Blue Ridge Mountains

From Wikinfo

Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic and metamorphosed volcanic formations, some exceeding one billion years in age. The slow, steady forces of wind, water, and chemical decomposition have reduced the Blue Ridge from Sierra-like proportions to the low profile of the world's oldest mountain range. By comparison, humans have been associated with this land only about 9,000 years.

The Blue Ridge Parkway extends 469 miles along the crests of the Southern Appalachians and links two eastern national parks: Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains. In many places along the Blue Ridge Parkway, there are metamorphic rocks (gneiss) with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Blue_Ridge_Mountains" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Mountains, used under the GNU Free Documentation License