EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE - 4 TYPES OF ABILITY

GEOGRAPHY -MOUNTAINS

Mountains

·         Mountains are significant relief features of the second order on the earth's surface.

·         These are such highlands whose slopes are steep and the peaks are pointed.

·         Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics.

·         Generally, the mountains are more than 1000 mts high.

Orogeny

• Orogeny (Geology) is a process in which a section of the earth’s crust is folded and deformed by lateral compression to form a mountain range.
• Orogenic movements are ‘Tectonic movements’ of the earth which involve the folding of sediments, faulting and metamorphism [Geology (of rock) that has undergone transformation by heat, pressure, or other natural agencies].

Hills

·         The mountains, whose height is less than 1000 mts, are called hills.

·         The highest point of a mountain or a hill is called its beak.

Ridge

• Mountain ridges refer to mountains which originated as a result of local folding and faulting.
• Generally, the slope of one side of the ridge is steep in contrast to the moderate slope on the other side [In case of Himalayas, the southern slope is steeper compared to the northern slope].
• In some cases a ridge may have a symmetrical slope on both sides.

Mountain range

·         A mountain range is a system of mountains and hills having several ridges, peaks, summits and valleys formed in a particular period and spread in a narrow belt.

·         The world's longest above-water mountain range is the Andes, about 7,000 km long

Mountain chain

·          A mountain chain consists of several parallel, long and narrow mountain ranges of different periods.

·         Sometimes Mountain ranges are separated by flat uplands or plateaux.

Mountain system

·         A mountain system consists of 'different mountain ranges of the same period.

Mountain group

·          A mountain group consists of several un-systematic patterns of mountain systems of different periods.

Cordillera

·          Cordillera consists of several mountain groups and systems.

·          The mountainous region of the western part of North America, along the Pacific coast is the best example of cordillera.

Mountain building activity

·         Since the dawn of geological time no less than 9 orogenic or mountain building movements have taken place.

• Some of them occurred in the precambrian era (600-3500 million years ago).

Precambrian mountains

• They belong to the Pre-Cambrian period, a period that extended for more than 4 billion years.
• The rocks have been subjected to upheaval, denudation and metamorphosis. So the remnants appear as ‘residual mountains’.
• Some of the examples are Laurentian mountains, Algoman mountains.

Classification on the basis of origin

3 more recent orogenics are:

(i)                 Caledonian:

·         About 320 million years ago which raised mountains of Scandinavia (Norway, Finland and Sweden) & Scotland;

·          These mountains have been worn down & no longer exhibit the striking features which they once displayed.

·          The mountains have a northeast-southwest alignment in the north­western part of Europe.

·         Examples are the Appalachians, Aravallis,  Mahadeo etc.

(ii)               Hercynian:

·         About 240 millions years ago which formed Ural mountains, Harz mountains in Germany, Welsh high lands in Britain, high plateaus of Siberia etc.

·         Worn down today.

·         Some examples are the mountains of Vosges and Black Forest, Altai, Tien Shan mountains of Asia, Ural Mountains etc

(iii)             Alpine:

·         Latest, about 30 million years ago.

·         Alpine system had its origin in the Tertiary Period which consists of the Palaeocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene epochs.

Examples are

• the Rockies of North America, the Alpine mountains of Europe,
• the Atlas mountains of north-western Africa,
• the Himalayas of the Indian subcontinent in mountains radiating from Pamir knot like Pauntic, Taurus, Elburz, Zagros and Kunlun etc.

• Being most young, these are lofty & imposing.
• The Alpine system is still an unstable region because of the process of upliftment which is still on-going
• But a time will come when they also will be lowered like the earlier ones & from the eroded material new rocks will be formed later to be uplifted to form next generation of mountains.

 Classification of Mountains Based on the formation process

Fold Mountains:

·         These Mountains are the results of compressive forces, triggered  by endogenetic forces.

·          When the rocks on the surface of the earth are folded due to the forces generated within the earth, the resultant mountains are called Fold Mountains.

·         These are the highest and most extensive mountains of the world.

