The Scottish Highlands, the Appalachians, and the Atlas may seem like very different mountain ranges, but they were once part of the same great chain that spanned the supercontinent Pangaea. This ridge was known as the Central Pangean Mountains and ran from northeast to southwest during the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic periods.
The formation of the Central Pangean Mountains was due to a collision between two supercontinents, Laurussia and Gondwana, during the creation of Pangaea. At its highest elevation during the beginning of the Permian period, the ridge was similar to the present-day Himalayas.
It is incredible to imagine that the Scottish Highlands, the Appalachians, the Ouachita Mountains, and the Little Atlas of Morocco were once part of the same mountain range, once connected as the Central Pangean Mountains. During the Permian period, the Central Pangean Mountains experienced significant physical weathering, which decreased the peak heights and created many deep intermontane plains. By the Middle Triassic period, the mountain sierras had considerably reduced in size...
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