<blockquote>
  <p>examples of mountain ranges with sedimentary or metamorphic cores</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Mount Everest.</h1>

<p>At an elevation of 7000 metres and higher, it is all sedimentary rock. Below 7000 metres, it is metamorphic of sedimentary protolith. There are some igneous intrusions into it, but the bulk is a metamorphic schist.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Geology" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Geology</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T07:07:08.710Z
2019-09-20T07:07:08.710Z
Gimelist
<p>Orogeny (the building of mountains) is the result of converging plates, but the composition of the resulting mountain range will vary depending on tectonic setting:</p>

<h2>Subduction</h2>

<p>The subduction of an oceanic plate under a continental plate will create a volcanic arc (such as the Andes). This is called an <strong>accretionary orogen</strong>. Partial melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting plate will generate magma, thus igneous rocks intruding the crust (or erupting at the surface).</p>

<h2>Continental collision</h2>

<p>This tectonic regime will lead to a <strong>collisional orogen</strong>. If the crust gets thick enough, the lower crust will partially melt, generating granite plutons. Also, part of the oceanic plate that once existed between the continents can be uplifted onto the crust. That's how today you can find gabbros and pillow lavas in the Alps at 3,000 m a.s.l., while they were formed at an oceanic ridge 2,500 meters below sea level!</p>

<p>So in any case there will be a certain amount of igneous rocks in the core of a given mountain range, even if they might not be exhumed yet.</p>

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2019-10-22T11:56:08.213Z
2019-10-22T11:56:08.213Z
Jean-Marie Prival
<p>Every volcano is a mountain, but not every mountain is a volcano. Still, it strikes me that--at least for the mountain ranges I can think of in this moment--they all seem to have igneous cores. Is this generally true, or are there plenty of examples of mountain ranges with sedimentary or metamorphic cores?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-18T18:59:19.053Z
What do you mean by "core"?  After all, if you go deep enough, you get to igneous rocks eventually.
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T18:07:48.773Z
Not pertinent to the question, but is "every volcano is a mountain" necessarily true? :-) </pedant>
Semidiurnal Simon
<volcanology><mountains><igneous><orogeny>
Are the cores of every mountain range igneous?
Doug Peltz
# Are the cores of every mountain range igneous?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-17)

Every volcano is a mountain, but not every mountain is a volcano. Still, it strikes me that--at least for the mountain ranges I can think of in this moment--they all seem to have igneous cores. Is this generally true, or are there plenty of examples of mountain ranges with sedimentary or metamorphic cores?

**Tags:** volcanology, mountains, igneous, orogeny

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What do you mean by "core"?  After all, if you go deep enough, you get to igneous rocks eventually.  
> **username_2**: Not pertinent to the question, but is "every volcano is a mountain" necessarily true? :-) </pedant>  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-09-20. Score: 2

> examples of mountain ranges with sedimentary or metamorphic cores

# Mount Everest.

At an elevation of 7000 metres and higher, it is all sedimentary rock. Below 7000 metres, it is metamorphic of sedimentary protolith. There are some igneous intrusions into it, but the bulk is a metamorphic schist.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Geology>


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### Answer by username_4 on 2019-10-22. Score: 1

Orogeny (the building of mountains) is the result of converging plates, but the composition of the resulting mountain range will vary depending on tectonic setting:

## Subduction

The subduction of an oceanic plate under a continental plate will create a volcanic arc (such as the Andes). This is called an **accretionary orogen**. Partial melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting plate will generate magma, thus igneous rocks intruding the crust (or erupting at the surface).

## Continental collision

This tectonic regime will lead to a **collisional orogen**. If the crust gets thick enough, the lower crust will partially melt, generating granite plutons. Also, part of the oceanic plate that once existed between the continents can be uplifted onto the crust. That's how today you can find gabbros and pillow lavas in the Alps at 3,000 m a.s.l., while they were formed at an oceanic ridge 2,500 meters below sea level!

So in any case there will be a certain amount of igneous rocks in the core of a given mountain range, even if they might not be exhumed yet.


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