I wanted I would say that the Ural Mountains are the most ancient, but according to scientific research they are only 350 million years old. Therefore, they were “overtaken” in age by the rock formations in Canada - Nuvvuagittuq. These mountains are approximately 4.28 billion years old, i.e.

They were formed almost “immediately” with the appearance of the Earth itself.

Of the most young mountain formations. existing on the planet are the Himalayas; according to scientists, there are “only” 50-70 million.

Basic The distinguishing feature between young and ancient mountains is that the ancient mountains are very destroyed. they have less contrast in the mountainous terrain and no significant differences in elevation. Young mountains, on the contrary, have a very sharp relief, although the absolute height does not matter. Young mountains do not have to be high.

Still, the Ural Mountains may well compete for the title of the oldest mountains on the planet. At least it has long been known that Mountain Pencil. which is located between Miass and Zlatoust, is 4.2 billion years old. This is almost the same age (4.28 billion years) as the mountain system Nuvvuagittuk near Hudson Bay. But such a small difference may well be the result of an error in determining the age of the mountains.

Mount Pencil consists of izrandita- dense, heavy and almost black stone. This rock is from the Earth's mantle, and not from its crust; no organic matter was found in it.

The mountain got its name from graphite deposits nearby, which were used to make school slates and pencils. The mountain was once high, but over the millennia it has collapsed and its height is now only 600 meters.

The youngest mountains are considered to be those that were formed over the last 50 million years, that is, during the era of the last continental drift. These are the Himalayas, the Alps, the Andes and the Cordillera, and even the Caucasus - all these are very young mountains, mountains of the same age. But as for the oldest mountains, the question is more complicated. It is wrong to base the age of mountains on the age of rocks; you never know that a rock was formed when the surface of the earth solidified billions of years ago, this does not make it a mountain. A mountain is a rise in the earth's surface as a result of the movement of continental plates, and what continental plates can we talk about 4 billion years ago? Therefore, the Ural and Scandinavian mountains, which were formed more than 300 million years ago, are considered the oldest mountains in the world. And the most ancient rocks were discovered in Australia - zirconium from the green continent is more than 4.38 billion years old.

The latest mountain system that appeared on our Earth is the Himalayas with the greatest peak in the world - Chomolungma. 38 million years ago the Greater Himalayas began to rise, then the Lesser Himalayas, and approximately 7 million years have passed since the Siwalik Mountains were formed. It is the southernmost part of the Himalayas, bordering the Indian Plain. The height of this system is only about 2.5 thousand meters. mountain range The Himalayas are still growing and have grown by 1370 meters over the past 1.5 million years.

And the mountains of the Urals and Canada compete for the title of the oldest mountain formation. Further research will someday establish this for sure.

Mountains are steeper and higher than hills, natural surface elevations on Earth. The process of mountain formation itself occurs under the influence of the volcanic influence of faults and uplifts of tectonic plates. In this process, sediments between plates become mountain ranges. Some of the most famous mountains- The Himalayas will be the youngest, the Scandinavian mountains, Nuvvuagittuk, and the Ural mountains are considered the oldest.

Often sources on the topic of the article report that the most ancient mountains on planet Earth are the Ural Mountains. But the Urals have competitors in this topic...

It is interesting that ancient geographers divided the Ural Mountains into different sections. For example:

the middle Urals were called Rimnus,
northern – Hyperborean mountains,
and Southern - Noros.

As for the oldest surviving chronicle of Rus', the well-known “Tale of Bygone Years,” the modern Ural Mountains are called the Poyasovo, Bolshoy Kamen, or Earth Belt.

Initially, the word “Ural” in Rus' was applied only to the territory of the Southern Urals. The 19th century researcher V.N. Shishonko noted that the “Ural” included the area where the Zlatoustvo factories stood, as well as areas a little to the south and a little to the north.” Naturally, the peaks of Taganay were also among the original “Ural” mountains.

