Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

View of the south side of the Santa Catalina Mountains as seen from Tucson, Arizona.

A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (980 ft) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges.

Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers.

High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction, such as mining and logging, along with recreation, such as mountain climbing and skiing.

The highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m (29,035 ft) above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m (69,459 ft). The tallest mountain including submarine terrain is Mauna Kea in Hawaii from its underwater base at 9,330 m (30,610 ft) and some scientists consider it to be the tallest on earth. (Full article...)

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Drumlins around Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin, in an area with one of the highest concentration of drumlins in the world. The curved path of the Laurentide Ice Sheet is evident in the orientation of the various mounds.

A drumlin, from the Irish word droimnín ("little ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine. Assemblages of drumlins are referred to as fields or swarms; they can create a landscape which is often described as having a 'basket of eggs topography'. (Full article...)

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Ranges of the French Alps,
with the Prealps ranges highlighted in orange

The French Prealps (French: Préalpes françaises, pronounced [pʁealp fʁɑ̃sɛz]) are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line running from Chamonix, to Albertville, to Grenoble, to Gap, to Barcelonette; and south from Grasse to Vence.

In the northern subalpine regions, the various ranges are easily identifiable by geographical separations, such as the Voreppe Gorge between Vercors and Chartreuse, or Chambéry, which sits in a valley between the Bauges and Chartreuse ranges. In the southern subalpine regions, the ranges are generally disorganized and lack the wide, deep valleys that divide them in the north. (Full article...)

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Rhyolitic lava dome of Chaitén Volcano during its 2008–2010 eruption

In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on Earth form lava domes. The geochemistry of lava domes can vary from basalt (e.g. Semeru, 1946) to rhyolite (e.g. Chaiten, 2010) although the majority are of intermediate composition (such as Santiaguito, dacite-andesite, present day) The characteristic dome shape is attributed to high viscosity that prevents the lava from flowing very far. This high viscosity can be obtained in two ways: by high levels of silica in the magma, or by degassing of fluid magma. Since viscous basaltic and andesitic domes weather fast and easily break apart by further input of fluid lava, most of the preserved domes have high silica content and consist of rhyolite or dacite.

Existence of lava domes has been suggested for some domed structures on the Moon, Venus, and Mars, e.g. the Martian surface in the western part of Arcadia Planitia and within Terra Sirenum. (Full article...)

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A climber ascends the Doran Memorial Bridge using aid climbing techniques

Buildering (also known as edificeering, urban climbing, structuring, skywalking, boulding, or stegophily) describes the act of climbing on the outside of buildings and other artificial structures. The word "buildering", sometimes misspelled bildering, combines the word building with the climbing term bouldering. If done without ropes or protection far off the ground, buildering is extremely dangerous. It is often practiced outside legal bounds, and is thus practiced mostly at night.

Night climbing is a particular branch of buildering which has been practiced for many years in a variety of locations, especially at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, England. Night climbing, as distinct from buildering, is performed mainly by undergraduates under cover of darkness. The term "night climbing" has replaced the older term "roof climbing". The philosophy behind night climbing has undergone great change during the 21st century, with urban disciplines such as parkour having a heavy influence on the evolution of night climbing techniques and movements. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various mountain-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby became known as the father of Norwegian mountaineering and contributed greatly to its popularization with his classic book Norway, the Northern Playground (from Mountaineering)
Image 2Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 3Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 4The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 5Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 6Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 7Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 8Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 9Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 10Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 11Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 12Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 13Everest is highest from sea level (green), Mauna Kea is highest from its base (orange), Cayambe is farthest from Earth's axis (pink) and Chimborazo is farthest from Earth's centre (blue) (from Mountain)
Image 14Mountain rescue team members and other services attend to a casualty in Freiburg Germany. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 15Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)
Image 16Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 17The Andes, the longest mountain range on the surface of the Earth, have a dramatic impact on the climate of South America (from Mountain range)
Image 18Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 19A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 20The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 21This 1848 "Sketch showing the actual elevation of the Snow Line in different Latitudes" by Alexander Keith Johnston shows the snow lines of mountains in America, Europe and Asia (from Snow line)
Image 22The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 23Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 24Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 25Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 26An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 27A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 28Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 29Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 30Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 31The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 32Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 33Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 34The Catskills in Upstate New York represent an eroded plateau. (from Mountain)
Image 35Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 36A mountain rescue team in Iran moving a casualty. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 37Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 38Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 39Mont Blanc in Aosta Valley, Italy, the highest point in the European Union (from Mountain)
Image 40Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 41Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)