How do mountains come into being?

There are many different ways that mountains arise, some of which geologists are just now beginning to comprehend.

Mountains are found all across the planet, ranging in height from the modest Mount Wycheproof in Victoria, Australia, which rises 482 feet (147 meters) above sea level, to Mount Everest, which is the tallest at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters) above sea level. However, how can these tiny to enormous peaks form?

There are many ways that mountains form, most of which are related to the tectonic plates of Earth. These enormous granite slabs may collapse and fold at their edges when they clash, forcing the rock upward to create a mountain range. This is how the Himalayas, home of Mount Everest, developed.

Subduction is the term for what happens when two tectonic plates collide and one of them ends up falling under the other. The University of California Museum of Paleontology states that mountain ranges like the Andes might arise from the rock that crumples up at the margins.

Plate tectonics may also result in the formation of mountains. According to the University of California Museum of Paleontology, the rock blocks on each side of the ensuing rift may create mountain ranges like the Sierra Nevada in the western United States.

Mountains may also form as a result of volcanism. Volcanoes in subduction zones often give rise to island arcs like the Japanese isles, according to the geology department at James Madison University. Furthermore, enormous hot rock pillars known as mantle plumes have the ability to emerge from close to Earth's core and scorch the material above them like a blowtorch, creating volcanic islands like the Galapagos.

Strangely, erosion may also contribute to the formation of mountains. According to Lijun Liu, a geoscientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, "glaciers or rivers running off the slope of mountains erode materials with them," for example. According to a 2014 research he conducted, this removes weight off Earth's crust, causing the soft mantle below to bounce upward and raising mountain summits.

Furthermore, according to Jonny Wu, a geodynamicist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, geologists are learning that processes occurring deep inside the Earth could contribute to the formation of mountains, Live Science said.

According to Liu, current research indicates that thick rock fragments may separate from the tectonic plate bottom and descend into the mantle underneath it, potentially causing the overlying surface to rise.

According to Liu, this kind of delamination may provide some insight into how high mountains or plateaus, like the Colorado Plateau and the Rocky Mountains, might develop inside of continents. Geomorphologist Sean Gallen of Colorado State University in Fort Collins told Live Science that it may also contribute to the explanation of the high altitudes seen on the Tibetan Plateau.

In addition, Wu noted that dynamic topography refers to the churning of rock in the mantle over timeframes of millions of years. He mentioned how this churning may bend the Earth's surface upward. Gregory Ruetenik, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, pointed out in a 2023 essay in the journal Nature Geoscience that there is still disagreement on how much dynamic topography may really alter Earth's surface.

Moreover, subducting tectonic plates may interact with churning flows or mantle layers as they drop. According to Wu, these slab-mantle interactions may set off a series of events that are sensed at the surface and result in the rising or falling of mountains.

"Examples where these types of processes have been utilised to explain mountain-building histories include parts of the Andes along with certain subduction zones in the Mediterranean," added Gallen.

In summary, Wu said that "mountain building profoundly shapes the Earth on which we live." He clarified that mountains affect weather and climate and that the surface, seas, and atmosphere of the globe are significantly impacted chemically by the weathering and erosion of sediments from mountain ranges.

Despite the fact that mountains are essential to life as we know it, Gallen said that "we still don't fully understand how they form and change through time." "It's why studying them is so exciting to me."