Study of Mountain Types - Fold, Volcanic, Residual Mountains

An article about “Study of Mountain Types – Fold, Volcanic, Residual Mountains” the types, formation, ages, characteristics etc.

Mountain formation is basic process of landform formation which is caused by denudation which can be caused by

Geologically there have been 9 mountain building movements over the last millions of years.

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3 recent orogenies that led to mountain formation are:

Caledonian fold mountains (~320 million years old)
- Mountain ranges in Scandinavian countries Scotland and North America
Hercynian fold mountains (~240 mn years old)
- E.g. Ural mountains
Alpine fold mountains (Youngest fold mountains)
- Alps, Atlas, Rockies in Western America, Andes in South America

All these mountain ranges will face denudation and will form new mountain ranges with time.

Most widespread
Formed by large-scale tectonic movements over earth, these movements are caused by stress present inside earth. Reason for stress can be overlying rocks
Mantle floor movements i.e. part between crust and core
Expansion or contraction of earth’s crust
So, when earth’s crust formation changes because of stress and layers piled up over one another we call it as folds or fold mountains, this wavy pattern also forms structure called as anticline and syncline

Due to compression or tension forces one part of the crust either comes up or down leading to formation of block mountains

Formed by the molten lava, ash, dust etc. that gets settled around the volcanic vent and gives rise to a mountain like structure called as volcanic mountains
E.g. Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador

Mountains that have been degraded by denudation
Have faced enough and varied weathering processes
In flat land when weathering leads to erosion or weathering of a certain part forming valley, the rest part appears as mountains

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