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Black - An extension of the Appalachian Blue Ridge to the Interior Highlands. On the east side of the orange, it would be not unlike the Great Smoky Mountains and Great Balsam Mountains in height. On the west side, however, they would be even taller - the highest peak would fall less than 100 feet short of 10,000, and the average height of peaks would be around 6,000 feet with lower-lying valleys generally at 1,250 to 2,500 feet and peaks exceeding 7,500 feet not uncommon.
Purple and Thin Yellow Line - Appalachian Plateau Extension. This would be very similar to the Cumberland Plateau today, with the yellow being not unlike the Sequatchie Valley. However, it gets higher west of the orange, going up to about 4,000 feet on average.
Pink - Mississippi Basins formed on either side of the primary Appalachia with similar properties to the Nashville and Bluegrass Basins today. The Mississippi Embayment never fully formed from the Bermuda Hotspot but instead left behind two eroded domes on either side of the unaffected main mountains.
Green - Ozark Expansion. This would be similar to the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas today rather than Tennessee's Highland Rim, thus slightly higher; however, its edges would still be heavily dissected by streams, not unlike the Highland Rim. Thus, the Highland Rim would be greatly expanded and different, as well as having a small outlier on the other side of the orange. Elevation about 1,500 feet on both sides of the orange.
Orange - Nashville-Bluegrass Embayment. This would be the Mississippi Embayment instead. The domes formed around modern-day Nashville and Lexington would gradually merge into one, supplant the Appalachian Plateau and Appalachian Valley and a third dome form over the Piedmont before it finally supplants even the Blue Ridge. Once the Bermuda Hotspot moves east, it collapses under its own weight before being eroded by the Mississippi River. This would be similar to the actual Mississippi Embayment.
Lavender - Sierra Madre Foothills. These would be extended 500-1,000 feet tall foothills of the Sierra Madre similar to those on the modern the Yucatan Peninsula, with the dome that collapsed to form the Gulf of Mexico not quite as big.
Lime - Piedmont 2.0. This would be an expansion of the Piedmont further away from the Blue Ridge, and it would be higher as well reaching 2,000 to 2,500 feet above sea level except where sufficiently big/old creeks/rivers erode gorges.
Big Yellow Spots - Extinct Volcanoes. These would be formed from the Bermuda Hotspot after North America drifts westward over it. Extinct Carolina Volcano (the western one) would have a summit around 11,000 feet above sea level and Extinct Roanoke Volcano (the eastern one) around 7,500 feet. The island of Bermuda would still have formed from the weakening hotspot in the same place.
Thin Cyan Lines - Alternate courses for the Mississippi River, Ohio River, Rio Grande and Red River of the South.
Brown - Expanded Coastal Plains. More sediment deposited to fill in most of the Gulf of Mexico by now, with the two remnants being very shallow (barely deeper than the Strait of Gibraltar at their entrances). Also, as the volcanoes have eroded some since their final eruption, coastal plains would have formed around them too, even connecting the eastern one to the mainland.
What would the climate be of North America overall and by region? What would the vegetation be like, taking into account the climatic influences, Blue Ridge montane ecosystems extending even further south, glacial/interglacial cycles and lack of a seed block to/from the tropics?
Not sure but I think Miami could kiss goodbye to its coconut palms and tropical climate due to more continental influences.
Probably. And I imagined low-lying TN would probably be like a less humid and hotter-summer version of KY, too, for the same reason; so humid subtropical climates would probably end near the TN/KY border (if they're not Mediterranean or monsoon due to less precipitation) rather than at the real path of the Ohio River, but with summers more like Wichita or even OKC.
Just a guess here... Because so much of the precipitation that hits the Midwest comes from tropical air from the south, Missouri, Kentucky and the Great lakes states would likely be a fair bit dryer due to the rain shadow effects of a much higher mountain chain than anything found in the east now.
Piedmont 2.0 would have a wonderful climate. Atlanta would turn into Asheville (~2,100 ft)
Oh yeah! Atlanta would probably have Boston summers but still with Nashville winters. Just like Asheville.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FVWinters
Just a guess here... Because so much of the precipitation that hits the Midwest comes from tropical air from the south, Missouri, Kentucky and the Great lakes states would likely be a fair bit dryer due to the rain shadow effects of a much higher mountain chain than anything found in the east now.
I agree too. Even Tennessee would likely be MUCH drier outside of the far east (which is significant given it's one of the 10 rainiest states), although I doubt Middle Tennessee would be semiarid even if East/West Tennessee, Kentucky and the lower Midwest do become such.
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