Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a part of the Appalachian Mountains. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains, and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934 and, with over 11 million visits per year, is the most visited national park in the United States.

The Smokies are part of an International Biosphere Reserve. The range is home to an estimated  of old-growth forest, constituting the largest such stand east of the Mississippi River. The forests in the range's lower elevations are among the most diverse ecosystems in North America, and the conifer forest that covers the upper elevations is the largest of its kind. The Smokies are home to the densest black bear population in the Eastern United States and the most diverse salamander population outside of the tropics.

Along with the biosphere reserve, the Great Smoky Mountains have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The U.S. National Park Service preserves and maintains 78 structures within the national park that were once part of the numerous small Appalachian communities scattered throughout the range's river valleys and coves. The park contains five historic districts and nine individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places.

The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. This fog is caused by the vegetation emitting organic compounds, chemicals that have a high vapor pressure and easily form vapors at normal temperature and pressure.

References

Category:Geography of Tennessee
Category:Geography of North Carolina