Appalachian_Mountains

qas: question: What are the Appalachian mountains called in French?
answers: text: les Appalaches
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question: What are the Appalachian mountains?
answers: text: a system of mountains in eastern North America
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question: When did the Appalachian mountains form?
answers: text: roughly 480 million years ago
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question: In what era did the mountains form?
answers: text: Ordovician Period
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question: What are often called les Appalaches?
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question: When were the Rocky Mountains formed?
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question: What language does the name of the Alps come from?
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question: What do the Alps form a barrier between?
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question: During what period were the Appalachians named?
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context: The Appalachian Mountains (i/ˌæpəˈleɪʃᵻn/ or /ˌæpəˈlætʃᵻn/,[note 1] French: les Appalaches), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period and once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before they were eroded. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to any road running east-west.

qas: question: How many provinces are in the mountain range?
answers: text: thirteen provinces
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question: What is one of the provinces?
answers: text: the Atlantic Coast Uplands
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question: Which province is often left out?
answers: text: the Adirondack provinces
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question: What set of mountains in the range have a different geological history?
answers: text: the Adirondack Mountains
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question: How many provinces does the Grenville Orogeny have?
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question: What is the name of the province that is constant throughout various definitions?
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question: What has a similar geological history to the Appalachians?
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question: What is the name of the organization that leaves out the Adirondack Mountains?
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question: What definition of the mountains remains constant?
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context: Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division as consisting of thirteen provinces: the Atlantic Coast Uplands, Eastern Newfoundland Atlantic, Maritime Acadian Highlands, Maritime Plain, Notre Dame and Mégantic Mountains, Western Newfoundland Mountains, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, Saint Lawrence Valley, Appalachian Plateaus, New England province, and the Adirondack provinces. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which geologically belong to the Grenville Orogeny and have a different geological history from the rest of the Appalachians.

qas: question: What country do the Appalachian mountains extend into?
answers: text: Canada
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question: How large is the zone in Canada?
answers: text: 100 to 300 mi
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question: Where does it start in Canada?
answers: text: Newfoundland
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question: Where does it end in the US? 
answers: text: Central Alabama
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question: What island is included in the range?
answers: text: Saint Pierre and Miquelon
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question: How large is the mountain range in the US?
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question: What is the height in feet of the lowest group of mountains?
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question: What is the name of the highest point in Canada?
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question: How long is the range in Saint Pierre and Miquelon?
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question: How high is the tallest point in the US?
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context: The range is mostly located in the United States but extends into southeastern Canada, forming a zone from 100 to 300 mi (160 to 480 km) wide, running from the island of Newfoundland 1,500 mi (2,400 km) southwestward to Central Alabama in the United States.[discuss] The range covers parts of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which comprise an overseas territory of France. The system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft (910 m). The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet (2,037 m), which is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

qas: question: What does the term Appalachian refer to?
answers: text: several different regions associated with the mountain range
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question: What states comprise of the southern Appalachian mountains?
answers: text: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina
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question: What does the dissected plateau region refer to?
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question: Which southern states are not referred to in the more restrictive understanding of Appalachian?
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question: The northern part of South Carolina is considered part of what limited definition?
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question: What states are included when the region is extended to the west?
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context: The term Appalachian refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range. Most broadly, it refers to the entire mountain range with its surrounding hills and the dissected plateau region. The term is often used more restrictively to refer to regions in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, usually including areas in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina, as well as sometimes extending as far south as northern Alabama, Georgia and western South Carolina, and as far north as Pennsylvania, southern Ohio and parts of southern upstate New York.

qas: question: What area did the Narvaez expedition explore?
answers: text: northern coast of Florida
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question: When did the Narvaez expedition explore Florida?
answers: text: 1528
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question: What did they transcribe Florida's name as? 
answers: text: Apalchen
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question: What was the name eventually used for?
answers: text: as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north
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question: When was the name altered to Appalachian?
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question: What is the oldest surviving European place name in the US?
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question: Who named Tallahassee, Florida?
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question: What was the name of the leader of the Native American village?
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question: How was the name of the Narvaez expedition transcribed?
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context: While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, found a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen [a.paˈla.tʃɛn]. The name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15, 1528, and applied the name. Now spelled "Appalachian," it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US.

