Are There Mountains Still Being Formed Today?

Few thing in the world are more representative of strength and the passing of uttermost fourth dimension than mountains . On the facial expression of it , these colossal formations look like they have always been there , unswayed by time – but , of course , they were created millions and millions of year ago by the tumultuous forces of nature . But is the age of mountain formation behind us , or are there still Modern slew forming today ?

The short resolution is yes , kind of , but it depends on how you limit things – and that requires an explanation for how mountains do into being in the first place .

So how are mountains formed ? A key gene , other than clock time , is the encounter of tectonic plates . When these heavy rocky plate that make up the Earth’slithosphere(the outmost bed of its social structure ) collide , theycancreate peck as well as other geological features . But these plate are not all alike .

There aretwo typesof plate : continental and oceanic . The former is muchlighterthan the latter , so when they see , oceanic plate will pass under their continental counterpart in a process ring “ subduction ” . When this chance , magma can be squeeze up to form volcano . example of these let in Mount Saint Helens in North America and Mount Fuji in Japan . volcano , unlike other mountains , are constantlyformingfrom architectonic activity and can appear seemingly out of nowhere in a poor period of time .

Sometimes , however , the insistence created by the subduction operation can result in the creation of non - volcanic mountains .

Then there are the mountains form when two continental plate collide . In these instances , the Earth ’s gall is displaced and forced up , like a compressed accordion .

The most famous examples of this character of mountain are those that make up theHimalayas , which runover1,500 miles ( 2,400 km ) from oddment to end . These mountains were take shape by the hit of the Indian tectonic shell with the Eurasian one , a process that come out around 50 million years ago and is still take place . As such , the Himalayas are actually reasonably vernal , at least in price of geologic meter , and are still growing today .

This development take place at a rate of about 1 centimetre ( 0.4 inch ) each yr , driven by the Amerindic continent ’s relentless journey north . However , this is not overly detectable to human eyes . Not only because the growth is , but also because the pot are being gnaw at at a similar rate .

But what about the mint of the future tense ? In 2021 , scientist release predictions regarding the outgrowth of new mountains – call theSomalaya – which will issue forth into being in around 200 million years . These unexampled mountains , so they claim , will be organise from a subduction unconscious process when Somalia and Madagascar break away from Africa and finally clash with India .

But by the time this pass off , the Earth will generally be unrecognisable anyway and many other mountains will have amount into existence elsewhere ( particularly when Europe collides with Africa in about 50 million class and when Australia merges with Indonesia ) .

For now , these predictions are simply thought experiments . The eventual constellation of these continents will pass long after we are gone and will continue to budge and change long after that . Still , these models that omen future configurations at least offer us a glimpse into a potential populace we will never see .