Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

Uluguru Mountains, in Tanzania

A mountain is an elevated portion of the surface of a planet, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although there are no universally accepted definitions, a mountain is usually considered higher than a hill. By definition, mountains are often thought of as being a landform which is higher than 2,000 feet (610 m). It may either have a limited summit area or be a smaller plateau with high elevation and steep sides. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges.^{[page needed]}

Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism,^{[page needed]} 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 highest mountain on Earth from base to peak is Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which rises 9,330 m (30,610 ft) from its base at the bottom of the ocean; some scientists consider it to be the tallest on Earth. (Full article...)

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Selected mountain-related landform

Large dirt cones on Sólheimajökull, Island

A dirt cone is a type of depositional glacial feature. Dirt cones are not actually made entirely of dirt. They have a core of ice, snow, or firn that gets covered with material and insulated. The material, if it is thick enough, will protect the underlying core from ablation. The thickness of material needed to insulate the core is called the “critical thickness.” If the material is less thick than the critical thickness, it will actually speed up erosion of the core through ablation. This is called “indirect ablation.” The cone would then begin melting and shrinking away. (Full article...)

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Piz Bernina (centre-left) with the Biancograt to the left, Piz Scerscen (centre-right) and Piz Roseg (right), seen from Piz Corvatsch

The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide, and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the south. The peaks and mountain passes are lower than the Western Alps, while the range itself is broader and less arched. (Full article...)

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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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Selected climbing article

BMC headquarters in Manchester

The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC are also recognised by government as the national governing body for competition climbing. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 2Distribution of mountains by location and elevation (from Mountain)
Image 3Apennine Mountains and Trebbia river, Italy (from Mountain)
Image 4The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 5Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering. (from Mountaineering)
Image 6Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 7Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 8Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 9The 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 10Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 11A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 12Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 13A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 14Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 15Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 16Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest, 29 May 1953
Image 17Everest 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 18The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. Mount Illimani dominates the city's skyline. (from Mountain)
Image 19Treeline elevation by latitude (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 20Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 21Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 22Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 23Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 24Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 25Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 26Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 27Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 28An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 29Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 30The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 31Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 32This 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 33Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 34Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 35The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 36Coverage of important mountain biodiversity sites in protected areas by country (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 37K2, the second highest mountain in the world (from Mountaineering)
Image 38British 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 39Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak, United States (from Mountaineering)
Image 40Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 41Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)

Selected skiing article

Free moving heels during the ascent are a defining characteristic of ski touring. After reaching the mountain top or other destination, the heel portions of the special touring bindings are fixated such that the skis behave like normal alpine skis on the typically long ride downhill.

Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the use of a ski lift or transport. Ski touring can take place anywhere that has suitable snow and terrain as well as reasonable means of access to the trailhead, i.e. plowed roads, snowcats, aircraft or public transport.

Ski touring combines elements of Nordic and alpine skiing and embraces such sub-disciplines as Telemark and randonnée. A defining characteristic is that the skier's heels are "free" – i.e. not bound to the skis – in order to allow a natural gliding motion while traversing and ascending terrain which may range from perfectly flat to extremely steep. (Full article...)

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