Question

Which one of the following is the correct sequence of the age of formation - from the youngest to the oldest - of the given mountain ranges?
A. Himalayas, Vindhyas, Western Ghats, Deccan Traps
B. Deccan Traps, Western Ghats, Vindhyas, Himalayas
C. Himalayas, Western Ghats, Vindhyas, Deccan Traps
D. Vindhyas, Himalayas, Deccan Traps, Western Ghats

Answer 1

Hint: The youngest range is a new folded mountain created by the collision of two tectonic plates. The oldest mountain range is one of the largest volcanic features in the world. Many of these mountain ranges are formed out of collisions and breakups of continents.

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.

The Vindhya range is a discontinuous as well as complex chain of mountain ridges, highlands, hills and plateau escarpments 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.

The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri, 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 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.

The Deccan Traps is a large igneous province of western-central India. They are one of the greatest volcanic features on Earth. They consist of several layers of solidified flood basalt covering wide areas. At the end of the Cretaceous period, around 66.25 million years ago, the Deccan Traps started forming. The bulk of the volcanic eruption occurred in the Western Ghats around 66 million years ago. This sequence of eruptions may have lasted less than 30,000 years.

Therefore, the right answer is Option A.

Note: The Aravalli range, an erosion of ancient mountains, is the oldest folding mountain range in India.
India is home to seven large mountain ranges with peaks of over 1000 metres. The Himalayan range is the most prominent and highest mountain range in India.
The Urals is the oldest mountain range in the world. In the late carboniferous era, they were formed. The Himalayas is considered the youngest mountain range not only in India, but also in the world.