tilt up on end, wood

[KLPNO]

Hello everyone
I'd like to ask about the meaning of "tilt up on end" and "wood" in the following passage.

Twelve hundred years ago, the island again collided with the Continent. But this time it struck the eastern shore, as far from Port of Krauss as possible. Its leeward edge pushed into the Plain of Perfect Deeds while another free-drifting island barged in behind, pinning it in place. Two more islands arrived over the next several years. Small bodies like those often splintered between shifting masses, or they were tilted up on end, shattering when their wood couldn't absorb the strain.

Does the phrase "they were tilted up on end" mean they were forced into vertical position?

And does "wood" mean trees collectively?

 

[Anglika]

Hello everyone
I'd like to ask about the meaning of "tilt up on end" and "wood" in the following passage.

Twelve hundred years ago, the island again collided with the Continent. But this time it struck the eastern shore, as far from Port of Krauss as possible. Its leeward edge pushed into the Plain of Perfect Deeds while another free-drifting island barged in behind, pinning it in place. Two more islands arrived over the next several years. Small bodies like those often splintered between shifting masses, or they were tilted up on end, shattering when their wood couldn't absorb the strain.

Does the phrase "they were tilted up on end" mean they were forced into vertical position?

And does "wood" mean trees collectively?

Imagine the island as a flat piece of timber. It comes up against an immovable object as it is pushed by the currents in the sea. As the currents push, so the island tips up, the end against the immovable object remaining still and the other end tilted into the sky. It has been tilted on end.

I don't know what this passage comes from, but the implication is that the islands are made of wood, and that this wood cannot absorb the stresses put on it by the current pushing the island.

 

[KLPNO]

Imagine the island as a flat piece of timber. It comes up against an immovable object as it is pushed by the currents in the sea. As the currents push, so the island tips up, the end against the immovable object remaining still and the other end tilted into the sky. It has been tilted on end.

I don't know what this passage comes from, but the implication is that the islands are made of wood, and that this wood cannot absorb the stresses put on it by the current pushing the island.

Thank you very much, Anglika.