Twitter Thread: The Truth About Fossils In The Appalachian Mountains Goes Viral

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Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Mar 2, 2022 6:00 PM EST

When it comes to nature, there are so many things left undiscovered. Every other week, we hear about a new species being found, an old extinct animal coming back into the world. We read interesting stories about nature all the time, like when a 392 year old shark was discovered or when a study was done that showed that sometimes octopus punch fish for no reason other than spite. 

There are always more facts to learn about the animal world. And today, you're about to learn about one of nature's mysteries. Thanks to @AlexPetrovnia, we had taken the time to thoroughly look into this mystery, you're about to learn about the truth behind why we don't find fossils in the Appalachian mountains.

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  • 01
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia Have you ever wondered why we don't find fossils in the Appalachian mountains? The truth is, we do, they're just not the kind of fossils you might think of-there are no mammals, no dinosaurs, no reptiles. There's something else entirely. 4:33 PM Jul 15, 2021 Twitter for iPhone 36.7K Retweets 8,172 Quote Tweets 181.8K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia

    It's funny, we look at animal content all day every day, and yet, somehow, we really have never thought about this simple fact. We really don't see stories about fossils being found in the Appalachian mountains. So, coming across this tweet on our timeline has truly intrigued us. 

  • 02
    Sky - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia See, the Appalachian mountains are old. Yes, all mountains are old, but the Appalachian mountains are *incomprehensibly old*. They mostly look like this, which leads a lot of people to say they're pretty lame, as far as mountains go. They aren't dramatic. 4:36 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter for iPhone 720 Retweets 165 Quote Tweets 19.7K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia

    We so appreciate the effort put into this thread - giving us the backstory and info we need to have about these beautiful places before revealing the mystery. We've learned so much about these mountains by reading this that now, these undramatic mountains seem like one of the most interesting places to go. 

