Category Archives: mountains

Hot rocks, big rivers and the world’s tallest mountain face

Posted on 16 May, 2012 by Metageologist

In areas of active mountain-building the middle crust can get hot and weak, like a soft jam/jelly filling in a sandwich.  These squishy rocks are hidden from us by the cold rigid upper crust, so we wouldn’t expect to see … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains, open access, tectonics

Lovely Ladakhi landslides

Posted on 9 May, 2012 by Metageologist

Time for a post with an emphasis on photos. There’s more context here, but let’s get on with admiring the view. That’s me, standing in front of chorten (Tibetan Buddhist religious structure). The rather pretty cliffs are Tethyan sediments, now … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains

Building models about building mountains

Posted on 2 May, 2012 by Metageologist

How do mountains form? It’s just thrusts, right? Compression causes thrust faulting which piles up layers and layers of rock. This causes Barrovian metamorphism and makes mountains. Simple, no? No. Thrusting is important, of course, but as always real rocks are … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains

Crème brûlée or jelly sandwich?

Posted on 18 April, 2012 by Metageologist

This post is part of my journey into the geology of mountains. Rocks can behave rigidly, or under some conditions, they are ductile and can flow. This is a remarkable thing, which helps explain why the theory of Continental Drift … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains, tectonics