A mountain range is a group or chain of mountains that are close together. Mountain ranges are usually separated from other mountain ranges by passes and rivers.
The Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world.
The form the longest mountain range in the world. Well known mountain ranges
The Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world. Over 30 peaks in the Himalayas are over 24,000 ft/7315m high. The Himalayas, literally translated as 'Land of Snow', The Himalayas is one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world.
The Alps is a vast mountain system in south central Europe. About 13 million people live in the Alps in over 6,000 communities. The Alps are one of the largest and highest mountain ranges in the world, covering some 192,000km of land area, stretching over 750 miles (1,200 km) from Austria and Slovenia in the east, through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west. The Alps includes several hundred peaks and glaciers, including numerous peaks over 12,000 feet, with Mont Blanc highest at 15,771 feet.
The Andes are the second highest Mountain Range in the world with many peaks rising over 20,000 feet. The Andes Mountains are the in the world. They stretch 4,500 miles (7,200 km) from north to south, along the west coast of the continent.
The Rocky Mountains are a vast mountain system in Western North America, extending north-south from Canada to New Mexico, a distance of about 3,000 miles (4800 km). The highest peak is Mount Elbert, in Colorado, which is 14,440 feet (4401 m) above sea level.
The Karakoram is a great mountain range in Northeast Pakistan and Northern India, near the Chinese border. It extends 300 miles southeastwardly and includes many of the world's highest peaks, and many of the world's longest glaciers. Some of the mountain ranges found on each continent
Antarctic Peninsula, Transantarctic Mountains The highest mountain, Vinson Massif in the Ellsworth Mountains, peaks at 4897 m.
Atlas, Eastern African Highlands, Ethiopian Highlands
Hindu Kush, Himalayas, Taurus, Elburz, Japanese Mountains
MacDonnell Mountains
Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, Urals, Balkan Mountains
Appalachians, Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, Laurentides
Andes, Brazilian Highlands
Further information
Can you name the world's mountain ranges? . |
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In this lesson, we are going to be learning about mountain ranges across the world and how they are formed. We will also learn about how ocean trenches are formed.
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FREE K-12 standards-aligned STEM
curriculum for educators everywhere!
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Grade Level: 7 (6-8)
Time Required: 15 minutes
Lesson Dependency: None
Subject Areas: Earth and Space
NGSS Performance Expectations:
Unit | Lesson | Activity |
Engineering connection, learning objectives, worksheets and attachments, more curriculum like this, pre-req knowledge, introduction/motivation, associated activities, lesson closure, vocabulary/definitions, user comments & tips.
Engineers create tunnels through mountains for transportation purposes. Before constructing a mountain tunnel, geotechnical engineers bore test holes into the mountain rock to sample and analyze the material that will be bored or drilled into during tunnel construction. To succeed with these big projects, engineers must have a solid understanding of the drilling process, and the composition and features of the mountain of interest—both of which are determined during the mountain's ancient formation.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
Ngss: next generation science standards - science.
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NGSS Performance Expectation | ||
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MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales. (Grades 6 - 8) Do you agree with this alignment? Thanks for your feedback! | ||
This lesson focuses on the following aspects of NGSS: | ||
Science & Engineering Practices | Disciplinary Core Ideas | Crosscutting Concepts |
Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students' own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback! | The planet's systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth's history and will determine its future. Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback! Water's movements—both on the land and underground—cause weathering and erosion, which change the land's surface features and create underground formations.Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback! | Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small. Alignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback! |
Colorado - science.
Students should have some familiarity with the existence of tectonic plates, that they move and the various tectonic plate boundaries that exist.
Did you know that we live on gigantic moving rocks? We call these rocks tectonic plates. They are what make mountain formation possible. What happens when the Earth's 14 major tectonic plates and many minor ones are all moving around? They are bound to start bumping into each other! Natural phenomena such as earthquakes, mountain formation, and volcanoes occur at plate boundaries. Mountains are usually formed at what are called convergent plate boundaries, meaning a boundary at which two plates are moving towards one another. This type of boundary eventually results in a collision. Tectonic plate collisions take a long time, as plates only shift a few centimeters each year, but they can still be powerful enough to form the Earth's largest mountain ranges!