We owe the modern perception of what and where the Ural Mountains are to Vasily Tatishchev. For this entire gigantic mountain belt, it was he who firmly established the name “Ural”. Having learned that local residents, since ancient times the native mountains have been called “Ural”, and his country “Ural ile” (“country of the Urals”), he decided to give this name to the entire mountain range stretching over 2600 kilometers. And soon, in business as well as colloquial speech, the entire “stone belt” turned into the “Ural Mountains.”

However, it is perhaps fair that it was the southern part of the Urals that gave the name to the entire huge mountain range. It is here that you can fully experience the beauty and diversity of the Ural nature with its characteristic features: an abundance of mountains and lakes, a variety of climatic zones, landscapes, as well as a diversity of animals and flora. And it is symbolic that it is the fabulous mountains of Taganay that are the first, “truly” Ural mountains. Now Taganay - national park, access to which is limited.

By the way, the indigenous peoples of the Urals have other traditional names for the Ural Mountains:

the Komi called them “Iz”,
Mansi - Nyor,
Khanty-Kev,
Nenets - Ngarka Pe

Also included Ural mountains, in the territory Chelyabinsk region is the oldest mountain... on the planet(!)? The name of the mountain is simple - Karandash, it is located in the Kusinsky district. According to preliminary estimates, its age is 4.2 billion years (for comparison: the age of planet Earth is approximately 4.6 billion).

This mountain was once much higher. And today its height is some 600 meters. This is everything that was not destroyed by air, water and wind. Most of her “peers” have long been destroyed by time.

Mount Karandash is unique only because of its age, but also because it consists of the most ancient and rare stone, izrandite. It is practically impossible to meet him on the planet. This is an almost black rock, which in composition is closer to the earth's mantle than to the earth's crust.

But let's move to Canada

Scientists have determined the age of the rocks located near the Eskimo village Nuvvuagittuk, is equal 4.3 billion years old. This mountain formation received its name from the same Eskimo village - Nuvvuagittuk.

There are places on Earth that have remained unchanged for millions of years. When you find yourself in such places, you inevitably become imbued with reverence for time and feel like just a grain of sand. This review contains the oldest geological antiquities of our planet, many of which are still a mystery to scientists today.

1. The oldest surface

1.8 million years

In Israel, one of the local desert areas looks the same as it did almost two million years ago. Scientists believe that this plain remained dry and extremely flat for such a long time because there was no climate change or geological activity. According to those who have been here, you can look at the endless barren plain almost forever... if you can stand the wild heat well.

2. The oldest ice

15 million years

At first glance, the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica appear to be ice-free. Their eerie “Martian” landscapes consist of bare rocks and thick layers of dust. There are also remnants of ice that are approximately 15 million years old. Moreover, there is a mystery associated with this oldest ice on the planet. For millions of years the valleys remained stable and unchanged, but in last years they began to thaw. For unknown reasons, the Garwood Valley experienced unusually hot weather for Antarctica. One of the glaciers has been melting rapidly for at least 7,000 years. Since then it has already lost a huge amount of ice and shows no signs of stopping.

3. Desert

55 million years
The Namib Desert in Africa is officially the world's oldest sand pile. Among its dunes you can find mysterious “fairy circles” and desert Welwitschia plants, some of which are 2,500 years old. This desert has not seen surface water for 55 million years. However, its origins go back to the continental breakup of Western Gondwana, which occurred 145 million years ago.

4. Oceanic crust

340 million years

Indian and atlantic oceans were far from the first. Scientists believe they have found traces of the primordial Tethys Ocean in the Mediterranean Sea. It is very rare that the crust of the seafloor can be dated back to be more than 200 million years old, as it is constantly in motion and new layers are rising to the surface. The site in the Mediterranean Sea escaped normal geological recycling and scans revealed its record age (340 million years ago). If this is indeed part of Tethys, it is the first evidence that an ancient ocean existed earlier than previously thought.

5. Reefs created by animals

548 million years

The oldest reef is not just one or two branches of coral. This is a massive petrified “net” that stretches for 7 km. And he is located in Africa. This miracle of nature was created in Namibia by claudines - the first creatures with skeletons. The extinct rod-shaped animals made their own cement from calcium carbonate, like modern corals, and used it to stick to each other. Although very little is known about them today, scientists believe that claudins banded together to protect themselves from predators.

