How does mountain building relate to the growth of continents?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: Continents grow through time by the collision and accretion of crustal fragments that cannot be subducted along convergent plate boundaries. The low-elevation regions of continents are areas of long-term tectonic stability, called cratons, where Precambrian metamorphic and plutonic rocks are present at or near the surface. Craton crust formed during mountain-building events between 1 and 4 billion years ago. These mountain-building events featured collisions of thick blocks of low-density, mostly igneous crust. North American crust is a collage of these crustal blocks. Although the Precambrian mountains were long ago eroded down and partly buried, the elevation of the continental interior of North America above sea level is a result of the crustal thickening that occurred during ancient periods of mountain building.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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Nikita Khrushchev's campaign to open new lands to farming was called the _________ _________ ____________.

Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

The volcanic Emperor Seamount-Hawaiian Island chain resulted from a hot spot

a. True b. False

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

Migmatite ____

A)is produced during the lower temperature range of metamorphism B)is a nonfoliated rock C)never occurs due to regional metamorphism D)always shows rotational metamorphism E)has both igneous and metamorphic characteristics

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

Active stratovolcanoes (or composite volcanoes) are most commonly found

a) along rift valleys (divergent boundaries) b) on hot spots c) along subduction zones d) along continent-continent collision zones e) in all of the geologic settings described above

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences