The New River is the oldest river on the North American continent and second only to the Nile in Africa. Sinking Creek is a prehistoric tributary running west into one of the oldest river systems in the world ironically called the ‘New’. Those with streams flowing through them are called water gaps. This part of the Appalachians is strung with gaps, which are small passes in the mountain front. Sinking Creek, a side stream of the New River, is an example of this process. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define the folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. This era is known as the ‘Age of the Mammals.’ This uplifting rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Running across and through the ridge and valley region of the Appalachians is the New River which is believed to have existed before this second mountain building process began. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era (sixty-five million years ago to the present) that the distinctive topography of the Appalachian Mountains formed. Age of the MammalsĪbout sixty-six million years ago, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain. The Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest mountains in the world.

The Appalachians likely once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps, Andes, and the Rocky Mountains before they were eroded down to what they are today. It applied massive stress on what is today the Eastern Seaboard of North America, forming a wide and high mountain chain.

This orogeny occurred about 325 million years ago and was caused by Africa colliding with North America at a time when these continents did not exist in their current forms. The Appalachian Orogeny is one of the geological mountain building events that created the Appalachian Mountains.

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