You're like if my dad liked rocks instead of planes.

Myron Cook’s calm organized rational videos are the perfect antidote to the insane developments we are being exposed to on a daily basis.  10 minutes in and I feel better already.

I’m a geologist who did a masters thesis mapping the Valley and Ridge geology in Hampshirite and Hardy counties, WVA.  I appreciate your efforts to clearly explain the geologic history to lay people.  From the comments, looks like your work is much appreciated.  Good refresher for me, too.

As a sixth grader in 1962 I looked at a map on the wall and told the teacher that the continents all fit together nicely, and she assured me I was wrong.  Plate tectonics couldn't come quick enough for this inquisitive young man.

The timeline for Appalachia is mind boggling. Mountains raised and leveled, raised and leveled, raised and leveled and raised yet again. The scale is beyond comprehension.

Really amazing, thank you Mr Cook. My dad was a geologist/ quarry manager. This brings back memories of him explaining rock formations in Ireland. Much appreciated.

Between you and Nick Zentner, I am finding a sincere love for geology. I love this stuff.  Nick has taught me so much about the Pacific Northwest.  And now you're teaching me about our east coast.  Now I wish I could find something to teach me about Missouri Geology.

This is what I would have imagined a Bob Ross demonstration would have been like had he been a geologist.

I'm not a geologist, but an artist. I live in North Jersey and watching for weather report for upcoming snow storm. Once again, the map was showing the terrain of Pennsylvania as the neighboring state, that distinctive shape caught my eyes, once again. For years I was curious why this part of Appalachian Mountain system has such distinctive shape - as if a giant cat scratched the surface of the earth. This time, I decided to dig up deep, wondering if I could find any answer in YouTube. Your presentation was beyond my widest expectations! I really appreciate your home made cray work and white board drawings. :) I felt like I went back my youth, felt as if sitting in the classroom and finding the information I was dying to know~ The explanation of the coal and natural gas formation were an extra bonus. It explains why the U.S. is so blessed to have such rich natural resources around the country. By the way, I'm 'Made in Japan' :)

My 8th grade earth science teacher introduced us to “The Theory of Continental Shift” back in 1973.   The term “plate tectonics” wasn’t known to me until some years later.  At the time, it wasn’t considered mainstream science, but within about 5-10 years, it was accepted as scientific fact.  Once we put cameras down at the bottom of the Atlantic Rift and actually saw new crust being created, thus pushing the continents apart, it was pretty much proven.

Great video about an area that is sadly ignored. I am a rock hound and live in Maryland. There are so many deposits of all kinds jumbled around me. Fantastic metamorphic schist, a mica mine and even red sandstones with iron and dinosaur tracks. This area was the source of Colonial iron ore and granite too!   We are still classed as a moderate earthquake zone due to remaining stresses.

You have us mesmerized, we wish we were 50 years younger and were studying to be geologists. You are an inspiration. Allan and Carmon

The example of sheets of paper and the exercise ball really drove home the thinnest of the crust to me for the first time. Also your use of drone cameras in your videos is outstanding. Thank you

A good way to visualize a foreland basin is to pile books, one at a time, onto a sofa cushion. As the pile of books get taller, the 'basins' adjacent to the books gets deeper. Small mountains ranges - a small pile of books - will create shallow basins on either side of it, and an immense pile of books will create very deep basins. The depth and extent of the basin can be used as a proxy for the length and height of the mountain range that created it.

Thanks Myron. As a Merrylander who got his historical geology training in the region, I appreciate your covering this.  Like you say, though the Rockies are far more spectacular, the Appalachians have their own charm (maybe that's why Baltimore is called "Charm City" ;) especially in terms of it's long history and series of orogenies.  As is said, Maryland is "American in Miniature," not only in terms of geography, but also geology. From Precambrian to Pleistocene Terraces, the only thing we're missing at the surface is the Jurassic Period and the Oligocene Epoch.  For about a year now I've been dating a lady who grew up in Huntsville AL, which is located in the N.E. part of the state. Naturally I checked out the geology there, and I was rather surprised to find geologic formations that were identical to ones here.  For instance, the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation runs from Pennsylvania, through western Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama. "It is a major ridge-former in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians."

When you mention “deep underground,” understanding that was an early major insight for me. The faults and folds here are very complicated. I was fortunate in the fact that Dr. Beem, the person I took honors geology with for 4-years, liked to do field work, which was an incredible help in my being able to put the puzzle together in my mind. And it’s not just the Valley & Ridge that are interesting.

Running here through Frederick Countie’s Triassic sediments, is the Newark Supergroup. It starts in Newfoundland and runs through to South Carolina, and also has areas of Jurassic sediments.  It represents an early Rift Zone that failed, as Pangea began to pull apart.  In N.E. Frederick county are found Grallators, that are thought to be made by the the early dinosaur, Coelophysis.  Precise identification is difficult, because the animal(s) appeared to have been running.

Another point of interest in Frederick County, the western side has two ridges that contain greenstone Metabasalts, remnants of volcanism occurring towards the east during the Paleozoic Era.

One last thing, about 20 miles west of Baltimore is the town of Granite, named so for obvious reasons. The rocks there are thought to be the remains of the core of an ancient volcano :)

This was awesome. The Appalachians are my home mountains, I’m glad to understand them more. It’s so nice to spend time with someone who is also just thrilled by the story of the earth.

Absolutely fascinating! Myron, you have the gift of making complex subjects like geology seem easy to the extent that even dummies like me ‘get it’. Thank you 🙏

I can not even begin to tell you how much I appreciate this video! I watched it three times this morning. I’ve lived in the PA Appalachian mountains all my life and was always fascinated by the different formations, but never was able to put a visual on the how truly big they actually were.  As a little kid, my babysitters husband gave me fossils he would find and told me “my” mountains were once the biggest in the world! I grew up on the north face of a fold, not far from the Susquehanna. To get to Harrisburg, we would travel down 322 along the river where I could see these beautiful layers exposed.  Thank you, Mr. Cook!  You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania!

I have had many people correct me for the pronunciation of Appalachian.  There are two pronunciations that people of the region use. I have no dog in the fight. I use the one I have heard over the years. I mean no offense to anybody. The important thing to me is how amazing they are and the impact they have on the geologic history of North America. What beautiful mountains!

You remind of a time when learning science (geology) was fun and actually meant something