Contents of 13.6 How does mountain building relate to the growth of continents?

Continents grow through time by collision and accretion of crustal fragments that cannot be subducted along convergent plate boundaries.
Low-elevation regions of continents are areas of long-term tectonic stability called cratons, where Precambrian metamorphic and plutonic rocks are present at or near the surface.
Cratons formed during mountain-building events between 1 and 4 billion years ago. These events featured collisions of thick low-density blocks, mostly igneous crust. North American crust is a collage of these crustal blocks.
Although the Precambrian mountains were eroded long ago and partly buried, the elevation of the continental interior above sea level is a result of crustal thickening that occurred during those ancient periods of mountain building.

13.6 How does mountain building relate to the growth of continents?