The world's longest above-water mountain range is the
Andes,[1][2] about 7,000 km (4,300 mi) 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 6,962 m (22,841 ft).
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 65,000 km (40,000 mi).[3]
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.