·         These mountains are characterized by more developed system of anticlines and synclines wherein folds are arranged in a wave-like pattern.

·         Himalayas, Alps, Ural, Rockies, Andes, Atlas etc. are examples of folded mountains.

Block Mountains:

·         These Mountains originate due to the forces of tension leading to the formation of rift valleys.

·         These are also known as fault Block mountains, as they are the result of faulting caused by forces of tension.

·         Block mountains are created when large areas or blocks of earth are broken and displaced vertically.

·         The uplifted blocks are termed as horsts and the lowered blocks are called graben.

·         Block Mountain represent the upstanding parts of the ground between two faults or on either side of a rift valley or graben.

·         Yet another name given to block mountains is horst mountains.

·         Sierra Nevada mountain of California, USA, is considered to be the most extensive block mountain of the world.

·          Other examples of block Mountains are Wasatch range in the Utah province of USA, Vosages and Black Forest mountains of Europe, Rhine valley is formed due to submergence of its middle part.

·         Salt Range of Pakistan is also an example of Block Maintain.

 Dome Mountains:

·         These Mountains are formed by magmatic intrusions and up warping of the crustal surfaces in the volcanic process.

·         A dome mountain is a nearly circular folded mountain. Dome mountains are not found in mountain belts such as the Himalayas or the Appalachians. Instead, they are individual, isolated structures that tend to occur in areas of essentially flat-lying sedimentary rocks. These layers are bent upward in a dome shape as a result of uplifting forces.

·         There are two basic types of dome mountains. One type is called a plutonic dome mountain. The other type is referred to as a tectonic dome mountain.

·         Cincinatti dome of USA, Black hills, Bighorns etc. are the examples of the Dome Mountains.

 

Accumulated Mountains:

·         These mountains are formed due to, accumulation of lava and other ejected materials in the process  of  vulcanism.

·          Therefore, these are also called volcanic mountains.

·          Fujiyama of Japan and Cotopaxi of Equador are its examples.

Mixed or Complex Mountains:

·         When construction related some complexities are formed in the mountain and rocks are found in the mixed form, then such mountains are built.

·         Complex fold mountains in which the rock strata are intensely compressed to produce a complex structure of folds.

·         In the Himalayas, over folds and recumbent folds are often found detached from their roots and carried few hundred kilometres away by the tectonic forces. These detached folds are called ‘nappe’.

·          Sierra Nevada of USA and Anaconda range are its examples.

 Relict Mountains:

·         These are not original mountains.

·         When original mountains are eroded by the agents of gradiation, they become relict mountains. Vindhyas, Aravallis, Satpura, Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, Parasnath (Jharkhand) etc. are relict mountains

Geosynclines

Geosynclines:

·         Geosynclines are long narrow and shallow water depressions characterized by sedimentation and subsidence.

·         Geosynclines are closely related with the process of mountain building, hence they were called Cradles of mountains by Kober.

·         The concept of geosynclines came into vogue in relation to the fold mountains.

·         Hall and Dana were the first geomorphologists who tried to develop this concept, but it was E Haug who propounded this concept systematically.

·         Kober gave the geosynclinals theories of mountain building and told that the Himalayas are formed due to the folding of sediments deposited in the Tethys geosynclines.

On the basis of mode of origin

Original or Tectonic mountains

• Original or Tectonic mountains are the product of tectonic forces.
• The tectonic mountains may be categorized into fold mountains (Himalayas, Rockies, Andes etc.), block mountains (Vosges mountains in France, Black Forest in Germany, Vindhya and Satpuras in India etc.) and volcanic mountains (Cascade Range in USA, Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Fujiyama etc.).

Circum-erosional or Relict or Residual mountains

• Circum-erosional or Relict or Residual mountains (Aravalis in India, Urals in Russia etc.) are the remnants of old fold mountains derived as a result of denudation [strip of covering or possessions; make bare].

