Types of Mountains

There are three main types of mountains: volcanoes, fold mountains, and fault-block mountains.  Volcanoes form as a result of magma rising from the mantle, occurring either at a hot spot in the middle of a plate or at a plate boundary where partial melting produces magma (Image 1).  Fault-block mountains form as a result of the movement of large crustal blocks along faults (Image 2). Fold mountains are created by the collision of two tectonic plates, similar to if you pushed a table cloth and observed the folds that form in it and stack on top of each other (Image 3).