Uplift

Credit: NASA

Uplift – the Key to the Rock Cycle

Understanding the idea of Uplift is the key to making sense of the rock cycle, as it allows us to see rocks that were once deeply buried beneath the surface.

If rocks did not get uplifted to form hills and mountains, then the processes of weathering and erosion would long ago have reduced much of the world’s land-masses to low-lying, flat plains. Weathering and erosion, transport and deposition would all effectively stop.

Ammonite: French Alps

Scientists believe that, if all these active processes of the rock cycle ceased to operate, then our planet would cease to be able to support any life.

Mount Everest is made of limestone that must have originally formed on an ancient sea floor because it contains fossils of marine creatures.

How did these – and many other – rocks formed beneath the sea end up at the tops of mountains?

Mount Everest: Limestone layers at summit