Contrary to popular belief, the Appalachians, and every mountain range on Earth, were formed in part, if not in whole, by volcanic activity. Although moutains in general have different ways of being formed (orogeny). All mountain "ranges" on Earth involved volcanic activitiy and the uprising of magma.
"The rocks at the core of the Appalachian Mountains formed more than a billion years ago. At that time, all of the continents were joined together in a single supercontinent [Rodinia] surrounded by a single ocean. About 750 mya, the crust of the supercontinent began to pull apart. As the crust expanded, a deep basin - the Ocoee - formed in what is now the western Carolinas, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia. Seawater then filled the basin and sediments deposited in layers on the floor - a great thickness of sediments accumulated. These sediments now form the bedrock of the Great Smoky Mountains. Within these sediments, minerals like pyrite and metals like copper were deposited. At the same the sediments were being laid down, volcanoes were erupting in present-day Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Lava from some volcanoes flowed in slow moving sheets, but some eruptions were explosive.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_appalachians.html
"The rocks at the core of the Appalachian Mountains formed more than a billion years ago. At that time, all of the continents were joined together in a single supercontinent [Rodinia] surrounded by a single ocean. About 750 mya, the crust of the supercontinent began to pull apart. As the crust expanded, a deep basin - the Ocoee - formed in what is now the western Carolinas, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia. Seawater then filled the basin and sediments deposited in layers on the floor - a great thickness of sediments accumulated. These sediments now form the bedrock of the Great Smoky Mountains. Within these sediments, minerals like pyrite and metals like copper were deposited. At the same the sediments were being laid down, volcanoes were erupting in present-day Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Lava from some volcanoes flowed in slow moving sheets, but some eruptions were explosive.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_appalachians.html