On the basis of location

Continental mountains

Coastal mountains

• the Rockies,
• the Appalachians,
• the Alpine mountain chains,
• the Western Ghats and
• the Eastern Ghats (India);

Inland mountains

• the Vosges and the Black Forest (Europe),
• the Kunlun, Tienshan, Altai mountains of Asia,
• the Urals of Russia, the Aravallis,
• the Himalayas, the Satpura, and the Maikal of India.

Oceanic mountains

• Oceanic mountains are found on continental shelves and ocean floors.
• If the height of the mountains is considered from the ocean floor, Mauna Kea (9140) would be the highest mountain.

Different theories for mountain building

a.       Geosynclinal Mountain Building (Orogeny) Theory of Kober.

b.      Thermal contraction Theory of Jeffreys

c.       Sliding Continent Theory of Daly

d.      Thermal Convection Current Theory of Holmes

e.       Radioactive Theory of Joly

f.       Continental Drift Theory of Wegener

g.       Plate Tectonic Theory by Hary Hess, Mackenji, Parker and Morgen

Some Facts

·         Cordillera de Los Andes is the longest Mountain range in the world, followed by Rockies, Himalayas and Great Dividing Range, in that order

·         The Himalaya is the highest mountain range of the world. The highest peak of the world Mt. Everest (8848 mts.) is situated in it

·         Mt. Mackinley is the highest point of N. America

·         Mt Elbrus, situated in the Caucasus range is the highest peak of Europe.

·         Mt Blanc is the highest peak of Alps

·         Mt Acanquagua is the highest peak of S. America

·          Mt Kociusko is the highest peak of Australia

·         Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest peak of Africa.

Major Mountain Ranges of the World

Name	Location	Highest point
1. Cordillera de Los Andes	Western S America	Aconcagua
2. Rockies	Western N America	Mt Albert
3. Himalaya-Karakoram-Hindukush	South Central Asia	Mt Everest
4. Great Dividing Range	Eastern Australia	Mt. Kosciusko
5. Trans-Antarctica Mountains	Antarctica	Mt Vinson Massif
6. Tien Shan	South Central Asia	Pike Poveda
7. Altai	Central Asia	Gora Velukha
8. Ural	Central Russia	Gora Noradnaya
9. Kamchatka	Eastern Russia	Kluchevskaya Sopka
10. Atlas	N-W Africa	Jewel Taubcal
11. Verkhoyansk	Eastern Russia	Gora mas Khaya
12. Western Ghats	Western India	Anaimudi
13. Sierra Madre Oriental	Mexico	Orijava
14. Zagros	Iran	Zad Kuh
15. Elburz	Iran	Demaband
16. Scandinavian Range	Western Norway	Galdhopijen
17. Western Sierra Madre	Mexico	Nevado de Kolima
18. Drackensberg	S-E Africa	Dwanayentalenyaa peak)
19. Caucasus	Russia	Mt Elbrus (Western peak)
20. Alaska Range	Alaska, USA	Mt Mackinley (Southern
21. Cascade Range	USA-Canada	Mt Rainier
22. Appenine	Italy	Como Grande
23. Appalachian	Eastern USA-Canada	Mt Michel
24. Alps	Central Europe	Mt Blanc
25. Sierra Madre del Sur	Mexico	Tiotepec

Significance of mountains

·         The mountains are a storehouse of water.

·         Many rivers have their source in the glaciers in the mountains.

·         Water from the mountains is also used for irrigation and generation of hydro-electricity.

·         The river valleys and terraces are ideal for cultivation of crops.

·         Mountains have a rich variety of flora and fauna.

Characteristics of Fold Mountains

·         Fold mountains belong to the group of youngest mountains of the earth.

·         The presence of fossils suggest that the sedimentary rocks of these folded mountains were formed after accumulation and consolidation of silts and sediments in a marine environment.

·         Fold mountains extend for great lengths whereas their width is considerably small.

·         Generally, fold mountains have a concave slope on one side and a convex slope on the other.

·         Fold mountains are found along continental margins facing oceans.

·         Fold mountains are characterized by granite intrusions on a massive scale.

·         Recurrent seismicity is a common feature in folded mountain belts .

·         High heat flow often finds expression in volcanic activity.