So what happens when the convergent plates finally collide? Well, a few different possibilities can occur. Sometimes, the two tectonic plates press up against each other, causing the land to lift into mountainous forms as the plates continue to collide. Another possibility is that one plate pushes on top of the other, sending it downward into the Earth! We call this a subduction zone. The mountains formed from this powerful compressive process are called complex mountains.
Given these options, how do we know which possibility will occur? It depends on the composition of the tectonic plates involved in the collision. Tectonic plates are either made up of oceanic crust or continental crust. Oceanic crust is mainly made of basaltic rocks, and continental crust is mainly made of felsic rocks. Basaltic rocks are denser than felsic rocks; therefore, oceanic crust is denser than continental crust. So, if an oceanic tectonic plate collides with a continental plate, the denser oceanic plate is likely to sink beneath the continental plate, creating a subduction zone. If, however, two continental plates (therefore of similar density) smack into one another, they, instead, lift up against one another.
Let's look at some diagrams. (By paper handout or overhead projection, show students what happens in the various plate convergence scenarios, as shown in the attached Tectonic Plates Convergence Handout-Overhead .)
Now that we have talked about complex mountains, let's briefly touch on two other types of mountains. Fault-block mountains are formed by an entirely different process. These mountains are produced when tectonic plates are stretched to the point that they crack and slide. These cracks, or vertical faults, are fractures in the continental crust. Crust is then squeezed upward between the two parallel lines, resulting in mountains! And finally, the term erosional mountain describes mountains that are formed due to the erosion of uplifted rocks in the Earth's geography. This process occurs when rivers, over time, carve away at a region of uplifted geography.
But bumps and hills are all over this planet — so what constitutes a mountain? Mountains are landforms that extend above their surrounding areas in a limited area. That is a very general definition! No required elevation exists for a mountain to be called a mountain, so what makes a mountain different from a hill? Mountains are generally considered to be higher and steeper than a hill, but the definitions ultimately depend on local custom. A hill to some is a mountain to others, and visa versa!
Geotechnical engineers study mountains and the movement of tectonic plates for a variety of purposes. They observe plate movements to design technologies to measure the movement of tectonic plates and mountain formation in order to predict earthquakes and how to best protect people from them. Using these technologies, they develop processes and rules for developing communities and roadways around tectonic plate movement (adding extra support requirements to structures on an earthquake fault line). They also use the information to develop technologies that predict locations at which geothermal, oil, natural gas and coal resources may be located. Sometimes geotechnical engineers work with other engineers to turn the geological formations themselves into resources for humans, such as mountain tunnels, dams and roads. After completing the lesson refer to the hands-on associated activity Tunnel Through! to have student teams model the challenges of engineering a tunnel through a mountain for transportation purposes .
The Earth's internal structure makes the land and oceans prone to mountain formation. The lithosphere, Earth's rigid top layer of rock, floats on the asthenosphere, Earth's hot, malleable layer beneath the lithosphere. The rigid lithosphere layer is about 100 km (60 miles) thick and makes up the Earth's enormous moving rocks called tectonic plates; 14 major tectonic plates and 38 minor plates are identified. (The Earth's major tectonic plates are the African, Antarctic, Arabian, Australian, Caribbean, Cocos, Eurasian, Indian, Juan de Fuca, Nazca, North American, Pacific, Philippine, and South American Plates.) Tectonic plates are further classified into two major groups based upon their composition: oceanic crust and continental crust. Typically, a single tectonic plate can contain both oceanic and continental crust. Oceanic crust is mainly comprised of basaltic rocks, whereas continental crust is largely made up of felsic rocks, which are lower in density.
