Q: How do mountains form?
—Lili L., age 12, Colorado
A: Most mountains form in places where tectonic plates collide, says Camilo Montes, a geologist at the University of the North in Barranquilla, Colombia. Tectonic plates are like puzzle pieces that fit together to make up the Earth’s crust. But they aren’t frozen in place, and they don’t lock together seamlessly like real jigsaw puzzle pieces do. Tectonic plates move around—albeit very slowly—and bump into each other. When two plates collide, one forces its way under the other. That process is called subduction. The places where it happens are known as subduction zones. They are hot spots for all sorts of geological activity, including earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building.
Montes studies one particularly interesting subduction zone, around Panama. There, the…
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Muse: The Magazine Of Science, Culture, And Smart Laughs For Kids And Children (Digital) - 1 Issue, November/December 2018