qas: question: What area is usually grouped with the Appalachians? 
answers: text: dissected plateau to the north and west of the mountains
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question: What mountains does that region include?
answers: text: Catskill Mountains
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question: What is the plateau known as in West Virginia?
answers: text: Cumberland Plateau
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question: Where are the true folded mountains located?
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question: What is the name of the plateau in southeastern and southwestern New York?
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question: What is the name of the plateau that is not the Allegheny?
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question: What is to the north and west of the plateau?
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context: In addition to the true folded mountains, known as the ridge and valley province, the area of dissected plateau to the north and west of the mountains is usually grouped with the Appalachians. This includes the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York, the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and the Allegheny Plateau of southwestern New York, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. This same plateau is known as the Cumberland Plateau in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and northern Alabama.

qas: question: What does the Great Appalachian Valley do?
answers: text: divides the mountain system into two unequal portions
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question: What is common among all the mountains in the range?
answers: text: has no axis of dominating altitudes, but in every portion the summits rise to rather uniform heights
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question: What is the climate like on the summits?
answers: text: None of the summits reaches the region of perpetual snow.
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question: How many portions is the Great Appalachian Valley divided into?
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question: What ocean is to the south east of the mountains?
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question: What are the names of the interior plains?
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question: What divides the mountain range equally?
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question: Which group reaches the region of perpetual snow?
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context: The Appalachian belt includes, with the ranges enumerated above, the plateaus sloping southward to the Atlantic Ocean in New England, and south-eastward to the border of the coastal plain through the central and southern Atlantic states; and on the north-west, the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus declining toward the Great Lakes and the interior plains. A remarkable feature of the belt is the longitudinal chain of broad valleys, including The Great Appalachian Valley, which in the southerly sections divides the mountain system into two unequal portions, but in the northernmost lies west of all the ranges possessing typical Appalachian features, and separates them from the Adirondack group. The mountain system has no axis of dominating altitudes, but in every portion the summits rise to rather uniform heights, and, especially in the central section, the various ridges and intermontane valleys have the same trend as the system itself. None of the summits reaches the region of perpetual snow.

qas: question: How tall are the mountains in Newfoundland?
answers: text: 3,000 ft
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question: How tall are the mountains in Nova Scotia?
answers: text: vary from 1,000 to 2,700 ft
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question: How tall are the mountains in Maine?
answers: text: exceed 4,000 ft
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question: How tall are the mountains in New Hampshire?
answers: text: many summits rise above 5,000 ft
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question: How tall are the isolated peaks in Notre Dame?
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question: What is the name of the 5,267ft peak in Nova Scotia?
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question: What is the smallest summit in the New Hampshire range?
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question: What state are the Green Mountains located in?
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question: What is the name of the mountain range in Maine?
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context: Mountains of the Long Range in Newfoundland reach heights of nearly 3,000 ft (900 m). In the Chic-Choc and Notre Dame mountain ranges in Quebec, the higher summits rise to about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) elevation. Isolated peaks and small ranges in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick vary from 1,000 to 2,700 ft (300 to 800 m). In Maine several peaks exceed 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Mount Katahdin at 5,267 feet (1,605 m). In New Hampshire, many summits rise above 5,000 ft (1,500 m), including Mount Washington in the White Mountains at 6,288 ft (1,917 m), Adams at 5,771 ft (1,759 m), Jefferson at 5,712 ft (1,741 m), Monroe at 5,380 ft (1,640 m), Madison at 5,367 ft (1,636 m), Lafayette at 5,249 feet (1,600 m), and Lincoln at 5,089 ft (1,551 m). In the Green Mountains the highest point, Mt. Mansfield, is 4,393 ft (1,339 m) in elevation; others include Killington Peak at 4,226 ft (1,288 m), Camel's Hump at 4,083 ft (1,244 m), Mt. Abraham at 4,006 ft (1,221 m), and a number of other heights exceeding 3,000 ft (900 m).

qas: question: How many summits in PA are over 2,500 ft? 
answers: text: over sixty summits
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question: How tall are the summits of Mount Davis and Blue Knob?
answers: text: over 3,000 ft
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question: How tall are Eagle Rock and Dans Mountain?
answers: text: 3,162 ft (964 m) and 2,882 ft
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question: How tall is the Pinnacle?
answers: text: 3,007 feet
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question: How many peaks are over 4,000 feet in WV?
answers: text: more than 150 peaks
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question: How many summits are over 2500 ft in Maryland?
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question: What mountains are on the opposite side of the Great Valley from Dans Mountain?
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question: How many peaks are over 3000ft in West Virginia?
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question: Besides Snowshoe, what is the name of the other mountain at Thorny Flat?
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question: What is south of the Pinnacle?
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context: In Pennsylvania, there are over sixty summits that rise over 2,500 ft (800 m); the summits of Mount Davis and Blue Knob rise over 3,000 ft (900 m). In Maryland, Eagle Rock and Dans Mountain are conspicuous points reaching 3,162 ft (964 m) and 2,882 ft (878 m) respectively. On the same side of the Great Valley, south of the Potomac, are the Pinnacle 3,007 feet (917 m) and Pidgeon Roost 3,400 ft (1,000 m). In West Virginia, more than 150 peaks rise above 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Spruce Knob 4,863 ft (1,482 m), the highest point in the Allegheny Mountains. A number of other points in the state rise above 4,800 ft (1,500 m). Snowshoe Mountain at Thorny Flat 4,848 ft (1,478 m) and Bald Knob 4,842 ft (1,476 m) are among the more notable peaks in West Virginia.

