Question

Which of these is a young folded mountain?
A. The Himalayas
B. The Vindhyas
C. The Nilgiris
D. Western Ghats

Answer 1

Hint: This is a new folded mountain formed by the collision of two tectonic plates.
52.7 million people call this mountain range home and is spread across five countries: India, Bhutan, Nepal, China and Pakistan. It consists mainly of raised sedimentary and metamorphic rock.

Complete answer:
The Himalayas is a mountain range in Asia that divides the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has many of the highest peaks on Earth, including the highest, Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China. The Himalayas cover more than 50 mountains of more than 7,200 m in height, including 10 of the 14 8,000-metre peaks. This massive mountain range started to develop between 40 and 50 million years ago, when two large landmasses, India & Eurasia, collided.

Following are the given alternatives:-
The Himalayas are known as the young folded mountains because they were created just a few million years ago. Hence, Option A is correct.
The Vindhya range is a discontinuous as well as complex chain of mountain ridges, highlands, hills in western-central India. The Vindhyan Supergroup is considered to be one of the largest as well as the thickest sedimentary successions in the world. The Vindhya range was discovered in the Vindhya basin from 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago. Thus, Option B is incorrect.
The Nilgiri Mountains are part of the Western Ghats in western Tamil Nadu, India. At least 24 of the peaks of the Nilgiri Mountains are above 2,000 metres. The highest peak is Doddabetta at 2,637 metres. They were formed about 66 million years ago. Thus, Option C is incorrect.
The Western Ghats is a mountain range that lies parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula and crosses the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The other name is Sahyadri. The mountain range covers an area of around 160,000 square kilometres. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's eight hotspots for biodiversity. Geological evidence suggests that they were formed during the break-up of the Gondwana supercontinent around 150 million years ago, after which the Western Ghats slowly began to develop, and estimates that they were about 66 million years ago. Thus, Option D is also incorrect.

Thus, the correct answer is Option A.

Note: The Himalayas which is included under Central Asia is home to the third largest accumulation of ice and snow in the world, after Antarctica and the Arctic.
The flora and fauna of the Himalayas differ in temperature, rainfall, altitude and soil. The climate varies from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest altitudes.
The Himalayas consist of four parallel mountain ranges. They are the Shivalik Hills in the south; the Lower Himalayan Range; in the highest and central range are the Great Himalayas; and the Tibetan Himalayas in the north.