Block Mountains

Topic Content:

The Block Mountains (also known as Block-Fault Mountains or Horst Mountains) represent an upright portion of the land between two faults.

Block mountains represent the upstanding parts of the ground between two faults or between two rift valleys or a graben. Faults sometimes are accompanied by upward and downward movement of the Earth’s Crust which results in elevated or raised faults-bordered blocks called Block Mountains as well as depressed and elongated faults-bordered zones known as Rift Valleys .

Over time, erosion and agents of denudation accentuate the differences in elevation between the horst and graben, further defining the block mountain landform.

The Great African Rift Valley (valley floor is graben), the Black Forest of Rhineland, the Vosges Mountain in France, the Sierra Nevada in the USA, Hunsruck Mountain, Ruwenzori and the Harz mountains in Germany are considered some examples of block mountains

Formation of Block Mountains:

Block Mountains are formed due to damage caused by the tensile and compressive forces caused by endogenous forces from the Earth’s interior.

Note: The tensile (or tensional) forces tend to pull the Earth’s Crust apart which creates a