qas: question: Where do the Blue Ridge Mountains begin?
answers: text: southern Pennsylvania
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question: What are the typical elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains?
answers: text: 2,000 ft
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question: How tall is Quirauk Mountain?
answers: text: 2,145 ft
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question: How tall are the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia?
answers: text: 2,000 ft
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question: What is the tallest Appalachian mountain in Virginia?
answers: text: Mount Rogers
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question: What mountain is just above the Mason-Dixon line?
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question: What state is the Potomac River in?
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question: What is the highest peak south of the Roanoke River?
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question: What is the lowest point in the commonwealth?
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question: What is the highest mountain in Pennsylvania?
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context: The Blue Ridge Mountains, rising in southern Pennsylvania and there known as South Mountain, attain elevations of about 2,000 ft (600 m) in that state. South Mountain achieves its highest point just below the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland at Quirauk Mountain 2,145 ft (654 m) and then diminishes in height southward to the Potomac River. Once in Virginia the Blue Ridge again reaches 2,000 ft (600 m) and higher. In the Virginia Blue Ridge, the following are some of the highest peaks north of the Roanoke River: Stony Man 4,031 ft (1,229 m), Hawksbill Mountain 4,066 ft (1,239 m), Apple Orchard Mountain 4,225 ft (1,288 m) and Peaks of Otter 4,001 and 3,875 ft (1,220 and 1,181 m). South of the Roanoke River, along the Blue Ridge, are Virginia's highest peaks including Whitetop Mountain 5,520 ft (1,680 m) and Mount Rogers 5,729 ft (1,746 m), the highest point in the Commonwealth.

qas: question: Where did the mountains lay before the French and Indian War?
answers: text: on the indeterminate boundary between Britain's colonies along the Atlantic and French areas centered in the Mississippi basin
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question: What happened after the French and Indian War?
answers: text: the Proclamation of 1763 restricted settlement for Great Britain's thirteen original colonies in North America to east of the summit line of the mountains
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question: What was the general opinion of the law?
answers: text: it was strongly resented by backcountry settlers throughout the Appalachians
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question: What did the law likely lead to?
answers: text: the American Revolutionary War
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question: What did the backcountry settlers want to secure?
answers: text: their settlement of Kentucky
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question: When did the French and Indian war begin?
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question: Who were the staunchest supporters of the Proclamation?
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question: What law did the Revolutionary War lead to?
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question: Where was George Rogers Clark from?
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question: Who was the British King?
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context: Before the French and Indian War, the Appalachian Mountains laid on the indeterminate boundary between Britain's colonies along the Atlantic and French areas centered in the Mississippi basin. After the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763 restricted settlement for Great Britain's thirteen original colonies in North America to east of the summit line of the mountains (except in the northern regions where the Great Lakes formed the boundary). Although the line was adjusted several times to take frontier settlements into account and was impossible to enforce as law, it was strongly resented by backcountry settlers throughout the Appalachians. The Proclamation Line can be seen as one of the grievances which led to the American Revolutionary War. Many frontier settlers held that the defeat of the French opened the land west of the mountains to English settlement, only to find settlement barred by the British King's proclamation. The backcountry settlers who fought in the Illinois campaign of George Rogers Clark were motivated to secure their settlement of Kentucky.

qas: question: Where did a lot of Germans settle? 
answers: text: between the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers
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question: What dialect was created because of this?
answers: text: Pennsylvania German language
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question: Where did these Germans eventually occupy?
answers: text: all of the Shenandoah Valley
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question: What is another name for eastern Pennsylvania?
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question: What language was created in Shenandoah Valley?
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question: Who settled at the beginning of South Mountain?
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question: Who did the English cede Shenandoah Valley to?
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question: What area did the Cherokee reclaim?
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context: In eastern Pennsylvania the Great Appalachian Valley, or Great Valley, was accessible by reason of a broad gateway between the end of South Mountain and the Highlands, and many Germans and Moravians settled here between the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers forming the Pennsylvania Dutch community, some of whom even now speak a unique American dialect of German known as the "Pennsylvania German language" or "Pennsylvania Dutch." These latecomers to the New World were forced to the frontier to find cheap land. With their followers of both German, English and Scots-Irish origin, they worked their way southward and soon occupied all of the Shenandoah Valley, ceded by the Iroquois, and the upper reaches of the Great Valley tributaries of the Tennessee River, ceded by the Cherokee.

