Mountain Formation & Tectonics
This process describes the formation of mountains through tectonic forces.
What is orogeny?
These rocks form under heat and pressure without melting.
What are metamorphic rocks?
This process breaks down rock in place without transporting it.
What is weathering?
This process occurs when one tectonic plate is forced beneath another.
What is subduction?
Shenandoah National Park is located within this ancient mountain range.
What are the Appalachian Mountains?
This type of plate boundary forms mountains when two continental plates collide.
What is a convergent boundary?
This coarse-grained igneous rock dominates the landscape in Joshua Tree National Park.
What is granite?
This process transports sediments and reshapes mountains over time.
What is erosion?
The extreme topography of Death Valley National Park is largely due to this type of crustal stretching.
What is tensional faulting?
The coastal mountains in Redwood National Park are shaped by movement along this type of plate boundary.
What is a transform boundary?
The dramatic peaks in Grand Teton National Park formed through this type of vertical crustal movement along faults.
What are fault-block mountains?
This process transforms existing rock due to heat, pressure, and fluids.
What is metamorphism?
The rounded, lower-relief mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park are the result of this long-term process.
What is prolonged erosion?
Great Basin National Park lies within this region known for alternating basins and mountain ranges.
What is the Basin and Range Province?
Hot Springs National Park lies within this older folded mountain system.
What are the Ouachita Mountains?
This mountain-building event shaped much of western North America’s ranges
What is the Laramide Orogeny?
This layered or banded texture is common in metamorphic rocks.
What is foliation?
This U-shaped valley is carved by glaciers moving through mountain regions.
What is a glacial valley?
The mountains of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are part of this major mountain range.
What is the Sierra Nevada?
This process reduces mountains to low-relief surfaces over millions of years.
What is peneplanation?
This process involves large-scale deformation and recrystallization of rocks during mountain building.
What is regional metamorphism?
This type of igneous formation occurs when magma cools slowly beneath Earth’s surface.
What is a pluton?
This sharp ridge forms between two adjacent glacial valleys.
What is an arête?
This type of stress pulls Earth’s crust apart, forming valleys and fault systems.
What is tensional stress?
This concept explains how Earth’s crust rises or sinks to maintain equilibrium on the mantle.
What is isostasy?