Why do mountains tend to form in long, narrow ranges?

1 Answer
Nov 1, 2017

They are the result of two opposing "plates" of crust pushing against each other.

Explanation:

Even volcanic mountains will tend to form in "chains", as the weak spots in the earth's crust also follows tectonic plate boundaries.

Most mountain ranges are simply the upheaval of the edges of the plates (or subduction of one by the other, in some cases). Because tectonic plates are continental in size, the contacting edges of two will also extend along a relatively long and narrow range.