The main types of mountains

Prepared by Mario Fares - Cover Photo: Mount Sannine, Fold Mountain by Spyro Klitira 

One feature of the Earth that you can’t miss are its mountains. But did you know there are different types of mountains? The different mountain types are formed in different ways, through tectonic plates crunching into each other, or sliding past one another, or even from magma coming up out of the Earth. The mountains are different in their appearance, and in their formation. Let’s take a look at each of the major mountain types.

𝟏- 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬
The Earth’s lithosphere is split into 7 rigid plates. When two plates collide the heavier one will slowly glide beneath the lighter one. If they have relatively similar densities, then they will start to crumple up, driving movement upwards. They can spread over thousands of kilometers. To get a better idea of what this looks like, try to push two pieces of papers towards each other: some parts will rise up, representing the process of mountain formation.

𝟐- 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 (𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭-𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤)
After some parts of a tectonic plate start to fold and when the pressure grows and grows, at one point the rock will simply break. Faults are those breaks.
Some of them can get pushed up or down, thus resulting in block mountains. they tend to have a steep side and a slowly sloping side.
𝟑-𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬
Volcanic mountains are created when magma deep beneath the surface starts to rise up. At one point, it erupts in the form of lava and then cools down, solidifying and piling on to create a mountain.
𝟒-𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬
Sometimes, a lot of magma can accumulate beneath the ground and start to swell the surface. Occasionaly, this magma won’t reach the surface but will still form a dome.