Blue Ridge Mountains

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a mountain range in the eastern United States, extending from Pennsylvania to Georgia as part of the Appalachian Mountains. Their name comes from the bluish appearance created by atmospheric haze and forest emissions.

Appalachian Mountains: A mountain system in eastern North America extending from Alabama to Newfoundland. The Blue Ridge forms one major province of this larger mountain system.
Alleghanian orogeny: A mountain-building episode that assembled much of Pangaea through collisions in the Appalachian region. Its tectonic forces uplifted and deformed rocks in the southern Blue Ridge.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: A national park straddling Tennessee and North Carolina, protecting part of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Its namesake mountains form a prominent southern section of the Blue Ridge.
Appalachian temperate rainforest: A humid forest ecosystem found in high-rainfall parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Orographic rainfall and elevation create rainforest conditions on some Blue Ridge slopes.
Great Smoky Mountains: A mountain range along the Tennessee–North Carolina border, forming part of the southern Appalachian Mountains. They are a distinct range within the Blue Ridge physiographic province, not a synonym for the entire Blue Ridge.
Blue Ridge Province: A physiographic province of the Appalachian Highlands characterized by high, rugged mountains and ancient crystalline rocks. This province identifies the Blue Ridge as a distinct landform region.
Grenville orogeny: A Proterozoic mountain-building event that formed much of the ancient crystalline basement of eastern North America. Grenville-age rocks underlie parts of the Blue Ridge.
Shenandoah National Park: A national park in Virginia encompassing much of the central Blue Ridge. Its protected ridges and valleys offer a concentrated example of the range’s central landscape.
Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest: A boreal-like forest community of red spruce and Fraser fir on the highest southern Appalachian peaks. High Blue Ridge elevations preserve this cool-climate habitat far south of its main range.
Black Mountains: A mountain range in North Carolina containing the highest peaks in the eastern United States. They are a distinct subrange within the Blue Ridge, including Mount Mitchell.

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