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 more complicated. For example, across the whole of the Himalayan chain, coincident with the highest… Continue reading Building models about building mountains
Category: mountains
Crème brûlée or jelly sandwich?
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 was not more widely accepted (prior to the plate tectonic revolution of the 1950s). Seismic… Continue reading Crème brûlée or jelly sandwich?
Granitic gorgeosity in the high Himalaya
I’ve been writing a lot of rather ambitious wordy posts about Himalayan geology (perhaps too many, too ambitious) so I thought I’d give you a post with visual impact for a change. I can’t resist some words of explanation but I hope the pictures would speak for themselves, if I let them. I’ve some pictures… Continue reading Granitic gorgeosity in the high Himalaya
Rheology re: geology
“Wibble wobble, wibble wobble, jelly on a plate” Childrens’ rhyme. To understand the geology of mountains, you need to know how they are built, which means you need to know how rocks deform. I have a tendency to throw phrases around, so I want to define some of them properly. Also I’ve bought a new toy I’d… Continue reading Rheology re: geology