4.6 billion years ago… Earth came together as a cloud of dust and gas
3.8 bya… North America began to form
Landmass under North Carolina began to form 1.7 bya…
The first mountains were formed in North Carolina: the Grenville Mountains They eroded long ago, but rocks formed at this time lie underneath the Appalachians and are exposed in parts of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. 1.3 bya…
The land under North Carolina was pulled apart, and inland seas emerged. Island volcanoes developed. Rocks formed by those volcanoes extend today over a wide area of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. 1.0 bya…
All of North Carolina was under water. Coast line was in the middle of Tennessee. 542 mya…
North America and Europe/Africa moved together and pushed up Appalachian mountains for 100 million years. Sand and mud were carried west to the sea; filled in gaps to create Pangaea. 444 mya…
The Appalachian mountains were complete and began to erode. The Appalachian mountain range was 620 miles long (from Canada, Great Britain, Greenland, and Scandinavia all the way south to Louisiana) The mountains were as high as the highest mountains in the world today. The tallest peaks were in what is now the eastern Piedmont and Coastal Plain. 260 mya…
North Carolina was located near the Equator. 250 mya…
The North American continent drifted to the northwest and the Atlantic Ocean formed between North America and Africa. The shore was located near the present Outer Banks. The Appalachians continued to erode. Wind and rain wore away the rock and carried it as sediment to lower-lying land or to the sea, leaving the flat land that now exists in the eastern Piedmont. 200 mya…
East Coast of North Carolina was under water. Coastal Plain rose above sea level at the end of Paleocene. 145 mya…
The entire modern Coastal Plain of North Carolina was again above sea level mya…
The crust under the Coastal Plain began to sink Ocean pushed as far west as the modern Piedmont The calcium-rich shells of microscopic algae sank to the ocean floor, where over time they became limestone. 55 mya…
Rapid erosion in the Piedmont was uneven, and left the Uwharrie Mountains behind. 23 mya…
The present "Ice Age" began As glaciers and polar ice caps re-formed, sea level fell, exposing the Coastal Plain. Several periods of glaciation (the forming of glaciers) and melting followed, with corresponding falls and rises in sea level. Sand Hills formed. 1.8 mya…
~275 miles long Rises in Piedmont region and empties into the Pamlico Sound
Wetlands depression: lake is filled by rain water and runoff, not by underground springs 2-3 ft. deep 18 miles long 7 miles wide Lake bed is 3-5 feet below sea level Perhaps formed by prehistoric meteor shower or underground peat fires
Barrier islands stretching 200 miles Formed ~10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age when huge continental glaciers began to melt and the ocean began to rise. Silt and sand carried by glacier meltwater washed out into the ocean and built up to create long barrier islands
Highest peak: Mount Mitchell (6,684 feet) Began forming over 400 million years ago. Approximately 320 mya, North America and Europe collided, pushing the Blue Ridges up higher. Mostly formed of ancient granitic charnockites, metamorphosed volcanic formations, and sedimentary limestones.
Remnant of ancient chain of Sauratown Mountains
315-foot granite monolith