Why do we have mountains?

Mountains poke up into the sky, taller than the tallest building and sometimes higher than the clouds. They look like they have always been there. But mountains are made over a very long time. How?

Earth’s plates push together

The hard surface of our planet is cracked into giant pieces called plates. These plates move incredibly slowly, sliding around over millions of years.

Sometimes two plates push together, squeezing the land that sits between them. They press and press, harder and harder, for a very, very long time.

The land folds up

When the land is squeezed from both sides, it has nowhere to go but up. So it crumples and folds, pushing toward the sky.

Think of a rug on a smooth floor. If you push two ends of the rug toward each other, the middle bunches up into ridges and bumps. Mountains form in much the same way — the ground folds into peaks and valleys.

Slow and steady

This all happens too slowly to see. A mountain might rise just a tiny bit each year, but over millions of years it grows huge and tall.

Wonder fact: The tallest mountains are still growing taller today! Mount Everest creeps up a little more each year as the plates keep on pushing.