eli5 We are told mountains were created by tectonic plates squeezing together, so why aren’t they just rubble?

Question

When you crush a rock it doesn’t bulge, it shatters. So why are mountains solid rock?

In: 0

Answer 1

On large scales (hundreds of km, hundreds of years), continental crust acts like clay or playdough – it deform. Sure, there might be fracturing or rubble in small places, but on large scale it’s not unlike smushing two sheets of clay together.