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

Under sufficient heat and pressure, rock becomes plastic. The upper layers *do* fracture.

But they don’t just stand there and get crushed. When plates collide — at a “convergent plate boundary” — the lower rock smooshes, or one plate goes under the other. The upper layers ride up on top of that.