Most mountains are large areas that have been uplifted due to the movement or heating of plates

Plates can converge, diverge or slide past each other. This movement can create great heat and pressure. The pressure can cause rocks to fold and fault, creating mountains. Sometimes the heat can melt the rock and cause it to rise to form volcanoes.

Rocks can fold if they are hot enough to be soft.

Sometimes the rocks in Earth’s crust are too brittle to fold. When pressure is exerted on them, they break, forming a fault. This can form slabs that move up and over each other like shingles on a roof. The older rock may end up on top of the younger rock. These are called fault-block mountains.

Complex mountains are formed by a combination of different processes such as plates converging and subduction.

The Himalayan Mountains in India (Mount Everest) are the youngest and highest mountains in the world. How do you know if mountains are young or old?

Are the Rocky Mountains young or old? Are the Laurentian Mountains in Quebec young or old?

Mount Rundle, near Banff, has been uplifted and then tilted.

Castle Mountain, between Banff and Jasper, has uplifted rock that is nearly horizontal.

Rockies

Andes

Himalayas

Alps

Urals

Appalachians

Cascades

Earthquake Zones

Volcano Zones