h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear anybody,

Perhaps you can answer a question (probably very stupid) to which I have never heard the solution. When mountains such as the Alps are formed, can you see it happening? How long does it take? If continental drift is slower than human fingernail growth, did the Matterhorn go up a centimetre a year or whatever? Or was there an immense amount of pressure built up and it suddenly shot up in an earthquake? If not, why are the mountains so pointy?

Hi spebchob The way most mountains are formed is a very slow prosses of the pressure that build between the plates slowly being expelled. Every once and a while there is a major shift in the plates which causes an earthquake or volcano to act up, when this happen the shift can cause a more profound change in a mountain range, such as Mount St. Helen in the US.

Mountain ranges such as the Himalya's were formed mostly from when two land masses after slowly moving closer to each other suddenly slam into each other that the range was formed in less then a year. Still to this day the countries are still colliding with each other and causing the mountains to continue to grow and change.

The differant peak sizes depend on where and when the pressuse is released and how wide spread to is.

Does that make sence?

It makes good sense to me! Do you know where the mountain range which is growing quickest is?

The Himalayas are the newest and most quickly growing mountain range. They only just sprung up a few million years ago when India slammed into the mainland of Asia. fyi words like "sprung up" and "slammed" are relative, since both processes they refer to took millions, or at least hundreds of thousands of years.

I don't suppose you've read any Terry Pratchett? In the book 'Reaper Man', there are these trees that think they get cut down because people want to look at the rings and see their age. They are really old, and seasons pass by in a flash...

There are lots of pople on H2G2 who like Terry Pratchett! Just look at A1079813.

To ask questions on H2G2, click on the "Ask the H2G2 Community" in the busiest conversations part of the front page, or click here: A148907. If you put a question elsewhere, people may not notice it.

Thanks Bob. Do you like Terry Pratchett yourself?

I finished 'Small Gods' just last week. My faves are Pyramids, Witches Abroad and Night Watch.

I'm a new convert, having only just read Mort, and It's very good . I'll definately read the rest: know any good bookshops .....?

Well, I'm an Aussie, so my bookshops are probably different to yours. 'Mort' is quite funny.