qas: question: What is one typical bird found in the range?
answers: text: wild turkey
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question: What is the scientific name for warblers?
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question: What type of songbird is rarely found in the forests?
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question: What type of duck is rarely found in the forests?
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question: What is the scientific name of the wild raven?
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context: Characteristic birds of the forest are wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris), ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), common raven (Corvus corax), wood duck (Aix sponsa), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), barred owl (Strix varia), screech owl (Megascops asio), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus), and northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), as well as a great variety of "songbirds" (Passeriformes), like the warblers in particular.

qas: question: How many species of tree squirrel are commonly found in the range?
answers: text: five species
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question: What is the most commonly seen species?
answers: text: gray squirrel
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question: What does the squirrel share its habitat with?
answers: text: larger fox squirrel
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question: What is found more in the northern portions?
answers: text: red squirrel
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question: Which species is commonly found more in spruce-fir forests?
answers: text: Appalachian northern flying squirrel
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question: How many species of animals are in the Appalachian forests?
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question: What is the northern flying squirrel smaller than?
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question: What is the least commonly seen squirrel in moderate elevation?
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question: What trees are the red squirrel confined to?
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question: What is the most commonly seen squirrel in higher elevations?
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context: Animals that characterize the Appalachian forests include five species of tree squirrels. The most commonly seen is the low to moderate elevation eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Occupying similar habitat is the slightly larger fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) and the much smaller southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). More characteristic of cooler northern and high elevation habitat is the red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), whereas the Appalachian northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus), which closely resembles the southern flying squirrel, is confined to northern hardwood and spruce-fir forests.

qas: question: What trees are typically found in the dryer portions?
answers: text: oak
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question: What species of tree was pretty much eliminated?
answers: text: The American chestnut
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question: What does the tree live on?
answers: text: sapling-sized sprouts
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question: What trees replaced chestnut trees?
answers: text: oaks
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question: What species has had a comeback in the uplands?
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question: What were hickories nearly exterminated by?
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question: What type of tree are chestnuts replacing?
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question: What form of Chestnut is attacked most viciously by the fungus?
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question: Where does the fungus originate from?
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context: Dryer and rockier uplands and ridges are occupied by oak-chestnut type forests dominated by a variety of oaks (Quercus spp.), hickories (Carya spp.) and, in the past, by the American chestnut (Castanea dentata). The American chestnut was virtually eliminated as a canopy species by the introduced fungal chestnut blight (Cryphonectaria parasitica), but lives on as sapling-sized sprouts that originate from roots, which are not killed by the fungus. In present-day forest canopies chestnut has been largely replaced by oaks.

qas: question: What kind of oaks are in the central and southern portions?
answers: text: black, northern red, white, chestnut and scarlet oaks
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question: What other tree is common there?
answers: text: hickories
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question: What trees are located in drier portions?
answers: text: chestnut oak
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question: What is the dominate type of oak in the Appalachians?
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question: What are the five primary types of hickories?
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question: Where do black oaks primarily thrive?
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question: Which two types of oak are rarest in the northern Appalachians?
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question: Which form of oak is found furthest south?
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context: The oak forests of the southern and central Appalachians consist largely of black, northern red, white, chestnut and scarlet oaks (Quercus velutina, Q. rubra, Q. alba, Q. prinus and Q. coccinea) and hickories, such as the pignut (Carya glabra) in particular. The richest forests, which grade into mesic types, usually in coves and on gentle slopes, have dominantly white and northern red oaks, while the driest sites are dominated by chestnut oak, or sometimes by scarlet or northern red oaks. In the northern Appalachians the oaks, except for white and northern red, drop out, while the latter extends farthest north.

