Alpine folding: features of formation. Alpine folding mountains

Alpine folding is an epoch in the history of the formation of the earth's crust. In this era the highest mountain system of the world was formed - the Himalayas. What is the epoch characterized by? What other mountains of Alpine folding exist?

Folding of the earth's crust

In geology, the word "fold" is not far from its primary meaning. It denotes a section of the earth's crust in which the rock "crumpled." Usually the rock is covered with horizontal layers. Under the influence of the internal processes of the Earth, its position can change. It bends or squeezes, overlapping adjacent areas. This phenomenon is called folding.

Formation of folds occurs unevenly. The periods of their appearance and development are named in accordance with geological epochs. The oldest is the Archaean. It finished forming another 1.6 billion years ago. Since then, numerous external processes of the planet have turned it into plains.

After the Archaean, Baikal, Caledonian, Hercynian, Mesozoic folding existed. The latest is the Alpine folding era. In the history of the formation of the earth's crust, it occupies the last 60 million years. The name of the era was first voiced by the French geologist Marcel Bertrand in 1886.

Alpine folding: period characteristic

The period can be conditionally divided into two periods. In the first, deflections actively appeared in the earth's surface. Gradually they were filled with lava and sedimentary deposits. Cortical lifts were small and very local. The second stage was more intensive. Various geodynamic processes contributed to the formation of mountains.

Alpine folding formed most of the largest modern mountain systems that enter the Mediterranean fold belt and the Pacific volcanic ring. Thus, folding forms two large areas with mountain ranges and volcanoes. They are part of the youngest mountains of the planet and differ in climatic zones, as well as in altitudes.

The era has not yet been completed, and the mountains continue to form and now. This is evidenced by seismic and volcanic activity in various regions of the Earth. The folded area is not solid. The ridges are often interrupted by depressions (for example, the Ferghana Depression), in some of them seas (Black, Caspian, Mediterranean) were formed.

Mediterranean belt

Mountain systems of Alpine folding, which belong to the Alpine-Himalayan belt, stretched in a latitudinal direction. They almost completely cross Eurasia. They begin in North Africa, pass through the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, stretches across the Himalayas to the islands of Indochina and Indonesia.

The mountains of the Alpine folding include the Apennines, the Dinars, the Carpathians, the Alps, the Balkans, the Atlas, the Caucasus, Burma, the Himalayas, the Pamirs, etc. They all differ in their appearance and height. For example, the Carpathian Mountains are medium-high, have smooth outlines. They are covered with forests, alpine and subalpine vegetation. The Crimean mountains, unlike them, are steeper and more rocky. They are covered by a more mean steppe and forest-steppe vegetation.

The highest mountain system is the Himalayas. They are within 7 countries, including Tibet. The mountains stretched for 2 400 kilometers in length, and their average heights reach 6 kilometers. The highest point is Mount Everest with a height of 8,848 kilometers.

Pacific Fire Ring

Alpine folding is also associated with the formation of the Pacific ring of fire. It includes mountain ridges and hollows, which adjoin them. A volcanic ring is located along the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean.

It covers Kamchatka, the Kurile Islands and the Japanese Islands, the Philippines, Antarctica, New Zealand and New Guinea on the west coast. On the east coast of the ocean it includes the Andes, the Cordillera, the Aleutian Islands and the archipelago Tierra del Fuego.

The name "fire ring" this region deserved due to the fact that here is the majority of the volcanoes of the planet. Approximately 330 of them are active. In addition to eruptions, the greatest number of earthquakes occurs within the Pacific belt.

Part of the ring is the longest mountain system of the planet - the Cordillera. They cross 10 countries in the North and South America. The length of the mountain chain is 18 thousand kilometers.