What are facts about Atlas Mountains?
The Atlas Mountains are not a continuous chain of mountains but a series of ranges separated by wide areas of land, which are called plateaus. The mountain range separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert. It has several passes that provide routes between the coast and the Sahara desert.
What is the Atlas mountain range?
Atlas Mountains, series of mountain ranges in northwestern Africa, running generally southwest to northeast to form the geologic backbone of the countries of the Maghrib (the western region of the Arab world)—Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
What are the Atlas Mountains known for?
The Atlas Mountains are a large mountain range located in northwest Africa, within modern-day Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia. The combination of Mediterranean and Saharan environments creates a unique, semi-arid landscape which is home to hearty plants, animals, and cultures.
How old is the Atlas mountain range?
about 80 million years ago
The Anti-Atlas Mountains of northern Africa and the nearby Atlas mountains were created by the prolonged collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, beginning about 80 million years ago.
How did the Atlas Mountains get their name?
The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert. Most of the people living in the Atlas Mountains are part of Berber tribes in Morocco and in Algeria. The mountains are named after the ancient Greek Titan, Atlas.
How did the Atlas Mountains get its name?
What are the Atlas Mountains made of?
In this lesson, we learned about the Atlas Mountains of northern Africa, a huge mountain range that stands between the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. They’re young mountains, made of sedimentary rock, which is rock that used to be at the bottom of the sea.
Why are the Atlas Mountains so named?
Are the Atlas Mountains volcanic?
It includes the Djebel Siroua, a massif of volcanic origin with the highest summit of the range at 3,304 m. The Jebel Bani is a much lower range running along the southern side of the Anti Atlas.
How was Atlas born?
Atlas, in Greek mythology, son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene (or Asia) and brother of Prometheus (creator of humankind). According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Atlas was one of the Titans who took part in their war against Zeus, for which as a punishment he was condemned to hold aloft the heavens.