The Appalachian BendThe Appalachian mountain chain extends just over 2400km (1500 miles), and is one

The Appalachian BendThe Appalachian mountain chain extends just over 2400km (1500 miles), and is one of the most famous long-distance hiking trails in the world. Seen from a birds-eye view, the chain runs a nearly straight line from Alabama, USA, to Newfoundland, Canada, except for a mysterious bend in the states of Pennsylvania and New York.The Appalachian mountain range formed more than 300 million years ago when the African and North American plates collided, making the latter fold and wrinkle as it was pushed westward, forming the ridges we know today. For some time, geologists have known of a rigid, volcanic rock structure under the Appalachians, but didn’t understand the size or its implications for mountain-building processes.Professor Cindy Ebinger of the University of Rochester and associate professor Margaret Benoit of the College of New Jersey, together with their research team, sifted through the North American Gravity Database, which contains two decades worth of measurements of the gravitational pull over the North American terrain. They managed to determine the density of the volcanic rock and estimated its dimensions to be 450 km by 100km (280 by 62 miles). The massive size of the structure acted as a barricade forcing the mountain range to form with a bend.Ebinger called the research project a “founding study” and hopes that it will improve the understanding of the Earth’s underlying structures. She believes that the findings could provide valuable information in the debate over hydraulic fracturing.~ SWThe study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X14002246More Info:http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/the-bend-in-the-appalachian-mountain-chain-is-finally-explained/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84393Photo Credit: NASA / Stuart Rankin - http://bit.ly/1xT2Gwt -- source link

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