Currents acting on the asthenosphere push the Earth's tectonic plates in lateral movements. Because the lithosphere essentially floats on the asthenosphere, movement in the asthenosphere gets transferred to the lithosphere, causing the Earth's tectonic plates to move in different directions. The currents causing this movement in the asthenosphere are not entirely understood, but the Earth's internal heat engine is the hypothesized cause.
Three types of tectonic pl ate boundaries exist: convergent, divergent and transform. Mountains are formed by plate convergence. Plate convergence describes tectonic plate movement that results in the collision of two plates. These slow-moving collisions shift the plates only a few centimeters a year, but are powerful enough to form large mountain ranges over time.
Plate convergence resulting in mountain formation occurs in several ways. First, two tectonic plates can be pressed up against each other until the land lifts and folds over itself. If the two plates involved in the process contain continental crust, it is called a continental collision. Second, one plate can push on top of another, causing the latter to slide downward into the Earth. This is called a subduction zone (when one plate moves underneath the other). At that place, it begins to melt, leading melted rock to escape through cracks and weak spots, and burst out as fiery volcanoes. Third, tectonic plates can stretch until they crack and slide, resulting in fault-block mountains. And finally, underwater mountains are formed when tectonic plates spread away from one another, allowing melted rock to push up through the gap. This process is more common, as mountain formation occurs more often in oceans than on land.
Because mountain peaks experience higher elevations than their surrounding areas, they also experience cold temperatures in higher layers of the atmosphere. Mountains therefore often experience glaciation, when glaciers carve and shape mountain peaks by carrying rocks with them as their ice melts or shifts downward. This process carves sharp horns, rounded bowls, and u-shaped valleys into mountains, creating the images that come to mind when we think about mountains. Mountains can also change shape due to other natural elements such as rain, wind or ice wearing away the rock. Eventually, previously high jagged peaks naturally become low rounded hills and ultimately wear down into soil, sand or sediments.
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Now that we've talked about mountain formation, describe for me the outer layers of the Earth (Listen and clarify student descriptions). Explain how tectonic plate movement is linked to the formation of mountain ranges. (Listen and clarify student descriptions.) How is this information important to the daily lives of many people? (Listen and add to student answers.) In today's fast-paced world, people who want to get from one side of a mountain to the other prefer the quickest route—driving through! Who are the people responsible for designing tunnels? (Engineers make driving directly through mountains a possibility by designing and constructing mountain tunnels, saving countless travelers, haulers, commuters, emergency vehicles, truckers and vacationers time on the road each day.
asthenosphere: Earth's malleable layer located beneath the lithosphere.
basaltic: Gray to black volcanic rocks.
complex mountains: Mountains formed due to tectonic plates being subjected to large compressive forces.
continental collision: Two plates in motion toward one another cause mountain formation and the collision of two continents.
continental crust: The part of the lithosphere that forms the continents. This material is less dense than oceanic crust, but is considerably thicker.
convergent plates: Two tectonic plates in motion toward one another.
divergent plates: Two tectonic plates in motion away from one another.
fault-block mountains: Mountains formed when continental tectonic plates stretch to the point that they crack and slide.
felsic: Refers to silicate minerals, magmas, and rocks that contain lighter elements such as silica, oxygen, aluminum, sodium and potassium.
lithosphere: Earth's rigid outer layer, consisting of the crust and outermost mantle.
oceanic crust: The part of the lithosphere found in the ocean. This crust is generally composed of mafic basaltic rocks and is denser than continental crust.
subduction zone: When one tectonic plate moves beneath another at a plate boundary. This takes place at convergent plate boundaries if one or both of the tectonic plates at the boundary is made of oceanic crust.
tectonic plates: Large sections that make up the Earth's lithosphere.
transform plates: Two plates that slide and grind against each other in a horizontal direction along a transform fault.
