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Ask a Teacher - Geography - Physical - A Question from Alison
Student Name
Alison
Question
Why do the distribution of mountains and volcanoes frequently coincide?
Answer
As you will know from your study of this topic the earth crust is broken up into a number of crustal plates whose boundaries (edges) meet as fault lines. These fault lines are weaknesses in the earth crust. Also it is at these fault lines that movement in the plates can be observed. The boundary can move together, apart, up/down or along " plate tectonics.
When the plate boundaries move together this causes folding of the crust causing the rise of mountains " note that the world"s main mountain ranges can be found at these points e.g. Andes, Rockies .......
These boundaries are weak points through which magma can work its way to the surface creating a range of volcanic features the most obvious of which is visible on the surface as a volcano.
