The Coast Ranges, the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascade Range, and the Rocky Mountains are all found in the West region. Several valleys lie in between the Coast Ranges, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Cascade Mountains. Two of the valleys, Central Valley and Willamette Valley, are covered with deep, rich soil.

The Rocky Mountains

American Sierra Nevada

American Cordillera

It is made of eleven states. Alaska and Hawaii are separated from the other states by land and water. The Coast Ranges, the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascade Range, and the Rocky Mountains are all found in the West region.

The three major mountain ranges of the US are the Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. The Rocky Mountains, commonly known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range in western United States.

Transverse Ranges

Mount Everest

In general, the movement of tectonic plates has been responsible for the development of the Pacific mountain system. The coastal mountains from the Queen Charlotte Islands southward to southern California have been folded, faulted, and intruded with molten rock as a result of this movement.

Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. The Appalachian Mountains run for 1,500 miles along the east coast of the United States from northern Alabama to Maine.

San Francisco Bay severs the Coast Ranges them into two ranges– the northern and southern Coast Ranges. To the west of the Central Valley lies the Coast Ranges, including the Diablo Range, just east of San Francisco, and the Santa Cruz Mountains, to the south of San Francisco.

Black Hills

According to most scientists, the oldest mountain range on Earth is called the Barberton Greenstone Belt and is found in South Africa. It’s estimated that the range is at least 3.2 billion (yes, billion!) years old.

Nile River

Surprisingly, the Rockies are much younger than the eroded Appalachian Mountains to the east. The Rockies were formed between 80 and 55 million years ago, whereas the Appalachians are nearly 500 million years old.

Compared to the highest peak of the Appalachians of 6,684 feet (Mount Mitchel), the Rockies highest peak is 14,440 feet (Mount Elbert). Alongside that, the Rockies stretch across the country almost twice as long as the Appalachian Mountains (1,500 miles compared to 3,000 miles).

The Alps are significantly “younger” than the Rocky Mountains, like about 30-50 million years younger. Although there are numerous other reasons for the topological differences between the Alps and the Rockies the age difference is a primary one.

The Appalachians of the Great Smokies are much older than the Rockies. Plant evolution there has had a much greater time to develop.

The native Cherokee people traditionally called the Great Smoky Mountains Shaconage, which translates to “place of the blue smoke.” Euro-American settlers drew from this name in their own label of “Smoky Mountains,” with “Great” being added at some point or another to reflect the massiveness and grandeur of the range.

Since the “Smokey Mountains” are a proper noun, the phrase is grammatically correct. In the end, the case for the “Smokey Mountains” is less about logic and more about emotion. Sure, the word doesn’t need an “e”.

The Great Smoky Mountains are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountain System. Thus, the Great Smokies are the Blue Ridge Mountains, but not all of the Blue Ridge Mountains are Great Smoky Mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains stretch 615 miles from Carlisle, Pennsylvania southwestward into Mount Oglethorpe, Georgia.

To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range….

Blue Ridge Mountains
Type of rock	granite, gneiss and limestone

The majority of the mountain range, is in Northern Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains encompass the Great Smoky Mountains, the Great Balsams, the Roans, the Blacks, the Brushy Mountains, and some other lesser known ranges.

The Great Smoky Mountains, a branch of the Appalachian chain, are named for their frequent fogs and mists. There are NO alligators in the mountains, although predators such as cougars, foxes and coyotes do live there.

Dangerous wildlife in Tennessee

1. Copperheads. Copperheads are probably the most common, and commonly seen venomous snakes in the state of Tennessee.
2. Rattlesnakes. timber rattlesnake | image: Peter Paplanus | Flickr | CC 2.0.
3. Black bears. black bear.
4. Black widows. black widow spider.
5. Brown recluses.
6. Skunks.
7. Ticks.
8. Poison ivy.

Of the 1,000 estimated grizzlies in the United States, none are native to California.

Sometime this fall, wildlife biologists will trap the last four red wolves still loose in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina border. About 75 red wolves still roam free on and around two large wildlife refuges in northeastern North Carolina.

Black bears are dangerous and unpredictable wild animals. Do not approach bears or allow them to approach you. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States where black bears can live in wild, natural surroundings. Bears inhabit all elevations of the park.

Researcher tracks clues on mountain lion sightings in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are eight to 10 reported sightings of mountain lions, also called cougars or pumas, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park each year. If mountain lions are making a comeback in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Donald W.