Mountain ranges are a large elevation of relief. They, as a rule, have an elongated shape with a length of hundreds of kilometers. Each ridge has the highest point, the peak, expressed in the form of a sharp tooth - a mountain ridge. The shape and height are formed depending on the lithological composition and development of the constituent rocks. Also, these aspects affect the length of this relief formation.
To begin, let's study the main parts of the ridge and their features.
Mountain ridge: definition
A ridge is a sharp junction or intersection of slopes. Some of them have a particularly sharp shape called knives. The ridges vary in shape, stand out: sharp, jagged, sawtooth and round. The distance from the earth to the top of the ridge can reach from hundreds of meters to several kilometers. It is this zone that is the site of rockfalls, landslides of snow cornices and the beginning of avalanches.
What are passes?
Each ridge of which the mountain ranges consist has a certain part where a relatively smooth lowering of the relief occurs. It is called the pass. These places are most convenient for making transitions. The passes are distinguished by origin: erosive, tectonic and glacial. The former arise in connection with the rapprochement of the river channels, the latter due to the individual lowering of the mountain ridge, and the others are formed by the destruction of cars, hollows in the form of a bowl located at the top of the slopes of the mountains. The deepest and gentlest mountain passes were called "mountain passage". In them, people pave foot and even automobile roads.
Ridge centerline
Along the ridge is the center line of the ridge, which cartographers depict on diagrams and maps. This line is mostly straight, with rare slightly pronounced bends.
But at the same time, one cannot call the mountain ranges flat, associating them with a straight line. Often they have branches from their main axis. These are lower, minor ridges, which gradually decrease as they approach the periphery. Such "branches" are called spurs.
Classification
The most interesting terrain on the planet are mountains. The mountain range is not a separate unit, they are often in direct interaction with each other, thereby forming mountain ranges and mountain systems.
Mountain systems are a combination of mountain ranges, massifs, chains, forming a single structure. All these components have a common origin and, as a rule, uniform morphological characters. The systems are formed by one of the types of mountains - volcanic, blocky, folded, etc. Mountain nodes and mountain ranges are often found inside them.
Mountain nodes are the junctions or intersections of several mountain ranges, which are distinguished by a complex orography and are a separate part. As a rule, they are impassable and high.
A mountain range is a mountain range that has "risen" into a column, forming a single and almost continuous line. They are separated by depressions of the general massif and may consist of heterogeneous types of mountains.
The lows between the ridges are called mountain valleys. They come in different shapes - longitudinal, floodplain, V-shaped, several kilometers long. The valleys are formed under the influence of mechanical effects of glaciers and mountain rivers.
To summarize
The shape of the ridge, its length, height - morphological features. They depend on when it began to form, on the history of development, the number of mechanical effects on the rocks and the rocks themselves, of which it consists. In terms of time, the formation process takes more than one hundred years.
Having familiarized themselves with the information about the mountain ranges, each student will be able not only to determine what it is, but also to tell in detail what they consist of, how they are formed and classified.