qas: question: What are the names of the two chief summits?
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question: What is the Unaka front divided into?
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question: What front is located in northern Georgia?
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question: How many peaks in northern Georgia exceed 1,200 ft?
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context: Chief summits in the southern section of the Blue Ridge are located along two main crests—the Western or Unaka Front along the Tennessee-North Carolina border and the Eastern Front in North Carolina—or one of several "cross ridges" between the two main crests. Major subranges of the Eastern Front include the Black Mountains, Great Craggy Mountains, and Great Balsam Mountains, and its chief summits include Grandfather Mountain 5,964 ft (1,818 m) near the Tennessee-North Carolina border, Mount Mitchell 6,684 ft (2,037 m) in the Blacks, and Black Balsam Knob 6,214 ft (1,894 m) and Cold Mountain 6,030 ft (1,840 m) in the Great Balsams. The Western Blue Ridge Front is subdivided into the Unaka Range, the Bald Mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Unicoi Mountains, and its major peaks include Roan Mountain 6,285 ft (1,916 m) in the Unakas, Big Bald 5,516 ft (1,681 m) and Max Patch 4,616 ft (1,407 m) in the Bald Mountains, Clingmans Dome 6,643 ft (2,025 m), Mount Le Conte 6,593 feet (2,010 m), and Mount Guyot 6,621 ft (2,018 m) in the Great Smokies, and Big Frog Mountain 4,224 ft (1,287 m) near the Tennessee-Georgia-North Carolina border. Prominent summits in the cross ridges include Waterrock Knob (6,292 ft (1,918 m)) in the Plott Balsams. Across northern Georgia, numerous peaks exceed 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Brasstown Bald, the state's highest, at 4,784 ft (1,458 m) and 4,696 ft (1,431 m) Rabun Bald.

qas: question: What is the name of the drainage divide?
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question: What is north of the Potomac River?
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question: What geological feature causes the main rivers t orun transverse?
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question: What state is the James River located in?
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context: There are many geological issues concerning the rivers and streams of the Appalachians. In spite of the existence of the Great Appalachian Valley, many of the main rivers are transverse to the mountain system axis. The drainage divide of the Appalachians follows a tortuous course which crosses the mountainous belt just north of the New River in Virginia. South of the New River, rivers head into the Blue Ridge, cross the higher Unakas, receive important tributaries from the Great Valley, and traversing the Cumberland Plateau in spreading gorges (water gaps), escape by way of the Cumberland River and the Tennessee River rivers to the Ohio River and the Mississippi River, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico. In the central section, north of the New River, the rivers, rising in or just beyond the Valley Ridges, flow through great gorges to the Great Valley, and then across the Blue Ridge to tidal estuaries penetrating the coastal plain via the Roanoke River, James River, Potomac River, and Susquehanna River.

qas: question: What types of rocks were unharmed during plate collision?
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question: When was Pangaea?
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question: What is another name for the Appalachians?
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question: What is the name of the mountain range now located in Scotland?
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question: What country were the Appalachians originally located in?
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context: A look at rocks exposed in today's Appalachian mountains reveals elongated belts of folded and thrust faulted marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and slivers of ancient ocean floor, which provides strong evidence that these rocks were deformed during plate collision. The birth of the Appalachian ranges, some 480 Ma, marks the first of several mountain-building plate collisions that culminated in the construction of the supercontinent Pangaea with the Appalachians near the center. Because North America and Africa were connected, the Appalachians formed part of the same mountain chain as the Little Atlas in Morocco. This mountain range, known as the Central Pangean Mountains, extended into Scotland, from the North America/Europe collision (See Caledonian orogeny).

qas: question: When did the Appalachian passive margin become quiet?
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question: What did Appalachian collide with and sink under?
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question: What was the name of the first collision of North America and Appalachia?
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question: What was the name of the Orogeny before Taconic?
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question: What was the name of the volcanoes?
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context: During the middle Ordovician Period (about 496-440 Ma), a change in plate motions set the stage for the first Paleozoic mountain-building event (Taconic orogeny) in North America. The once-quiet Appalachian passive margin changed to a very active plate boundary when a neighboring oceanic plate, the Iapetus, collided with and began sinking beneath the North American craton. With the birth of this new subduction zone, the early Appalachians were born. Along the continental margin, volcanoes grew, coincident with the initiation of subduction. Thrust faulting uplifted and warped older sedimentary rock laid down on the passive margin. As mountains rose, erosion began to wear them down. Streams carried rock debris down slope to be deposited in nearby lowlands. The Taconic Orogeny was just the first of a series of mountain building plate collisions that contributed to the formation of the Appalachians, culminating in the collision of North America and Africa (see Appalachian orogeny).

