Section 01

The Range

The Southern Appalachians are the ground-down remnant of a range once Alpine in scale, and their age is the point. Ice sheets stopped north of them, so the forest was pushed downslope and back up again rather than removed. What accumulated instead is a temperate forest carrying more tree species than the whole of Europe.

• 01.1Older than the AlpsGround-down remnants of a range once Alpine in scale, and what several hundred million years of erosion leaves behind.
• 01.2Never glaciatedThe ice stopped north of here, so lineages accumulated instead of being scraped off — the single fact behind the diversity.
• 01.3Cove and ridgeAspect, elevation and moisture produce forest types that change within a few hundred metres.