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MOUNTAIN BUILDING

M. MOUNTAIN BUILDING. Mountain Building Processes. What processes build mountains? Volcanic activity Tectonic Activity - Folding: Bending of rock -Faulting: Breaking of rock. Mountain Building. Mountain building processes thicken the crust

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MOUNTAIN BUILDING

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  1. M MOUNTAIN BUILDING

  2. Mountain Building Processes • What processes build mountains? • Volcanic activity • Tectonic Activity - Folding: Bending of rock -Faulting: Breaking of rock

  3. Mountain Building • Mountain building processes thicken the crust • Mountains can be twice as thick as the average continental crust ( 70 km VS. 35 km) • Elevation of crust depends on thickness and density • Mountains have deep roots that extend into the mantle • As erosion occurs, mass is lost from the mountain and these roots begin to rise

  4. Isostasy: Crust-Mantle Relationships • Displacement of the mantle by Earth’s continental and oceanic crust • Crust and mantle in equilibrium when gravity is balanced by the upward force • Isostatic Rebound: slow process of crust rising as a result of the removal of overlying material

  5. Convergent Boundary Mountains • Oceanic-Oceanic: 2 oceanic plates; one descends into mantle, melts, then magma forced upward forming island arc which thickens to form root, displaces the mantle, forming mountain peak

  6. Convergent Boundary Mountains • Oceanic-Continental: Plates come together, create subduction zone, produce major mountain belts due to the descending ocean plate forcing continental plate up; as crust thickens, higher and higher mountains form

  7. Convergent Boundary Mountains • Continental-Continental: Creates tallest mountains (Himalayas); it is the energy from the collision of these plates that that causes the crust to fold and fault; can double the thickness of the crust

  8. Divergent Boundary Mountains • Ocean ridges formed from rising convection cells that form in mantle; divergent boundary bulges upward form gently sloping mountain range

  9. Non Boundary Mountains • Uplifted Mountains: form when large regions of Earth have been slowly forced upward as a unit. (this concept is not well understood on why this happens)

  10. Non Boundary Mountains • Fault-Block Mountains: Form when large pieces of crust are tilted, uplifted, or dropped downward between large faults

  11. Non Boundary Mountains • Volcanic Peaks: Volcanoes that form over hot spots form far from any tectonic plate boundaries.

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