The impact of the local weather on the ecology at an elevation may be largely captured via a mix of amount of precipitation, and the biotemperature, as described by Leslie Holdridge in 1947. Biotemperature is the mean temperature; all temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) are considered to be 0 °C. When the temperature is below 0 °C, crops are dormant, so the exact temperature is unimportant. The peaks of mountains with permanent snow can have a biotemperature below 1.5 °C (34.7 °F). Glacial processes produce characteristic landforms, corresponding to pyramidal peaks, knife-edge arêtes, and bowl-formed cirques that may include lakes. Plateau mountains, such as the Catskills, are formed from the erosion of an uplifted plateau.
Whitefish Depot Park
Equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. Most geologically younger mountain ranges on the Earth’s land surface are …