MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE SERIES

They are then shaped by weathering and erosion.

Plateau mountains are similar to dome mountains, but form as colliding tectonic plates push up the land without folding or faulting. Examples include the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Wind and rain pummel the domes, sculpting peaks and valleys. When magma pushes the crust up but hardens before erupting onto the surface, it forms so-called dome mountains. Sometimes volcanic eruptions break down mountains instead of building them up, like the 1980 eruption that blew the top off Mount St. Helens in Washington State and Mount Fuji in Japan. Well-known volcanoes on land include Mount St. The islands of Hawaii were formed by undersea volcanoes, and the islands seen above water today are the remaining volcano tops. Volcanic mountains form when molten rock from deep inside the Earth erupts through the crust and piles up on itself. Measured from the base, Mauna Kea stands 33,474 feet (10,203 meters) tall, though it only rises 13,796 feet (4,205 meters) above the sea. The tallest mountain measured from top to bottom is Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The summit of Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters), is the highest point on Earth. Thirty of the world’s highest mountains are in the Himalaya. The Himalaya in Asia formed from one such massive wreck that started about 55 million years ago. The world's tallest mountain ranges form when pieces of Earth's crust-called plates-smash against each other in a process called plate tectonics, and buckle up like the hood of a car in a head-on collision.

MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE SERIES

A mountain range is a series or chain of mountains that are close together. Most geologists classify a mountain as a landform that rises at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) or more above its surrounding area. They usually have steep, sloping sides and sharp or rounded ridges, and a high point, called a peak or summit. The mighty chunks rise all over the world, including the oceans.

Mountain landscape