Folded Mountain

Folded Mountain was part of the scenery we saw yesterday, but it was so interesting, i wanted to give it special mention.

"Originally, all of the rock of the Canadian Rockies lay flat on the shallow sea bed of the western continent shelf, where it had accumulated grain by grain for over a billion years.  About 175 million years ago, the continent of North America began to move westward, overriding the Pacific floor, and colliding with offshore chains of islands.

"The continental shelf was caught in the squeeze.  The flat-lyingl layers slowly buckled into folds like those you see here.  A time passed, folded mountain ranges sprang up across British Columbia.  By 120 millon years ago the Rockies were showing above the sea.  They grew for another 75 million years, rising faster than erosion could tear them down -- likely reaching Himalayan heights.  Active mountain building ended in the Canadian Rockies some 45 million years ago.  The peaks have since been eroded to a small fraction of their original size."