Page 74 - How It Works - Book of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, 12

AMAZIG ANSWERS TO CURIOUS QUESTIONS -------------------

Fold mountains
Colliding plates experience crumpling and
folding in the continental crust, forcing
layers upwards and forming mountains.

Continental crust
The outermost shell of the
planet comprises
sedimentary, igneous and Lithosphere
metamorphic rock. This rocky, rigid layer
includes the oceanic and
continental crusts and part
of the mantle. Tectonic Asthenosphere
plates reside in this layer. This semiplastic region in the
upper mantle comprises molten
rock and it's the layer upon which Fault-block mountains
tectonic plates slide around. Fractures in the tectonic plates
create large blocks of rock that Continental collision
slide against each other. Uplifted
When tectonic plates collide, the
'' ' mm moom .. ,
H OV\T dO y o U continental crust and lithosphere on one
plate can be driven below the other plate,
known as subduction.
mal<e a mountain?

All you need are a couple of tectonic plates and volcanoes

ountains are massive landforms that the mountains grow. The Himalayas, for
rising high above the Earth's example, grow about1cm per year.
M surface, caused by one or more The volcanic activity that builds mountains
geological processes: plate tectonics, can wax and wane over time. Mount Fuji, the
volcanic activity and/or erosion. Generally tallest mountain in japan, has erupted 16
they fall into one of five categories - fold, times since 781AD. Mount Pinatubo in the
fault-block, dome, volcanic and plateau Philippines erupted in the early-Nineties
-although there can be some overlap. without any prior recorded eruptions,
Mountains comprise about 25 per cent of producing the second largest volcanic
our land mass, with Asia having more than eruption of the 2oth Century. Inactive
6o per cent of them. They are home to 12 per volcanic mountains- and all other types of
cent of the Earth's population, and they mountains, for that matter-are also subject
don't just provide beauty and recreation; to erosion, earthquakes and other activity
more than half of the people on Earth rely on that can dramatically alter their appearances
the fresh water that flows from the as well as the landscape around us. There are
mountains to feed streams and rivers. even classifications for the different types of
Mountains are also incredibly biodiverse, mountain peaks that have been affected by
with unique layers of ecosystems depending glacial periods in Earth's history. The bare,
on their elevation and climate. near-vertical mountaintop of the Matterhorn
One of the most amazing things about in the Alps, for example, is known as a
mountains is that although they look solid pyramidal peak, or horn.
and immovable to us, they're always
changing. Mountains rising from activity
associated with plate tectonics -fold and One of the most amazing things about
fault-block- form slowly over millions of
years. The plates and rocks that initially mountains is that although they look
interacted to form the mountains continue
to move up to 2cm (0.7in) each year, meaning immovable to us, they're always changing

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