Where do the well-known Rocky Mountains come from?

1997/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

The longest and most famous mountain range in North America has been a mystery for many years. Two researchers at the University of Minnesota are considered to have found an answer to this question. For Julie Maxson and Basil Tikoff, 97 million years ago a group of islands like Indonesia met the British Columbia coast. As a result of this shock, North America narrowed and began to lift the mountains we know as Rocky Mountains.

According to these geologists, however, the islands did not meet the coast of the United States, but with Baja California, Mexico. Therefore, the continent narrowed from south to north, and the pressure of the islands began to move north. According to the theory of Maxson and Tikoff, this compression produced the mountain range of Monte Rocoso between 85 and 55 million years.

But this is just a first step. Even though we know more about the origin of these impressive mountains, where are the faults that it should supposedly create on the north coast?