How are mountains formed? Flashcards
(22 cards)
All mountains stand alone, true or false?
False. Not all mountains stand alone but a few mountains do. Mountains such as Fujiyama in Japan, Mount Taranaki in New Zealand, and Mount Kenya in Africa stand by themselves.
Most mountains are found in long chains, what is a chain of mountains called?
A chain of mountains is called a mountain range.
In order to understand how volcanic mountains are formed, we need to know what the ___ of the earth is like.
inside
The earth is made up of layers of ___.
1. fire 2. sand 3. rock 4. magma
- rock
The solid outside layer of rock is called the Earth’s ___.
crust
Right beneath the crust, a layer of ___ is located. This layer is called the ___.
magma. mantle.
Near the top of the mantle some of the rocks are so hot that they have melted to form a __ .
thick liquid
All the rocks around the mantle press down on the ___, so they are under great pressure.
melted thick liquid
If there is a weak point in the Earth’s crust, the ___ bursts through it and out onto the earth’s surface, forming a volcano.
molten rock
Some mountains are formed by ___.
volcanoes
The earth’s crust is made up of large pieces, called ___.
plates
The crust’s___ plates fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
tectonic
Some of the tectonic plates have ___on them and others carry oceans.
continents
How do the earth’s tectonic plates move?
The tectonic plates move slowly, and they float on the molten rock of mantle below them.
How are fold mountains formed?
Fold mountains are formed when two plates push against each other. And then, the earth’s crust is slowly pushed up in folds or ridges, which form fold mountains.
How is the Himalayan mountain range formed?
The rocks in the sea between India and Asia were pushed up into folds that now form the Himalayan mountain range.
While some plates are pushing together, others are___.
moving apart
Europe and North America are slowly moving ___.
further apart
Each year, what happens to the Atlantic Ocean?
The Atlantic ocean widens a few centimetres every year.
As the rocks move apart, they often crack and create breaks. How do we call the breaks?
The breaks are called faults.
If the large blocks of rock push between two faults, what happens?
They form block mountains.
Block mountains often have ___ called ___.
flat tops. plateau.