6. Mount Roraima

2 billion years

Three countries border this mountain: Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela. Its huge flat top is a popular tourist attraction, and when there is a lot of rainfall, water from the mountain cascades down to the plateau below. The sight of Roraima so inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that he wrote his famous classic “ lost World" At the same time, few tourists know that Mount Roraima is one of the most ancient formations in the world.

7. Water

2.64 billion years

At a depth of 3 kilometers in a Canadian mine lies what used to be the prehistoric ocean floor. After scientists took samples from a “pocket” of water discovered in the mine, they were shocked when this liquid turned out to be the oldest H2O on the planet. This water is older than even the first multicellular life.

8. Impact crater

3 billion years
A huge meteorite could have “knocked out” a significant piece of Greenland a long time ago. If this is proven, then the Greenland crater will “dethrone” the current champion - the 2 billion-year-old Vredefort crater in South Africa. Initially, the diameter of the crater was up to 500 kilometers. It still shows evidence of impact, such as eroded rocks at the crater margins and molten mineral formations. There is also ample evidence that sea water poured into the newly formed crater and a gigantic amount of steam changed the chemistry environment. If such a monster hits the Earth today, the human race will face the threat of extinction.

9. Tectonic plates

3.8 billion years

The outer layer of the Earth is made up of several “plates” that fit together like puzzle pieces. Their movements shape the appearance of the world, and these “plates” are known as tectonic plates. On southwest coast Traces of ancient tectonic activity have been found in Greenland. 3.8 billion years ago, colliding plates “squeezed” out a “cushion” of lava.

10. Earth

4.5 billion years

Scientists believe that they may have gotten into their hands a part of the Earth that the planet was at birth. In Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, volcanic rocks have been found that formed before the earth's crust formed. This discovery may finally reveal what was going on with the globe before it became hard. These rocks contained a previously unseen combination of chemical elements - lead, neodymium and extremely rare helium-3.

For everyone who is interested in the history of our planet, we have collected.

To the question Which mountains are the most ancient on planet Earth? given by the author Rain Angel the best answer is The most ancient mountains on Earth are the mountains of the Kola Peninsula... The ancient Indian legend "Mahabharata" describes the ancestral home of the Aryans, where there was a high Mount Meru with the main peak Mandara, above which was the North Star (Putorana Plateau). In the cosmology of Ancient Iran it was argued that during the creation of the World, Khara Berezaiti (Mount Meru) was created first. All other mountains in different parts of the world grew through its root system and were connected by underground roots to this pristine high Hara (Meru). The Avesta says that the first mountain that arose on Earth was the Great Khara. In Zoroastrian teachings there is a story that sacred mountain grew in three stages over 800 years. On its highest peak, shining with gold and gems, a palace was built for Mithras, the great Aryan God... An indication from ancient sources that Mount Meru was located near the Northern Ocean, under the North Star, with a wealth of waterfalls, rivers, lakes, flora and fauna, birds, as well as the fact that the mountains are the most ancient on Earth, indicate that that the abode of the Aryan gods was on the Putorana plateau in the area mountain peak 1700 meters high, located east of the city of Norilsk and Lake Lama. This is confirmed by the fact that Aryan peoples, the Arimaspians, lived near Lake Lama and on the Putorana plateau until the new era. Numerous above-ground and underground structures are still found in these places today. Lake Lama has interesting rock formations, as well as underground labyrinths that go in the eastern and northern directions. There are suggestions that Lake Lama in different time there were capitals and cult centers of various peoples, including the Aryans and Arismans (Arimaspians). Cultural centers ancient peoples were near the Yantali, Kochechum rivers and in the bend of the Minchangda River under the thickness of the “cultural layer” of the earth.
About seven thousand years ago, a significant part of the Aryans, under the pressure of the emerging cold weather, went into south direction towards Altai, Turgai plateau, India.
Source: Thanks for asking 🙂 Good luck!!

Answer from hospitable[guru]
Why did this interest you?

