Talk:Fold mountain

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[edit] Alps & Himalayas, Fold mountains?

These mountain ranges are not caused by the folding of the earth's crust. The main mechanism that has caused a thickening of the crust at these sites of continent-continent collision along a convergent boundary is thrust faulting. Folding is a secondary mechanism, associated with the thrusting. The sources used for this article are a school geography website and the junior Encylopedia Britannica. The first of these shows a poor understanding of the geological processes associated with mountain building. The second is referring to folds formed in the hanging wall of a thrust fault developed along a weak layer. As the fault moves, the overlying sediments may be thrown into a series of folds, as in the Jura mountains, which are genuine 'fold mountains'. Mikenorton (talk) 10:48, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Feel free to edit the article and make the necessary changes. I have seen the Himalayas being referred to as fold mountains in other publications, but those were directed towards students. Joshua Issac (talk) 11:06, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, Joshua. Unfortunately, a lot of the teaching of geology at school level in the UK leaves a lot to be desired. I'll try to find time to provide some input. Mikenorton (talk) 11:37, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] References

Even in the rather reduced scope of the page as newly edited, I'm having trouble finding good sources for the use of this term. Maybe this should only refer to the historical usage. It was very noticeable as I waded through all the google hits, just how few of them were references from the last thirty years or so, and most of those were in the physical geography literature. Perhaps others will have better luck. Mikenorton (talk) 21:06, 9 June 2008 (UTC)