Download 3-1 Notes: Mountains Think About… How can a solid (like rock) fold

3-1 Notes: Mountains
Think About…
 How can a solid (like rock) fold?
Mountains Form Along Plate Boundaries
 The top of Mt. Everest contains rocks and fossils from the _________________________. How is this possible?
 A ____________ once covered the area that is now Mount Everest
 When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, it ____________________.
 As the ______________________ plate sinks, some sea-floor material can scrape off onto the continental plate.
 This happened as the Indian Plate _________________________ with the Eurasian Plate.
 Eventually, the oceanic crust of the Indian Plate was completely destroyed by subduction, and continentalcontinental ____________________________ began.
 As continental mountains form, the material that was once on the sea floor is now on top of a mountain.
Mountain Ranges and Belts
 Mountain- an area of land that rises ___________________
from the land around it.
 A ___________________ mountain is rare.
 Most mountains belong to _______________________.
 Range- a long line of mountains that were formed at
about the same time and by the same processes.
 Mountain ranges that are close together are called
mountain __________________.
 Example: The Rocky Mountain belt contains about _____
different ranges.
 Most of the world’s mountain belts are located along tectonic plate boundaries.
Mountains, Rocks, and Sediment
 Remember that while mountains are being built up, they are
also being worn away by ______________________!
 As long as mountains are being pushed up faster than
they are being worn away, they will continue to grow
__________________________.
 Young mountains tend to be tall and __________________.
 ___________ mountains are more rounded and worn away.
 If the tectonic plates stopped moving, eventually all the land
on Earth would be ___________ due to erosion.
Folded Mountains
 Rocks can bend when __________________ is applied slowly over a long period of time.
 ______________ also helps rocks bend.
 Folded Mountain-a mountain that forms as continental crust crumples and bends into _______________.
 Folded mountains can form at Oceanic-Continental Subduction zones OR Continental-Continental Collision zones.
 Example: ____________________________
 The formation of the Himalayas can be described in 3 steps:
1. ______________________________ Boundary Develops
 Oceanic crust sinks under continental crust
 The edge of the continental crust begins to _______________________
p. 151
2. Continental ______________________ Begins
 Eventually, all the oceanic crust is _________________________ and continental collision begins.
 Volcanoes eventually stop erupting and the mountains continue to be pushed up higher.
3. Collision Continues
 The two continents continue to push the rocks up into mountains that are growing taller year after year.
 __________________________ in these areas can also push mountains up higher.
Fault-Block Mountains
 Fault-Block Mountains- mountains that form as blocks of rock move up or down along __________________ faults.
 In the Southwest U.S., hundreds of fault block mountain ranges line up in parallel rows along normal faults.
 There are 2 steps in the formation of fault block mountains:
1. Lithosphere ______________ upward and breaks into blocks separated by faults as it is heated by the mantle.
2. As the lithosphere stretches, blocks of rock tilt or drop down between the faults to form ___________________
and valleys.
 Fault-block mountains form as stress is released through ____________________________ over and over.
 Even the most _________________________ earthquakes only move rocks a small number of meters.
 It takes millions of years and earthquakes to build up large fault-block mountain ranges, like the Sierra Nevada
range in California.
 All mountains take millions of year to ____________________.
Review
____1. A folded mountain belt is located far from the edge of a present-day tectonic plate boundary. This mountain belt
likely formed
A. when two oceanic plates collided.
B. as the result of volcanic activity
C. when two continental plates collided.
D. when blocks of crust moved along faults
____2. Folded mountains form at tectonic boundaries where
A. new ocean crust is formed.
B. plates move toward each other
C. plates move away from each other
D. plates move horizontally past each other
____3. Blocks of rock that have tilted along faults are common
A. where two oceanic plates collide
B. along subduction zones
C. where two continental plates collide
D. along ocean spreading centers