·         These mountains are by far the most widespread and also the most important.

·         They also contain rich mineral resources such as tin, copper, gold.

Important mountain ranges

·         The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars (~26 km in elevation). It is also the highest active volcano in the Solar System.

1.      Andes – 7,000 km

2.      Rocky Mountains – 4,830 km

3.      Great Dividing Range – 3,500 km

4.      Transantarctic Mountains – 3,500 km

5.      Ural Mountains – 2,500 km

6.      Atlas Mountains – 2,500 km

7.      Appalachian Mountains – 2,414 km

8.      Himalayas – 2,400 km

9.      Altai Mountains – 2,000 km (1,243 mi)

10.  Western Ghats – 1,600 km

11.  Alps – 1,200 km

12.  Drakensberg – 1,125 km

13.  Aravalli Range – 800 km

Andes

·         The Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world.

·         Formed due to Ocean-Continent collision.

·         Average height of about 4,000 m.

·         Spread along Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

·         The Andes is the world’s highest mountain range outside of Asia.

·         The highest peak, Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,962 m above sea level

·         World’s highest volcanoes are in the Andes. Ojos del Salado (6,893 m) on the Chile-Argentina border is the highest volcano on earth.

Geology

• Caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American plate.
• Formed due to compression of western rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate.

Rocky Mountains

• Mountain range in western North America.
• The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles.
• Spread along northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern U.S.

Geology of the Rocky Mountains

• Formed due to Ocean – Continent collision.
• The rocks making up the mountains were formed before the mountains were raised.
• The Rocky Mountains took shape during an intense period of plate tectonic activity that resulted in much of the rugged landscape of the western North America.

Great Dividing Range

• The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia’s most substantial mountain range and the third longest land-based range in the world.
• It is also known as the Australian Alps.
• I was formed due to rifting (divergent boundary).

Ural mountain range

• Mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan.
• Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia.
• They are rich in various deposits, including metal ores, coal, precious and semi-precious stones.
• Since the 18th century the mountains have been a major mineral base of Russia.

Geology

• The Urals are among the world’s oldest extant mountain ranges.
• Formed due to Continent – Continent collision.
• They were formed during the Uralian orogeny due to the collision of the eastern edge of the supercontinent Laurussia with the young and weak continent of Kazakhstania, which now underlies much of Kazakhstan. The collision lasted nearly 90 million years in the late Carboniferous – early Triassic.
• Unlike the other major orogens of the Paleozoic (Appalachians, Caledonides), the Urals have not undergone post-orogenic extensional collapse and are unusually well preserved for their age. For its age of 250 to 300 million years, the elevation of the mountains is unusually high.

Atlas Mountains

• Mountain range across the northwestern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km (1,600 mi) through Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
• The highest peak is Toubkal, with an elevation of 4,165 metres (13,665 ft) in southwestern Morocco.
• The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.
• These mountains were formed when Africa and America collided, and were once a chain rivaling today’s Himalayas.
• Some remnants can also be found in the later formed Appalachians in North America.

Appalachian Mountains

• System of mountains in eastern North America.
• One of the major mineral bases of America.

Himalayas

• They separate the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
• The Himalayan range is home to the planet’s highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest.
• By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres tall.
• The first foothills, reaching about a thousand meters along the northern edge of the plains, are called the Shiwalik Hills or Sub-Himalayan Range. Further north is a higher range reaching two to three thousand meters known as the Lower Himalayan or Himachal or Mahabharat Range.
• Nepal, Bhutan, India, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the first three countries having sovereignty over most of the range.
• The Himalayas are bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
• Three of the world’s major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, all rise near Mount Kailash and cross and encircle the Himalayas. Their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people.
• Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river, its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, just west of the great bend of the Tsangpo river.
• The range varies in width from 400 kilometres in the west to 150 kilometres in the east.

