Michael Conte, Jr.
Mountains, which are in our horizon, rise to a majestic height, can be snow-covered, beautiful and breathtaking. What a mountain is, however, can be very difficult to describe. Generally, one can say mountains are 2,000 feet or more and have a noticeably different character from the surrounding area.
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Mountain formation is a process that is complicated and long lasting, except in the development of volcanic mountains, which are made relatively quickly due to the eruption of, and spewing out of, cinder, ash and lava. Fault-block mountains grow when crustal masses tilt or slip along a fault, this action is very slow and erosion carves the upturned scarp and builds rubble at its base.
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Fold-mountains are formed due to large ripples in the Earth’ s Crust.
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These ripples occur when the forces in the Earth compress rock (usually sedimentary) and push them upward. In this process faulting can also happen on top of more folding with dramatic results, The Rocky Mountains and Himalayas. (This process is also called continental collision.) Scientists believe that on the Earth today, that the two processes are still going on; new mountains are being made and still pushing upwards, while erosion is taking its toll on the older ones.