Answer from rock mysterios[newbie]
The Ural Mountains are the oldest in the world

Answer from Wake up[guru]
There are no ancient mountains on earth. they are all from the same time.

Answer from chevron[guru]
There are mountains on all continents and many large islands- in Greenland, Madagascar, Taiwan, New Zealand, British, etc. The mountains of Antarctica are largely buried under ice cover, but there are individual volcanic mountains, such as Mount Erebus, and mountain ranges, including the mountains of Queen Maud Land and Mary Baird's lands are high and well defined in relief. Australia has fewer mountains than any other continent. In Northern and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa are represented by cordilleras, mountain systems, ridges, groups of mountains and single mountains. The Himalayas, located in the south of Central Asia, are the highest and youngest mountain systems in the world. The longest mountain system are the Andes in South America, stretching 7560 km from Cape Horn to Caribbean Sea. They are older than the Himalayas and apparently had a more complex history of development. The mountains of Brazil are lower and significantly older than the Andes. IN North America mountains show a very large variety in age, structure, structure, origin and degree of dissection. The Laurentian Upland, which occupies the territory from the lake. Upper to Nova Scotia, is a relic of heavily eroded high mountains, formed in the Archean more than 570 million years ago. In many places, only the structural roots of these ancient mountains remain. Appalachians are intermediate in age. They first experienced uplift in the late Paleozoic c. 280 million years ago and were much higher than now. Then they underwent significant destruction, and in the Paleogene approx. 60 million years ago were re-raised to modern heights. The Sierra Nevada Mountains are younger than the Appalachians. They also went through a stage of significant destruction and re-raising. The Rocky Mountain system of the United States and Canada is younger than the Sierra Nevada, but older than the Himalayas. The Rocky Mountains formed during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene. They survived two major stages of uplift, the last one in the Pliocene, only 2–3 million years ago. It is unlikely that the Rocky Mountains have ever been higher than they are now. The Cascade Mountains and Coast Ranges of the western United States and most of the Alaskan mountains are younger than the Rocky Mountains. The California Coast Ranges are still experiencing very slow uplift.

The oldest mountain on the planet is located Southern Urals in the Chelyabinsk region. Even more precisely in the Kusinsky district, not far from the village of Aleksandrovka (6 km) and sadly famous city Karabash. This is Mount Karandash, or more correctly Kara-tash - Black Stone translated from Turkic.

To the west is the Yurma ridge, to the south is the famous Taganay. Mount Karandash sticks out from the forest like a black rock; it is not high compared to its neighbors, only 600 meters above sea level, but it 4.2 billion years! This is the oldest geological age of our Earth.

Ordinary tourists rarely visit this inconspicuous mountain, but all Ural geologists know well about it, and for them it is a place of pilgrimage. They just have a blast here, because Mount Karandash consists of a rock called izrandite. And there is no older breed on our Earth than this!

Photo mineral izrandite

This igneous rock erupted from the Earth's mantle and then solidified. The stone is heavy, extremely dense, durable, dark, almost black in color. Obviously, this is where the name Kara-tash comes from. There is a true version that the name "Pencil" is due to the fact that graphite - "pencil stone" - was mined somewhere nearby. But this is not on the mountain itself, and you certainly can’t carve anything out of randite rock. Geologists say that it is impossible to break anything off.

The photo shows happy geologists on an izrandite ledge.

The mountain is thus a unique geological object; it can be said to be a witness to the formation of our planet.

In the vicinity of the mountain the Izranda River originates and is crossed by the Magnitka - Aleksandrovka highway. It was thanks to the river that this rare mineral got its name. And this happened relatively recently in 1964, when geologist Ovchinnikov drew attention to unusual black rocks exposed in a canyon dug by a river.

Photos of izrandite outcrops on the town of Karandash.

The mountain is often struck by lightning, so at the top almost all the larches have their tops broken off.

It turns out we were there in January 2009, when we went to Yurma. But I learned all this information only now. And then we naively thought that it was Pencil, because graphite was mined there somewhere in a quarry. The author of all winter photos is Vlad Kochurin.