Pre-Lesson Assessment
Class Discussion : Ask students what they know about mountain formation to see if they can explain it to you before launching into the lesson.
Post-Introduction Assessment
Class Vote : Give the students several True/False statements about the lesson material and have them vote on whether they think the answers are true or false.
Lesson Summary Assessment
Student-Generated Questions : Have each student come up with one question to ask the rest of the class on the lesson topic. They should each know the answer to their question! Be prepared to help some students form questions. Have students take turns asking their questions to the class or collect the questions and answers to ask them back to the class in a random order.
Peak to Peak : Have each student research a mountain range. How was it formed and when? What makes the mountain range unique? Have them present their findings to the class or turn in a written paragraph.
If you live near a mountain range, have a geologist take your class on a hike and talk about the formation of your local range and rock composition.
Have students recreate a mountain range using clay and present it to the class. Require their models to be topographically accurate and to scale.
Have students research the Earth's tectonic plates. Are any current movements expected to result in mountain formation?
Students learn about major landforms (such as mountains, rivers, plains, valleys, canyons and plateaus) and how they occur on the Earth's surface. They learn about the civil and geotechnical engineering applications of geology and landforms, including the design of transportation systems, mining, ma...
Students are introduced to three types of material stress related to rocks: compressional, torsional and shear. They learn about rock types (sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic), and about the occurrence of stresses and weathering in nature, including physical, chemical and biological weathering.
Students learn about the structure of the earth and how an earthquake happens. In one activity, students make a model of the earth including all of its layers. In a teacher-led demonstration, students learn about continental drift. In another activity, students create models demonstrating the di...
Students learn about the causes, composition and types of volcanoes. They begin with an overview of the Earth's interior and how volcanoes form. Once students know how volcanoes function, they learn how engineers predict eruptions.
Cameron, Ward. 2005. Understanding the Formation of the Rocky Mountains . www.MountainNature.com, Field Guide for the Next Millennium. Accessed September 3, 2008.
Convergent Plate Boundaries , USGS Geology in the Parks. Last updated January 13, 2004.US Geological Survey, US Department of the Interior. Accessed September 3, 2008. http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/
WVGES Geology: Mountains. Last revised July 9, 2004. West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey. Accessed September 3, 2008. http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/
Supporting program, acknowledgements.
The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under grants from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation (GK-12 grant no. 0338326). However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education or National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Last modified: October 16, 2022
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There are five basic kinds of mountains: Fold Mountains (Folded Mountains) Fault-block Mountains (Block Mountains) Dome Mountains. Volcanic Mountains. Plateau Mountains. These different types of mountain names not only distinguish the physical characteristics of the mountains, but also how they were formed.
Mountains usually have steep, sloping sides and sharp or slightly rounded ridges and peaks. Mountains can be rocky and barren. Some have trees growing on their sides and very high mountains have snow on their peaks. Some common features of mountains include the following: the summit, or the top of a mountain; the slope, or side of the mountain ...
Mountains usually have steep, sloping sides and sharp or slightly rounded ridges and peaks. Generally, mountains are landforms that rise above 2000 feet. Mountains exist on every continent and even beneath our great oceans. Formed through varying causes, there are several distinct types of mountains. Mountains are home to approximately one ...
This quick how are mountains formed for kids guide will explain how this phenomenon, known as orogeny, occurs. The best explanation is that mountains are formed by the movements of tectonic plates. The earth's crust is not one solid layer. It is broken up into huge slabs called tectonic plates that float on top of the mantle.
If you want to move that mountain of homework piling up then this handy guide to mountains is the place to go! Recently Viewed and Downloaded › Recently Viewed › Recently Downloaded . ... Pre-primary . 5 - 6 years old . Grade 1 . 6 - 7 years old . Grade 2 . 7 - 8 years old . Grade 3 ...
