Scientists explain the bend in the Appalachian mountain chain!

The Appalachian mountains form a 1500 mile long almost straight chain running from Alabama to Newfoundland. The interesting bend observed in Pennsylvania and New York State was recently explained by researchers in the College of New Jersey and the University of Rochester. It is attributed to an underground block of dense and rigid volcanic rock formation which compelled the mountain chain to move to the east, during its formation years. The research team's findings appeared in the journal of Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

The massive volcanic rock formation under the Appalachians was long known to earth scientists, however what was not yet understood was the size of it or the effects on the neighboring mountain formation, according to Cindy Ebinger, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester. As the North American and African continental plates collided, nearly 300 million years ago, the former was forced to fold and shift upwards, creating a natural barrier to the Appalachian mountain chain, which consequently bended eastwards. 

The research team studied data on ground movement, collected from GPS receivers and portable seismometers in the context of the NSF funded Earthscope project,  as well as data on the gravitational pull in the North American terrain, taken from the North American Gravity Database, an open-source database from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Based on the specific data, scientists concluded that this underground mass is of volcanic origin and measures 450 kilometers in length and 100 kilometers in width. Based on the above information, scientists were able to model the bend formation. 

Prof. Ebinger supported that the team's conclusions could become "a "foundation study that will improve scientists' understanding of Earth's underlying structures", bringing as an example "the debate over hydraulic fracturing -- popularly known is hydrofracking -- in New York State", bringing in mind the rich in gas reserves region of the Marcellus Shale formation, just west of the Appalachian basin. Hydrofracking is a mining technique used in the extraction of natural gas from great depths, including the horizontal drilling into shale formations, consequently injecting sand, water and a mixture of chemicals into the rock, aiming in releasing the natural gas.