qas: question: During what era did the Appalachian Mountains begin to erode?
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question: What did erosion create in the Cenozoic era?
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question: What rejuvenated the bedrock?
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question: What defined the folds and faults?
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question: How long did it take to carve canyons?
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context: By the end of the Mesozoic era, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era that the distinctive topography of the present formed. Uplift rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define the folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. Other streams downcut so rapidly that they cut right across the resistant folded rocks of the mountain core, carving canyons across rock layers and geologic structures.

qas: question: What is another name for anthracite coal?
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question: What helps to preserve ecosystems in the Appalachians?
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question: What kinds of fields are in southwestern Kentucky?
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question: Which part of Ohio has the metamorphosed form of coal?
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context: The Appalachian Mountains contain major deposits of anthracite coal as well as bituminous coal. In the folded mountains the coal is in metamorphosed form as anthracite, represented by the Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania. The bituminous coal fields of western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia, and West Virginia contain the sedimentary form of coal. The mountain top removal method of coal mining, in which entire mountain tops are removed, is currently threatening vast areas and ecosystems of the Appalachian Mountain region.

qas: question: What is the asl height of the red spruce in the cold valleys?
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question: How high does the black spruce grow?
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question: Where does the red spruce grow in Pennsylvania?
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question: How far south can red spruces be found?
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question: Which part of Canada are black spruces found in?
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context: The dominant northern and high elevation conifer is the red spruce (Picea rubens), which grows from near sea level to above 4,000 ft (1,200 m) above sea level (asl) in northern New England and southeastern Canada. It also grows southward along the Appalachian crest to the highest elevations of the southern Appalachians, as in North Carolina and Tennessee. In the central Appalachians it is usually confined above 3,000 ft (900 m) asl, except for a few cold valleys in which it reaches lower elevations. In the southern Appalachians it is restricted to higher elevations. Another species is the black spruce (Picea mariana), which extends farthest north of any conifer in North America, is found at high elevations in the northern Appalachians, and in bogs as far south as Pennsylvania.

qas: question: How many species of oaks are found in the Appalachians?
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question: What type of tree is found most often below 5,500 ft?
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question: What is the scientific name of the oak tree?
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question: What is the lowest asl oaks are usually found at?
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question: In what state are Fraser firs associated with oaks?
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context: The Appalachians are also home to two species of fir, the boreal balsam fir (Abies balsamea), and the southern high elevation endemic, Fraser fir (Abies fraseri). Fraser fir is confined to the highest parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains, where along with red spruce it forms a fragile ecosystem known as the Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest. Fraser fir rarely occurs below 5,500 ft (1,700 m), and becomes the dominant tree type at 6,200 ft (1,900 m). By contrast, balsam fir is found from near sea level to the tree line in the northern Appalachians, but ranges only as far south as Virginia and West Virginia in the central Appalachians, where it is usually confined above 3,900 ft (1,200 m) asl, except in cold valleys. Curiously, it is associated with oaks in Virginia. The balsam fir of Virginia and West Virginia is thought by some to be a natural hybrid between the more northern variety and Fraser fir. While red spruce is common in both upland and bog habitats, balsam fir, as well as black spruce and tamarack, are more characteristic of the latter. However balsam fir also does well in soils with a pH as high as 6.

qas: question: What insect is extirpating spruces?
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question: Carolina hemlock requires what kind of soil compared to firs?
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question: What kinds of trees are at a lower elevation than Canada hemlocks?
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question: Where are Carolina Hemlocks traditionally found?
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question: What tree contrasted with the Canada hemlock is not affected by the adelgid?
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context: Eastern or Canada hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is another important evergreen needle-leaf conifer that grows along the Appalachian chain from north to south, but is confined to lower elevations than red spruce and the firs. It generally occupies richer and less acidic soils than the spruce and firs and is characteristic of deep, shaded and moist mountain valleys and coves. It is, unfortunately, subject to the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), an introduced insect, that is rapidly extirpating it as a forest tree. Less abundant, and restricted to the southern Appalachians, is Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana). Like Canada hemlock, this tree suffers severely from the hemlock woolly adelgid.

qas: question: What type of species is the pitch pine?
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question: What is the only species that occupies sandy sites?
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question: What is red pine valued for?
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question: What other species besides the white pine enjoys moist soil?
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question: What types of habitat are difficult for the white pine to do well in?
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context: Several species of pines characteristic of the Appalachians are eastern white pine (Pinus strobus ), Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana), pitch pine (Pinus rigida ), Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens) and shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata). Red pine (Pinus resinosa) is a boreal species that forms a few high elevation outliers as far south as West Virginia. All of these species except white pine tend to occupy sandy, rocky, poor soil sites, which are mostly acidic in character. White pine, a large species valued for its timber, tends to do best in rich, moist soil, either acidic or alkaline in character. Pitch pine is also at home in acidic, boggy soil, and Table Mountain pine may occasionally be found in this habitat as well. Shortleaf pine is generally found in warmer habitats and at lower elevations than the other species. All the species listed do best in open or lightly shaded habitats, although white pine also thrives in shady coves, valleys, and on floodplains.

