Editing Mountain chain (section)

== Dominant rocks and mountain forms ==
[[File:Vedauwoo Rocks in winter.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The remains of an old mountain chain in the [[Laramie Mountains]], Colorado]]
Nappe or fold mountains, with their roughly parallel mountain chains, generally have a common [[geological]] age, but may consist of various types of [[Rock (geology)|rock]]. For example, in the Central Alps, [[granite|granitic]] rocks, [[gneiss]]es and metamorphic [[slate]] are found, while to the north and south, are the [[Limestone Alps]]. The [[Northern Limestone Alps]] are, in turn, followed by soft [[flysch]] mountains and the [[molasse]] zone. <!--see Disk. Many mountain chains also have rocks that were deposited later e.g. [[limestone]] from [[coral reef]]s - such as in the [[Dachstein massif]], the [[Leitha Mountains]] or the [[Westerwald]].-->

The type of rock influences the appearance of the mountain ranges very markedly, because [[erosion (geology)|erosion]] leads to very different topography depending on the [[hardness]] of the rock and its [[petrological]] structure. In addition to height and climate, other factors are the [[strata|layering]] of the rock, its [[gradient]] and [[aspect (geography)|aspect]], the types of [[waterbody]] and the lines of [[dislocation]]. For hard rock massifs, rugged rock faces (e.g. in the [[Dolomites]]) and mighty [[scree]] slopes are typical. By contrast, flysch or slate forms gentler mountain shapes and ''[[kuppen]]'' or domed mountaintops, because the rock is not porous, but easily shaped.