The world's longest above-water mountain range is the Andes,Andes Mountains by Alan W./Knapp Gregory. 1999 Retrieve 2002 about long. The range stretches from north to south through seven countries in South America, along the west coast of the continent: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Aconcagua is the highest peak, at about , as well as the highest mountain outside of Asia.
This list does not include submarine mountain ranges. If submarine mountains are included, the longest is the global mid-ocean ridge system which extends for about .
Formation Mountain chains are typically formed by the process of plate tectonics. Tectonic plates slide very slowly over the Earth's mantle, a lower place of rock that is heated from the Earth's interior. Several huge sections of the Earth's crust are impelled by heat currents in the mantle, producing tremendous forces that can buckle the material at the edges of the plates to form mountains. Usually one plate is forced underneath the other, and the lower plate is slowly absorbed by the mantle. Where the two plates pass one another, heated rock from the mantle can burst through the crust to form volcanoes. The movement of the plates against one another can also cause earthquakes.
List RankRangeContinentCountryCoordinatesApprox. lengthApprox. widthMax. elevationHighest point 1 AndesSouth AmericaArgentinaBoliviaChileColombiaEcuadorPeruVenezuelaMount Aconcagua2Southern Great EscarpmentAfricaEncyclopædia Britannica “Great Escarpment” by: Encyclopædia Britannica(undated)Encyclopædia Britannica Article The Great Escarpment of southern Africa: a new frontier for biodiversity by V. Ralph Clark, Nigel P. Barker and Laco Mucina Retrieve 2015Biodiversity and Conservation ZimbabweSouth AfricaEswatiniLesothoNamibiaAngolaMafadi3Rocky MountainsNorth AmericaUSA tourist Rocky Mountain National Park by: Mike Leco(undated)Tour Guide Article Rocky Mountain National Park by John William Uhler Retrieve 2007Encyclopædia BritannicaRocky Mountains By Armand J. Eardley/Richard A. MarstonCanadaUnited StatesMount Elbert4Transantarctic MountainsAntarcticaAntarctic Connection (undated)Aaron Martin TAM-The Transantarctic Mountains Retrieve 4/7/02.Encyclopædia Britannica.Article-OnlineTransantarctic Mountains Retrieve 22 March 2011AntarcticaMount Kirkpatrick5Great Dividing RangeAustraliaAustralian Explorer Australian Travel Information - Great Dividing Range Encyclopædia BritannicaGreat Dividing RangeGreat Dividing Range The Columbia Encyclopedia, Retrieve 2008AustraliaMount Kosciuszko6Appalachian Mountains North AmericaCanadaUnited States3,200 km (2,000 mi)70 km (43 mi)2,037 m (6,684 ft)Mount Mitchell7Chilean Coast RangeSouth AmericaChileCerro Vicuña Mackenna8HimalayasAsiaTravel Himalayas The legendary majestic Beauty- Himalayan Mountain RangeHimalayan Mountain Himalaya, A dream for all explorersExplore Himalayan Mountain Ranges of HimalayasIndiaPakistanChinaBhutanNepalAfghanistanMyanmarMount Everest9Ural MountainsAsia and EuropeRussiaKazakhstanMount Narodnaya10Atlas MountainsAfricaMoroccoAlgeriaTunisia 2,500 km (1,600 mi)113km (70 mi)Djebel Toubkal
See also List of mountain ranges Lists of mountains Continent
References
External links
The Andes - Introduction Arranging Ranges: Mountain Ranges of the World