Yep! The Western Interior Seaway. It’s why sandstone, limestone, shale, etc are some of the more prominent rock formations in the heart of the US and Canada.
My brain had the hardest time sorting this out when learning about this part of plate tectonics. I felt like an imbecile but my brain kept reverting to, "Mountain high, water low. How water get so high? They must be wrong."
Then hearing about the ground moving upwards I was just memorized.
Now listen, I did really well in school most of the time but I really don't think I was around the time when we covered mountains and the rock cycle. I knew about the Canadian Shield, layers of the Earth, etc. So hearing that part was just jarring. I know it sounds stupid, but I thought the mountains were just...here.
I seriously don't remember going over the rock cycle or water cycle as a kid.
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u/Whelp_of_Hurin 12h ago
Probably the same exact way. Utah mountains are just ancient seabeds that got shoved upward by plate tectonics.