qas: question: What type of trees are lacking in the appalachian?
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question: Where was E. Lucy Braun from?
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question: When were the hardwood trees discovered?
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question: Where are the perennial herbs primarily located?
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context: The Appalachians are characterized by a wealth of large, beautiful deciduous broadleaf (hardwood) trees. Their occurrences are best summarized and described in E. Lucy Braun's 1950 classic, Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America (Macmillan, New York). The most diverse and richest forests are the mixed mesophytic or medium moisture types, which are largely confined to rich, moist montane soils of the southern and central Appalachians, particularly in the Cumberland and Allegheny Mountains, but also thrive in the southern Appalachian coves. Characteristic canopy species are white basswood (Tilia heterophylla), yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), white ash (Fraxinus americana ) and yellow birch (Betula alleganiensis). Other common trees are red maple (Acer rubrum), shagbark and bitternut hickories (Carya ovata and C. cordiformis) and black or sweet birch (Betula lenta ). Small understory trees and shrubs include flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and spicebush (Lindera benzoin). There are also hundreds of perennial and annual herbs, among them such herbal and medicinal plants as American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa).

qas: question: What are examples of foregoing trees?
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question: Where are the northern hardwoods the most diverse?
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question: What is the scientific name for the American beech?
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question: Which part of the appalachians have a significant number of shrubs at high elevations?
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question: What are found more frequently in the rich mesic forests?
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context: The foregoing trees, shrubs and herbs are also more widely distributed in less rich mesic forests that generally occupy coves, stream valleys and flood plains throughout the southern and central Appalachians at low and intermediate elevations. In the northern Appalachians and at higher elevations of the central and southern Appalachians these diverse mesic forests give way to less diverse "northern hardwoods" with canopies dominated only by American beech, sugar maple, American basswood (Tilia americana) and yellow birch and with far fewer species of shrubs and herbs.

qas: question: What type of layers do oak forests have plenty of?
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question: What type of soils do most mesic forests have?
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question: What type of rock do rhododendrons grow near?
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question: What is rarely found near moist areas?
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question: What is the name of the shrub associated with the chinquapin oak?
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context: The oak forests generally lack the diverse small tree, shrub and herb layers of mesic forests. Shrubs are generally ericaceous, and include the evergreen mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), various species of blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), a number of deciduous rhododendrons (azaleas), and smaller heaths such as teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens) and trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens ). The evergreen great rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) is characteristic of moist stream valleys. These occurrences are in line with the prevailing acidic character of most oak forest soils. In contrast, the much rarer chinquapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) demands alkaline soils and generally grows where limestone rock is near the surface. Hence no ericaceous shrubs are associated with it.

qas: question: What is worse than the hemlock woolly adelgid?
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question: What type of sprouts have a hard time growing?
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question: What is considered more serious than beech bark disease complex?
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question: What is the scientific name for the adelgid?
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question: What does the hemlock woolly adelgid help improve?
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context: Eastern deciduous forests are subject to a number of serious insect and disease outbreaks. Among the most conspicuous is that of the introduced gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), which infests primarily oaks, causing severe defoliation and tree mortality. But it also has the benefit of eliminating weak individuals, and thus improving the genetic stock, as well as creating rich habitat of a type through accumulation of dead wood. Because hardwoods sprout so readily, this moth is not as harmful as the hemlock woolly adelgid. Perhaps more serious is the introduced beech bark disease complex, which includes both a scale insect (Cryptococcus fagisuga) and fungal components.

qas: question: Why has the rabbit increased in numbers as of late?
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question: What is the scientific name for the North American cougar?
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question: What kind of crops was the eastern wolf responsible for destroying?
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question: Where is the elk found?
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question: What has the only population of snowshoe hares south of the St. Lawrence River?
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context: As familiar as squirrels are the eastern cottontail rabbit (Silvilagus floridanus) and the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). The latter in particular has greatly increased in abundance as a result of the extirpation of the eastern wolf (Canis lupus lycaon) and the North American cougar. This has led to the overgrazing and browsing of many plants of the Appalachian forests, as well as destruction of agricultural crops. Other deer include the moose (Alces alces ), found only in the north, and the elk (Cervus canadensis), which, although once extirpated, is now making a comeback, through transplantation, in the southern and central Appalachians. In Quebec, the Chic-Chocs host the only population of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) south of the St. Lawrence River. An additional species that is common in the north but extends its range southward at high elevations to Virginia and West Virginia is the varying or snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). However, these central Appalachian populations are scattered and very small.

