• gigastasio@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    80
    ·
    11 hours ago

    To the extent that a portion of the mountain chain that formed the Appalachian Mountains is in Europe. The Appalachians were a part of the Central Pangean mountain system, which makes them older than the Atlantic Ocean.

    They’ve seen some shit.

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      9 hours ago

      That’s kind of awesome to think about.

      I’m picturing myself on Pangea. The mountains in front of me are taller than the Himalayas today. These are the Appalachians. Oh no, a dinosaur! Look out, duck! Huh, that’s not a duck that’s a QUETZALCOATLUS! Everybody run! How can we outrun a QUETZALCOATLUS?!?!?! AAAHHHHHH.

      Isn’t it beautiful?

      • DoubleDongle@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Wikipedia says they date back 480 million years, during the Ordovician period. I think the atmosphere would have been pretty breathable, but plants wouldn’t conquer the land in a serious way for at least another 60 million years or so, with bugs following them. Nothing saw those mountains. If you time-traveled to the Pangean mountains, you would be the only being to ever observe them in their formative years. Eons would pass before the first plant set root at their feet. The sterile and desolate emptiness would be beyond human experience.

        • Zwiebel@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          49 minutes ago

          The couple of people who’ve been on the moon have seen that kind of emptiness

        • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 hours ago

          but plants wouldn’t conquer the land in a serious way for at least another 60 million years or so

          Eons would pass before the first plant set root at their feet.

          Pretty sure the mountains will still be there. Spoiler alert. I started at the end of the book.

          you would be the only being to ever observe them in their formative years.

          The sterile and desolate emptiness would be beyond human experience.

          That’s badass though. Except that we might be returning to that sterile and desolate emptiness here shortly.

          Also, don’t forget that fungi, algae, and lichen colonized dry land before the plants arrived, paving the way for them by eating rocks and pooping dirt.

      • rockerface🇺🇦@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        6 hours ago

        Sharks are older than the North Star. Not as in Polaris wasn’t pointing north yet when the sharks evolved, but as in it hadn’t formed yet.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      11 hours ago

      And through it all, the mountains can all agree…trump is the biggest piece of shit they’ve ever heard of.