  • 03
    Ecoregion - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids ... @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia For those unaware, the Appalachian mountain range extends over what is now the eastern US, reaching up into Canada. Great Appalachian Valley Piedmont Greens Blue Ridge and northern highlands Ridge & Valley Tuconics Helderberg Great Valley Shawangunk Kittatinny Appalachian Plateaus Adirondacks Blue 6 Reading Prong Escarpments & Ridge mountains South Mat North Blue Ridge Valleys 1. Champlain Valley 2
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 04
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids ... @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia But many people don't realize that the same original mountain chain also reaches to *Europe*. Wait, what? How is that possible? This is possible because plate tectonics separated this mountain range. The Appalachian Mountains are older than the Atlantic Ocean.
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 05
    Water resources - Caledonian Mountains North America British Isles Scandinavia Appalachian Mountains Africa South America А. Greenland Europe North America Africa South America В. 4:42 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter for iPhone 3,146 Retweets 669 Quote Tweets 30.7K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 06
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia In fact, the Appalachian mountains are 480 million years old. For context, that's about 100 million years before the first animals walked on land. millions of years ago 4,000 2.500 541 500 450 Hadean Archean Proferozoic Paleozoic Eoarchean Mesoarchean Paleoproterozoic Neoproterozoic Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Mesoproterozoic algne Paleoarchean Neoarchean first living organisms-bacteria first animal tr
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 07
    Plant - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids 9 @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia So the vast majority of the fossils found in the Appalachian mountains are from when all life lived in the oceans. And that produces some strange results that may not even look like fossils to the untrained eye. Here you can see some shells of ancient marine organisms. 4:50 PM Jul 15, 2021 - Twitter Web App 1,150 Retweets 94 Quote Tweets 27.4K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 08
    Organism - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia Some other fossils (showing how ancient these organisms really are) that you can see in Appalachia are things like this coral, preserved so well you can see the individual structures. 4:51 PM Jul 15, 2021 - Twitter Web App 590 Retweets 14 Quote Tweets 22.2K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 09
    Organism - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia Perhaps most famously, you may have heard of these guys. Although their fossils are found in many places, they are especially famous in the Appalachian region because they are especially prolific here. These are trilobites. 4:53 PM Jul 15, 2021 - Twitter Web App 755 Retweets 119 Quote Tweets 24.6K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 10
    Plant - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The majority of the fossils in this region are so old that they come from limestone rocks, formed on the bottom of the ocean, when life as we know it hadn't yet evolved. Some of these fossils date back as far as the Ordovician period, which is before FISH evolved. 4:57 PM · Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 737 Retweets 45 Quote Tweets 21.1K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 11
    Water - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia There are examples of some of the oldest known fossils of life on earth here -- stromatolites. These are fossilized mats of bacteria that still exist today. They show up in the fossil record as a variety of forms, as shown here. They still exist on earth today (photo on right). C 5:01 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 414 Retweets 19 Quote Tweets 15.5K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 12
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia But let's get back to the mountains themselves. 480 million years old. What does that *mean*? The gentle rolling terrain of Appalachia may have once been as high as the Himalayan mountains are today. Erosion is slow, but unrelenting. 5:05 PM Jul 15, 2021 Twitter Web App 402 Retweets 18 Quote Tweets 14.6K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 13
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids = @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The Himalayan mountains are being formed by the Indian subcontinent crashing into the greater Asian continent. The Appalachian mountains were formed by *more than one* of these gigantic, continent sized mountain building events.
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 14
    Ecoregion - EURASIAN PLATE INDIA Today 10 million years ago SRI LANKA 38 million years ago Equator 55 million years ago INDIAN OCEAN 71 million years ago "INDIA" Land mass SRI LANKA 5:08 PM Jul 15, 2021 - Twitter Web App 279 Retweets 16 Quote Tweets 11K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 15
    Colorfulness - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids ... @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia In general, it's agreed that there are three distinct periods of the Appalachian mountain's formation, the Taconian, the Acadian and the Alleghanian. These each represent the existing mountain range being subjected to additional pressures and forced ever higher. 2001 Atlantic Rifting TRIASSIC PERMIAN ALLEGHANIAN 300- PENNSYLVANIAN MISSISSIPPIAN DEVONIAN ACADIAN 400- SILURIAN TACONIAN ORDOVICIAN
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 16
    Human body - ... Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The first, the Taconian Orogeny (mountain forming event, yes geologists say this with a straight face), actually absorbed a tiny subcontinental mountain range, known as the Taconic Range. Ordovician paleogeography Siberia Laurentia 60 VExotic terranes Baltica Southem Great South pole Eastem North America Britain 60 (Subduction one Gondwanaland Glaciers EARLY ORDOVICIAN MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN LATEST ORD
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 17
    Light - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The second, the Acadian, had a similar effect, where a chain of islands crashed into what was then the supercontinent of Laurussia. 380 million years ago Laurussia Equator Rheic Ocean Iberia, etc 5:23 PM - Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 139 Retweets 9 Quote Tweets 8,077 Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 18
    Map - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The third and final orogeny, the Alleghenian, was the largest, where the supercontinents of Gondwana and Laurentia crashed into each other head on. This event also tacked Florida and the Gulf Coast onto the North American Continent. Late Early Carboniferous Early Late Narragansett basin Carboniferous Laurentia Laurentia Lackawanna Clastic wedge Reguibat Promontory Clastic wedge Reguibat Promontory Ouachi
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 19
    Sky - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids O @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia These multiple mountain forming events, and the forces the mountains were under, is what created many of the gorgeous rock layering in the Appalachian region, often visible in roadcuts. 5:27 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 369 Retweets 42 Quote Tweets 13.1K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 20
    Slope - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia You can see in these roadcuts where different layers of very different rock (brought together from all over the world) were stretched and blended like putty. Synclinal ridge Anticlinal Fold valley Axis of Overturned Thrust anticline axis anticline fault Horizontal plane Anticline Plunge Syncline Fault plane 5:30 PM · Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 204 Retweets 4 Quote Tweets 9,795 Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 21
    Water - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids ... @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia You can also see these forces played out across the landscape itself, like in this elevation model. The folding that created mountain ridges -- from existing mountains being pushed higher by later events -- are distinct. 5:32 PM Jul 15, 2021 Twitter Web App
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 22
    Ecoregion - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia It's actually visible in some regions to the naked eye in aerial photos. Appalachian Plateau Pennsylvania Salient Appalachian Piedmont Atlantic Goastal Plain 25 km 5:36 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 23
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The very forces that led to these mountains being so unique -- blended and formed by multiple different events, from material from multiple continents -- has created the rolling landscape we see today, hundreds of millions of years later. Some rocks are more durable than others. 5:39 PM - Jul 15, 2021 - Twitter Web App 149 Retweets 6 Quote Tweets 8,627 Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 24
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The mountains were structured with caps of more durable sandstone overtop of layers of soft limestone underneath. Once the sandstone was breached, it allowed those portions to erode much faster. Ironically, the mountains today stand where ancient valleys were located. Cracks formed during folding allowed streams to cut through sandstone into softer limestone and shale beneath, which then eroded rapidly, tur
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 25
    Organism - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia This is reflected back on the landscape in dramatic ways. The mountains are built of sandstone, and covered in forests. The majority of the limestone valleys -- which are full of fertile soils, good for farming, are occupied with farms and towns. This is central Pennsylvania. 5:54 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 156 Retweets 2 Quote Tweets 8,107 Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 26
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids O @AlexPetrovnia Replying to @AlexPetrovnia The unique geology of the Appalachians also created, under immense pressures, the coal seams that are so famous in this region. In fact, many cultural components of Appalachia, as in many places, can be traced through the geology of the place. 5:56 PM Jul 15, 2021 · Twitter Web App 196 Retweets 12 Quote Tweets 8,557 Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 27
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia What I love about geology is that, over the timescales required, absolutely every aspect, every particle of soil, is a miracle of chance to have ended up as it is. We are lucky enough to be able to read the past -- and present -- in every curve of the landscape around us. 5:58 PM Jul 15, 2021 - Twitter Web App 515 Retweets 27 Quote Tweets 13.1K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia
  • 28
    Font - Alex (he/him) is fighting for trans kids @AlexPetrovnia ... Replying to @AlexPetrovnia *One quick note! There ARE fossils from more recent eras that have been found in the Appalachians, in younger layers. These include vertebrates, mammals, and yes, at least one dinosaur -- Appalachiosaurus. Thank you to @anthro_andrew for updating me on this! 6:00 PM Jul 15, 2021 Twitter Web App 223 Retweets 16 Quote Tweets 10.2K Likes
    via @AlexPetrovnia

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