Mountain

Mountains are the relief of the second order on the earth’s surface. They are 1,000 m higher than the adjacent areas and characterized by a lateral steep slope and narrow summit. Mountains whose height is less than 1,000 m are called hills. The top or the highest part of a mountain or hill is called a mountain peak. The series of mountains and hills formed in the same period and spread in a narrow belt is called a mountain range. Many mountain peaks and valleys are there in a mountain range. Various parallel ranges and solitary mountains formed at different times together form a mountain chain. A mountain group is a group of mountain systems, that includes mountains and hills formed in a different era. The Cordillera included many mountain groups and mountain systems.

Classification of mountains

Classification of mountains based on the structure

Fold mountains

These are mountains formed by compressional forces. When the rocks are bent or folded by the internal forces of the earth, it is called a fold mountain. The Folded Mountains are the highest and most extensive mountains in the world. Many anticlines and synclines are found there in the fold mountains. The Himalayas, Alps, Ural, Rocky, Andes, Atlas, etc. are the major example of fold mountains.

Block mountains

They are formed by tensional or compressional forces. These forces result in faults or cracks on the earth’s surface. Block mountains are formed when the middle part between two faults remains stable and side blocks move downward, or the middle part moves upward while side blocks remain stable. Then the elevated part near the faults is called block mountain. Being associated with the formation of faults, these are also called fault mountains.

The Sierra Nevada mountains of California state in the U.S.A. is the most extensive block mountain in the world. The Vosges and Black Forest Mountains in Europe are examples of block mountains. The Salt Range of Pakistan is also an example of a block mountain.

Dome Mountains

They are created because of volcanic activity and elevation in the land. The Cincinnati bulge, the Black Hills, and the Bighorns of the United States is an example of these mountains.

Volcanic mountains

These mountains are formed as a result of the sequential accumulation of lava, disintegrated material, ash powder, etc. that come from the volcano. Hence, they are also called volcanic mountains. Fujiyama in Japan and Cotopaxi in Ecuador are prime examples of these types of mountains.

Mixed Mountains or Complex Mountains

When many structural irregularities and generally mixed forms of rocks are found in a mountain, then this type of mountain is formed. The Sierra Nevada and Anaconda ranges in the U.S.A. are an example of complex mountains.

Relic Mountains

These are not the original mountains. When the original mountains get eroded then the residual mountains are formed. Vindhyachal, Aravalli, Satpura, Mahadev, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, and Parasnath in India are an example of residual mountains.

Based on mountain building events (age)

Mountains of Pre-Cambrian or Cambrian era

These are the oldest mountains, but due to excessive denudation, they are found only in partial form. The Laurentian Mountains, the Algoman Mountains, and the Killian Mountains were formed in North America during this period. The Aravalli Mountains in India are an example of mountains of this period.

Caledonian Mountains

The Caledonian Mountains are named after the ancient Caledonia Mountain of Scotland formed during this era. The process of building the Caledonian Mountains was completed in various periods or shakas of the Paleozoic era, especially in the Silurian and Devonian periods. The mountains of Scotland and Ireland in Europe, the Scandinavian mountains, the Brazilides in South America, and the Vindhyachal, Mahadev, and Satpura mountains in India are prominent in the mountains formed at this time. Most of these mountains are now eroded or relic mountains.

Hercynian Mountains

The Caledonian mountains’ building period was followed by a calm period that lasted until the Carboniferous era. After that, in the last phase of the Palaeozoic era, Hercynian mountains originated in the Permian and Carboniferous periods. The nomenclature to the mountains of this period was given by taking the Harz Mountain of Germany as the basis. The Brittany Mountains of France, Vosges, Black Forest, Frankenword Mountains in Europe, Altai, Tienshan, Nanshan, Alai and Trans Alai, Amur, and Gobi mountains in Asia are prominent in the mountains of this age. Appalachians in North America. The mountains are the principal mountains of the Hercynian movement.

Alpine mountains

The period of Caledonian mountain building was again followed by a period of calm until the end of the Mesozoic era. At the end of this era, the mountain-building process began. But the maximum mountains formed after that in different periods of the Cenozoic era, i.e., in the Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene periods of the Tertiary epoch. That is why the Alpine Mountain range is also called the Tertiary mountains. The mountains of this period are named after the Alpine mountains of Europe. These mountains have formed on almost every continent, and some ancient mountains have also been uplifted.

Rocky Mountains in North America, Andes in South America, Alpine Mountains in Europe (mainly Alps, Dinaric Alps, Carpathians, Pyrenees, Balkans, Caucasus, Cantabrian, Apennines, etc.), Atlas Mountains in Africa, Himalayas and Pamirs in Asia, Fold Mountains emerging from the Pamir knot (Zagros, Elburz, Kunlun, Karakoram, etc.), Arakan Yoma in Myanmar, fold Mountains of East Asia, Great Rift Mountains of Australia, etc. are mountain ranges of this period. The Alpine Mountains are still out of balance as uplift is still going on. The Cordillera de Los Andes is the longest mountain range in the world. Then comes the Rocky, Himalayas, and the Great Dividing Range. The Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world, and the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest (height 8848 m), is also located in this mountain range.

Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in North America. Elbrus, located in the Caucasus Mountains, is the highest mountain range in Europe, and Mount Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps.

What is Mountain?

Mountains are the relief of the second order on the earth’s surface. They are 1,000 m higher than the adjacent areas and characterized by a lateral steep slope and narrow summit. Mountains whose height is less than 1,000 m are called hills.