qas: question: What is the name of the most commonly seen salamander?
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question: What are the frogs and toads the largest class of?
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question: What tends to detract from the nutrient cycle of the forest?
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question: What consumes the salamanders and amphibians?
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question: What are species of salamanders called as a group?
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context: Of great importance are the many species of salamanders and, in particular, the lungless species (Family Plethodontidae) that live in great abundance concealed by leaves and debris, on the forest floor. Most frequently seen, however, is the eastern or red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), whose terrestrial eft form is often encountered on the open, dry forest floor. It has been estimated that salamanders represent the largest class of animal biomass in the Appalachian forests. Frogs and toads are of lesser diversity and abundance, but the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) is, like the eft, commonly encountered on the dry forest floor, while a number of species of small frogs, such as spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), enliven the forest with their calls. Salamanders and other amphibians contribute greatly to nutrient cycling through their consumption of small life forms on the forest floor and in aquatic habitats.

qas: question: What are found more often than amphibians?
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question: What is the largest venomous snake in the Appalachians?
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question: How large can the black rat snake grow?
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question: Which kind of turtle is only found in the eastern Appalachians?
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question: What kind of snake is a good climber?
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context: Although reptiles are less abundant and diverse than amphibians, a number of snakes are conspicuous members of the fauna. One of the largest is the non-venomous black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta), while the common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) is among the smallest but most abundant. The American copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) and the timber rattler (Crotalus horridus) are venomous pit vipers. There are few lizards, but the broad-headed skink (Eumeces laticeps), at up to 13 in (33 cm) in length, and an excellent climber and swimmer, is one of the largest and most spectacular in appearance and action. The most common turtle is the eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), which is found in both upland and lowland forests in the central and southern Appalachians. Prominent among aquatic species is the large common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina), which occurs throughout the Appalachians.

qas: question: What prevented the Appalachian expansion?
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question: What prevented the settlers from going to the coastal plains?
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question: What were the names of the valleys that were impossible to pass?
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question: Who had the Spanish colonies allied with?
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question: What were the name of the French tribes?
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context: For a century, the Appalachians were a barrier to the westward expansion of the British colonies. The continuity of the mountain system, the bewildering multiplicity of its succeeding ridges, the tortuous courses and roughness of its transverse passes, a heavy forest, and dense undergrowth all conspired to hold the settlers on the seaward-sloping plateaus and coastal plains. Only by way of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys, Cumberland Gap, the Wachesa Trail,[undue weight? – discuss] and round about the southern termination of the system were there easy routes to the interior of the country, and these were long closed by powerful Native American tribes such as the Iroquois, Creek, and Cherokee, among others. Expansion was also blocked by the alliances the British Empire had forged with Native American tribes, the proximity of the Spanish colonies in the south and French activity throughout the interior.

qas: question: When did French colonists breach Allegheny?
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question: Who did the French take the transmontane region from?
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question: Who did the English ally with in the war?
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question: What were the American armies supported by?
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question: Who was America in league with in the Great Valley?
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context: By 1755, the obstacle to westward expansion had been thus reduced by half; outposts of the English colonists had penetrated the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus, threatening French monopoly in the transmontane region, and a conflict became inevitable. Making common cause against the French to determine the control of the Ohio valley, the unsuspected strength of the colonists was revealed, and the successful ending of the French and Indian War extended England's territory to the Mississippi. To this strength the geographic isolation enforced by the Appalachian mountains had been a prime contributor. The confinement of the colonies between an ocean and a mountain wall led to the fullest occupation of the coastal border of the continent, which was possible under existing conditions of agriculture, conducting to a community of purpose, a political and commercial solidarity, which would not otherwise have been developed. As early as 1700 it was possible to ride from Portland, Maine, to southern Virginia, sleeping each night at some considerable village. In contrast to this complete industrial occupation, the French territory was held by a small and very scattered population, its extent and openness adding materially to the difficulties of a disputed tenure. Bearing the brunt of this contest as they did, the colonies were undergoing preparation for the subsequent struggle with the home government. Unsupported by shipping, the American armies fought toward the sea with the mountains at their back protecting them against British leagued with the Native Americans. The few settlements beyond the Great Valley were free for self-defense, debarred from general participation in the conflict by reason of their position.