Share resource. This PowerPoint is an excellent way to introduce children to different types of mountains and how they are formed. There are clear visual aids and explanations for fold, block, dome and volcanic mountain formations, before the PowerPoint finishes with an example of each different mountain type. Key Stage: Key Stage 2.
Instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints, teaching ideas and more at Twinkl!
Explore more than 22 "How Mountains Are Formed" resources for teachers, parents and pupils as well as related resources on "How Are Mountains Formed". Instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints, teaching ideas at Twinkl!
Do you like to go hiking like Jessi and Squeaks do? Have you ever wondered how those mountains you're hiking on got there? Check out this episode to learn ho...
Gorge - a narrow valley, usually with a stream or river running through it. Mountain range - a group of mountains that form a chain or cluster. Slope - the slanted side of a mountain. Summit - the highest point on a mount. Tectonic plates - large pieces of rock that make up the Earth's surface.
This quick how are mountains formed for kids guide will explain how this phenomenon, known as orogeny, occurs. The best explanation is that mountains are formed by the movements of tectonic plates. The earth's crust is not one solid layer. It is broken up into huge slabs called tectonic plates that float on top of the mantle.
In this geography unit, children will learn how mountains are made. The various resources, activities and lesson materials will teach pupils about the different ways in which mountains have been formed, and how different features of mountain ranges have been shaped over time. Children will have the opportunity to consider what the weather is like in a mountainous environment, either locally or ...
9. Mount Everest is growing by about 6cm each year as a result of the Indian sub-continent pushing into Asia. 10. The most difficult mountain to climb in the world is K2 on the Pakistan-China border. It is only 2 and a half football fields shorter than Mount Everest.
A volcano is a landform (usually a mountain) where molten rock erupts through the surface of the planet. In simple terms a volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock ( magma) below the surface of the earth. It is a hole in the Earth from which molten rock and gas erupt. Did you know?
Mountains - How mountains are formed. An interactive activity that begins with a powerpoint and ends with groups of children working on creating their own mountain effects out of materials. Warning, need to prepare in advance for the activity. (Materials used for fold mountains are paper, tissue paper and thicker more scratchy type material to ...
A mountain is part of the landscape with steep slopes that rise over 300m. Mountains usually have peaks of higher than 600m. Some mountains are isolated summits. Groups of mountains are known as mountain ranges, e.g. Lake District in England. When mountain ranges are found together they form mountain chains, e.g. the Andes in South America.
Find lots of Foundation, Intermediate and Senior Phase resources for South African teachers and educators, aligned to the CAPS curriculum right here!
No matter how old you are, mountains will always be awe-inspiring.There's just something about a mist-shrouded peak, distant and looming, that stirs the soul. Is it any wonder that, despite the fact there's nothing up there except the view (and there's no Wi-Fi there either!), people are always trying to climb mountains?Of course it's not. Mountains may be majestic and breathtaking, but more ...
The Rocky Mountains are a vast mountain system in Western North America, extending north-south from Canada to New Mexico, a distance of about 3,000 miles (4800 km). The highest peak is Mount Elbert, in Colorado, which is 14,440 feet (4401 m) above sea level. Karakoram. The Karakoram is a great mountain range in Northeast Pakistan and Northern ...
What are fold mountains? In this lesson, we are going to be learning about mountain ranges across the world and how they are formed. We will also learn about how ocean trenches are formed. Download all resources.
Students investigate how mountains are formed. Concepts include the composition and structure of the Earth's tectonic plates and tectonic plate boundaries, with an emphasis on plate convergence as it relates to mountain formation. Students learn that geotechnical engineers design technologies to measure movement of tectonic plates and mountain formation, as well as design to alter the mountain ...
In this geography unit, children will learn how mountains are made. The various resources, activities and lesson materials will teach pupils about the different ways in which mountains have been formed, and how different features of mountain ranges have been shaped over time. Children will have the opportunity to consider what the weather is like in a mountainous environment, either locally or ...