fragments of the billion-year-old supercontinent (shown in red, fig. 5) at the surface in many places in the Appalachian Mountains. Examples include Blowing Rock in northern North Carolina and Red Top Mountain in northern Georgia.

Reason 2: There is no reference specifically to this sentence.

Reason 3: Current reference 4 one sentence later does not say that the Appalachians were formed 480 million years ago. It says "The Appalachians, a heavily forested mountain range stretching more than 1500 kilometers from Georgia to Maine, were not always so tranquil. In fact, about 460 million years ago during the Ordovician period, they were the site of one of the most violent volcanic events in Earth's history. As the eastern edge of what became the North American continental plate overrode the basin of an ancient ocean, numerous volcanoes sprang up in what are today the Taconic Mountains of New York state and New England. The volcanoes spewed enough lava to form mountains as high and rugged as the Alps. They also belched out more carbon dioxide (CO2) than at any time in Earth's past, creating greenhouse-gas levels as great as 20 times higher than they are today."

Reason 4: Current reference 5 at the same place as reference 4 talks about the Smoky Mountains. These mountains are a section of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The second paragraph of that article says "Great Smoky Mountains National Park lies within the Appalachian Blue Ridge geologic and physiographic province. The highest mountains in eastern North America occur in the Blue Ridge province, and some of the highest peaks in this province are in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The oldest rocks in the Blue Ridge province are at least 1 billion years old and consist of metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks. These Proterozoic rocks form the core of the ancient Appalachian Mountains. Sediments deposited over these older rocks form the majority of rocks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

Deanrah (talk) 20:54, 14 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Completed August 14, 2023, 3:42 EDT. Deanrah (talk) 19:42, 15 August 2023 (UTC)