• Question: what are mountains made of

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      Asked by the chemical reaction gir to Conor on 15 Nov 2016.
      • Photo: Conor Cullen

        Conor Cullen answered on 15 Nov 2016:


        Mountains aren’t made of anything in particular, they are pieces of the ground that get forced up by the Earth’s plates in the crust moving around and pushing into each other, this causes earthquakes but can also result in ground getting pushed up and over time this causes mountains.
        An interesting thing is that places like Ireland would’ve had enormous mountains in the far distant past but over time these can sink and be worn away by the winds and the rain, as the softer rocks get worn away first it means mountains in Ireland are now only made of the hardest rocks while newer, taller mountains like in the Himalayas are made of combinations of hard and softer rocks.

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