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Posted by on Sep 18, 2018 in Tell Me Why Numerous Questions and Answers |

How Were the First Mountains and Valleys Formed?

How Were the First Mountains and Valleys Formed?

The first mountains and valleys were the crust formed as a result of the cooling of the molten mass of the earth. As the planet contracted the crust twisted and cracked, forming new mountains. Mountains are still being formed by volcanic eruption. A crack in the earth’s crust allows molten rock and ash to be forced out, forming a cone-shaped mountain growing as it continues to erupt.

Fault-mountains are formed when the earth’s crust cracks, or faults, under pressure from inside, and one side of the break is pushed up against the other to form a cliff. The highest mountains are in the Himalayas where some are over 25,000 feet. Only in the Rocky Mountains and in the Andes are there any others over 20,000 feet.

Mountain formation refers to the geological processes that underlie the formation of mountains. These processes are associated with large-scale movements of the Earth’s crust (tectonic plates). Folding, faulting, volcanic activity, igneous intrusion and metamorphism can all be parts of the orogenic process of mountain building. The formation of mountains is not necessarily related to the geological structures found on it.

The understanding of specific landscape features in terms of the underlying tectonic processes is called tectonic geomorphology, and the study of geologically young or ongoing processes is called neotectonics. From the late 18th century until its replacement by plate tectonics in the 1960s geosyncline theory was used to explain much mountain-building.


v-shaped valley


u-shaped valley

