Question

The Appalachian Mountains may have once been as lofty as the Himalayan-Tibetan Mountain belt is today. Why are they not this high now?

a. They formed long ago, and erosion has beveled them to their present low elevation.
b. The mountains cooled following the collision, which increased the density of the of the rocks by cooling, and isostasy forced the mountains to sink.
c. Opening of the North Atlantic Ocean converted lithosphere to asthenosphere beneath eastern North America, forcing eastern North America to sink to low elevations.
d. They developed a dense crustal root following collision, and isostasy forced them to sink to their present elevation.

Answer 1

Answer: The Appalachian Mountains may have once been as lofty as the Himalayan-Tibetan Mountain belt is today. Why are they not this high now?

• They formed long ago, and erosion has beveled them to their present low elevation.

Step-by-step explanation:

Appalachians is an important mountain range located in eastern North America. It extends from the island of Newfoundland in Canada to Alabama in the United States, although its northernmost part ends on the peninsula of Gaspé Peninsula, in Quebec. It constitutes the most outstanding morphological element of the eastern part of North America.

The Appalachian mountain range was formed by a series of collisions that began more than 450 million years ago, in a gradual process. It is known to be the oldest mountain range in North America, and one of the oldest on Earth.

In the late Paleozoic Appalachian orogeny several faults and folds developed in the southern section of the mountain range. In the Paleozoic mountain range was one of the largest in the world, and although since then its structure has remained relatively stable, in recent centuries the mountains have been exposed to an acute process of weathering.