Why are some mountain ranges still rising?

Mountains rise when tectonic forces shorten and thicken Earth’s crust, forcing rock upward. If two continents collide, neither plate subducts easily, so the crust crumples, stacks, and uplifts over millions of years. The Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau are a prime example, created by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates that began roughly 50 million years ago. Ongoing convergence still adds to the uplift, even though rivers, glaciers, and weather steadily wear the mountains down. The result is a dynamic balance between construction and erosion.