Geology

• The Himalaya are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consist mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock.
• According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
• The Arakan Yoma highlands in Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal were also formed as a result of this collision.
• During the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago, the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate was moving at about 15 cm per year.
• About 50 million years ago, this fast moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges.
• Since both plates were composed of low density continental crust, they were thrust faulted and folded into mountain ranges rather than subducting into the mantle along an oceanic trench.
• An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone from this ancient ocean.
• Today, the Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan plateau, which forces the plateau to continue to move upwards.
• The Indo-Australian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia.
• About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active.
• The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this region seismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time.

Hydrology

• The Himalayas have the third largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic. The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers.
• Its glaciers include the Siachen glacier, Gangotri and Yamunotri (Uttarakhand) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest region), and Zemu (Sikkim).

Lakes

• The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Most lakes are found at altitudes of less than 5,000 m, with the size of the lakes diminishing with altitude.
• Tilicho Lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in the world.

Impact on climate

• The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts, such as the Taklamakan and Gobi.

Alps

• Mountain range systems of Europe stretching approximately 1,200 kilometres and spread across eight Alpine countries from Austria and Slovenia in the east, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and south east Germany, to the west. Monaco and Italy to the south
• The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided.
• Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
• Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps.
• The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4,000 m, known as the “four-thousanders”.
• The altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe; in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones.

Why are world’s highest mountains are at the equator?

• Ice and glacier coverage at lower altitudes in cold climates is more important than collision of tectonic plates. [Glacial erosion is very strong because of huge boulders of rocks carried by the glacial ice that graze the surface. Though ice moves only few meters a day, it can take along it huge rocks that can peal the outer layers.]
• Scientists have solved the mystery of why the world’s highest mountains sit near the equator.
• Colder climates are better at eroding peaks. In colder climates, the snowline on mountains starts lower down, and erosion takes place at lower altitudes.
• In general, mountains only rise to around 1,500m above their snow lines, so it is the altitude of these lines — which depends on climate and latitude — which ultimately decides their height.
• At low latitudes, the atmosphere is warm and the snowline is high. Around the equator, the snowline is about 5,500m at its highest so mountains get up to 7,000m.
• There are a few exceptions [that are higher], such as Everest, but extremely few.
When you then go to Canada or Chile, the snowline altitude is around 1,000m, so the mountains are around 2.5km.

On the basis of period of origin, fold mountains are divided into very old fold mountains, old fold mountains and Alpine fold mountains.

Very Old Fold Mountains

• They are more than 500 million years old.
• Rounded features (due to denudation).
• Low elevation.
• The Appalachians in North America and the Ural mountains in Russia.

Old Fold Mountains

• Old fold mountains had their origin before the Tertiary period (70 million years).
• The fold mountain systems belonging to Caledonian and Hercynian mountain-building periods fall in this category.
• They are also called as Thickening relict fold mountains because of lightly rounded features and medium elevation.
• Top layers worn out due to erosional activity.
• Example: Aravali Range in India.
• The Aravali Range in India are the oldest fold mountain systems in India. The range has considerably worn down due to the processes of erosion. The range rose in post Precambrian event called the Aravalli-Delhi orogeny (Silurian and early Devonian periods).

Alpine or young fold mountains

• Alpine fold mountains belonging to the Tertiary period can be grouped under the new fold mountains category since they originated in the Tertiary period.
• Examples are the Rockies, the Andes, the Alps, the Himalayas, etc.

Characteristics

• Rugged relief.
• Imposing height (lofty).
• High Conical Peaks.

Characteristics of Fold Mountains

• Fold mountains belong to the group of youngest mountains of the earth.
• The presence of fossils suggest that the sedimentary rocks of these folded mountains were formed after accumulation and consolidation of silts and sediments in a marine environment.
• Fold mountains extend for great lengths whereas their width is considerably small.
• Generally, fold mountains have a concave slope on one side and a convex slope on the other.
• Fold mountains are found along continental margins facing oceans.
• Fold mountains are characterized by granite intrusions on a massive scale.
• Recurrent seismicity is a common feature in folded mountain belts .
• High heat flow often finds expression in volcanic activity.
• These mountains are by far the most widespread and also the most important.
• They also contain rich mineral resources such as tin, copper, gold.