Mountains and Type of Mountain
Mountain vs. Plateau
Mountain elevates from earth’s crust. Plateau is tablelands of plane land. The
mountain peaks are pointy. The peak of the plateau is flat. Mountain forms by the
movement of plates of the lithosphere of the earth, while Plateau forms by volcanic
eruption or degradation by steady water flow or glaciers. The weather like storms,
winds, icebergs, and water erodes mountain less, while these unfavorable
conditions erode plateau greatly. Mountain rocks are a source of mineral deposits,
but the plateau is rich sources of minerals.
Mountain is higher, while plateau has low heights. Some mountains cross the clouds,
while the height of the plateau is about thousands of meters. Mountains classify
according to the formation, whereas plateau has classes depending upon the area.
Mountains have three major categories; conversely, the plateau has four. Forests
cover the mountains, which provide timber, wood, drugs, and grazing areas for
animals. The plateau does not provide these benefits. Fold Mountains
They form when two plates with landmasses on them move towards each other.
The plates push layers of accumulated sediment in the sea into folds between
them.
This becomes a fold mountain range.
Most fold mountains continue to grow as the plates constantly move.
Examples: the Himalayas (Asia), Rockies (USA), Andes (South America), Alps
(Europe)
Young Fold Mountains
In India, the Himalayas represent the young fold mountains because they have
formed only a few million years ago by a collision of the Eurasian plates as well
as the Indo-Australian plates as a result of the Continental drift. Young fold
mountains are 10 to 25 million years of age. The young fold mountains are
formed because of the folding of the earth’s crust due to tectonic activity or the
colliding of tectonic plates with one another. They are also higher than that of the
old fold mountains and have steeper slopes and deeper valleys.
The features of young fold mountains are as follows:
The Himalayas are the northernmost and a continuous range and it also consists
of lofty peaks like the Nanda Devi and Kanchenjunga.
The Himalayas always remain snowbound consisting of frozen rivers of ice called
glaciers and the mountain regions of the Himalayas have the shape of an arc.
The Himalayan region is symmetrical in nature and is richly composed of
sedimentary rocks and granites.
The average height of the Himalayan mountain peaks stretches up to 6000
meters and above.
Block Mountains
These mountains are formed when great blocks of the earth's crust may be
raised or lowered during the late stages of mountain-building
During the uplift of structural mountains, sometimes magma flows upward
into the crust.
On its cooling and hardening beneath the surface, it contracts and the
overlying rock may crack into large blocks moving up or down.
An intense folding of rocks is generally followed by faulting of strata due to
the horizontal force of tension.
The land between the two parallel faults either rises forming block mountains
or horsts or subsides into a depression termed as a rift valley or
An old fold mountain may also be left as block mountains due to continuous
denudation. These mountains have flat tops, steep fault scarps and the
subsided portions between parallel fault are flat-bottomed.
The Vosges in France, Black Forest mountains in Germany and the Salt Range
in Pakistan are cited as typical examples of block mountains. Sierra Nevada of
California (USA); Wasatch range in the Utah province are also examples of
Block mountains.
River Rhine in Europe flows through a rift valley.
The Great Rift Valley of the world runs for about 6,000 kilometres from East
Africa to Syria through the Red Sea. Volcanic Mountain, Plateau and Plains of India
Volcanic Mountains
Volcanic mountains are formed by the deposition of lava and pyroclastic materials
around a volcanic vent. That is why these mountains are also known as ‘mountains of
accumulation’. Lava and pyroclastic materials ejected from an active volcano accumulate in
the form of a cone. It may be noted that volcanic mountains are also formed on the sea
floor. When such submarine volcanic mountains rise above the sea surface, they appear as
islands.
Relict Mountains
We have seen the effects of weathering (as part of exogenic processes). Weathering acts
upon the earth’s crust constantly.
To a large extent, the process of wearing down depends on the shape and structure of
the rocks upon which it acts.
So, in some cases, some portions of an elevated area escape from the process of
weathering due to the hardness of the materials it is made of.
These portions remain unweathered while its surrounding area gets eroded constantly.
This results in the formation of Residual or Relict Mountains.
Examples: Hills like Nilgiri, Palkonda, Parasnath and Rajmahal and Mountains like the
Aravalli, the Vindhya, and the Satpura are some of the examples of Relict Mountains in
India. Plateau
A plateau is a flat-topped table land.
Plateaus occur in every continent and take up a third of the Earths land.
They are one of the four major landforms, along with mountains, plains, and hills.
Plateaus, like mountains may be young or old. The Deccan plateau in India is one of the
oldest plateaus.
Valleys form when river water cuts through the plateau. The Columbia Plateau, between
the Cascade and Rocky mountains in the northwestern United States, is cut through by the
Columbia River.
Sometimes, a plateau is so eroded that it is broken up into smaller raised sections called
Many outlier plateaus are composed of very old, dense rock formations. Iron ore and coal
often are found in plateau outliers.
Plateaus are very useful because they are rich in mineral deposits. As a result, many of the
mining areas in the world are located in the plateau areas.
North Indian Plain
The Northern Plains have been formed from the alluvium that the mountain rivers deposited here.
This turned the soil on the surfaced land fertile for growing a rich harvest of variety of crops.
This led to the development of the Indus River Valley Civilisation. The rich soil was further aided
by favourable climate and constant water supply from the rivers.
Between the mouths of the Indus and the
Ganga-Brahmaputra, the North Indian
Plain covers a distance of 2400 km. It is
240-320 km wide at some places.
The North Indian Plains have the Indus
river system in the west and the GangaBrahmaputra river system in the east. The
first includes Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas,
Satluj.
The Indus flows into the Arabian Sea. The
second includes Ganga, its tributaries and
the Brahmaputra which combine as
Meghna as they drain into the Bay of
Bengal.
They form the world’s largest and fastest
growing delta. The difference in relief has
led the North Indian Plains to be divided
into four zones : (i) Bhabhar, (ii) Tarai, (iii)
Bangar and (iv) Khadar.
