According to plate tectonic theory, the outer shell of earth is divided into a number of plates which glide against the mantle which is inner rocky layer located above the center. The plates serve as a rigid and hard shell as compared to mantle of the earth which is molten. The two layers interact with each other either through convergence, divergence or slipping over each other due to conventional forces in the mantel. This conventional force is what contributed to the formation of different earth features (Oskin, 2014).
The Ural Mountains are among the oldest mountains in the world and they stretch from north to south via Central Asia dividing Europe from Asia. Based on plate tectonic theory these mountains were formed when the western plate of Siberia smashed into North America and Baltica plate. This resulted to the pushing of the land to develop the Ural Mountains and the Laurasia supercontinent (Carr, 2014). The presence of fossilized marine life in the top of the Ural mountains and some other rocks found only in shallow and deep ocean bed can serve as an indication that during the crash the earth crust slipped under the sea bed raising the land on the sea bed into a mountain and thus, the sea bed served as the top of the mountain now know as Ural.
The two crashing plates could also have joined in the middle of a sea causing a fold on the meeting point. This resulted to lifting of the sea bed where the collision took place and become the top of the formed mountain, now known as Ural. This way all the living organisms in the sea as well as the sea rocks were raised as the sea bed was lifted up. However, these organisms could not have survived the new condition and thus, they died to create the current fossils noted at the top of the Ural Mountains.
References
Oskin, B. (2014, Dec 4). What is plate tectonics? Retrieved from < http://www.livescience.com/37706-what-is-plate-tectonics.html>
Carr, K. (2014). Ural Mountains. Retrieved from < http://scienceforkids.kidipede.com/geology/platetectonics/urals.htm>
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