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); some scientists consider it to be the tallest on earth. (Full article...)

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A kame, or knob, is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the glacier. Kames are often associated with kettles, and this is referred to as kame and kettle or knob and kettle topography. The word kame is a variant of comb (kame, or kaim is the Old Scottish word meaning 'comb'), which has the meaning "crest" among others. The geological term was introduced by Thomas Jamieson in 1874.

According to White, "kames were formed by meltwater which deposited more or less washed material at irregular places in and along melting ice. At places the material is very well washed and stratified; at others it is more poorly washed, with inclusions of till masses that fell from ice but were covered before they were completely washed. Kame gravels thus tend to be variable and range from fine to coarse grained and even to cobbly and boulder." (Full article...)

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Mount Sir Sandford from Gothics Glacier

The Sir Sandford Range is a subrange of the Big Bend Ranges of the Selkirk Mountains of the Columbia Mountains in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located between Gold (river) and Palmer Creek just southwest of the Gold Arm of Kinbasket Lake.

The range is named for Sir Sandford Fleming, who was engineer-in-chief of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was the first to advocate twenty-four-hour day standard time for railways. (Full article...)

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A homoclinal ridge or strike ridge is a hill or ridge with a moderate, generally between 10° and 30°, sloping backslope. Its backslope is a dip slope, that conforms with the dip of a resistant stratum or strata, called caprock. On the other side of the other slope, which is its frontslope, of a homoclinal ridge is a steeper or even cliff-like frontslope (escarpment) that is formed by the outcrop of the caprock. The escarpment cuts through the dipping strata that comprises the homoclinal ridge.

Homoclinal ridges are the expression of regional outcrops of moderately dipping strata, typically sedimentary strata, that consist of alternating beds of hard, well-lithified strata, i.e. sandstone and limestone and weak or loosely cemented strata, i.e. shale, mudstone, and marl. The surface of hard, erosion-resistant rock strata forms the caprock of the backslope (dip-slope) of the homoclinal ridges from which erosion has preferentially stripped any weaker strata. The opposite slope, its frontslope, that forms the front of a homoclinal ridge consists of an escarpment that cuts across the bedding of the strata comprising it. Because of the moderately dipping nature of the strata that forms a homoclinal ridge, a significant shift in horizontal location will take place the landscape is lowered by erosion. Because the slope of a homoclinal ridge dips in the same direction as the sedimentary strata underlying it, the dip angle of this bedding (Ө) can be calculated by v/h= tan(Ө) where v is equal to the vertical distance and h is equal to the horizontal distance perpendicular to the strike of the beds. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Many climbing routes have a grade that reflects the technical difficulty—and in some cases the risks and commitment level—of the route. The first ascensionist can suggest a grade, but it will be amended to reflect the consensus view of subsequent ascents. While many countries with a tradition of climbing developed their own grading systems, a small number of grading systems have become internationally dominant for each type of climbing, and which has led to the standardization of grading worldwide. Over the years, grades have consistently risen in all forms of climbing, helped by improvements in climbing technique and equipment.

In free climbing (i.e. climbing rock routes with no aid), the most widely used grading systems are the French numerical or sport system (e.g. f7c+), the American YDS system (e.g. 5.13a), and latterly the UIAA scale (e.g. IX+). These systems are focused on technical difficulty, which is the main focus of the lower-risk activity of sport climbing. The American system adds an R/X suffix to traditional climbing routes to reflect the additional risks of climbing protection. Notable traditional climbing systems include the British E-grade system (e.g. E4 6a). (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol, Italy (from Mountain)
Image 2The 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 3Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 4Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 5Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 6The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 7Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest, 29 May 1953
Image 8Mont Blanc on the border between Aosta Valley, Italy, and Haute-Savoie, France, the highest point in the European Union (from Mountain)
Image 9Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 10Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 11Apennine Mountains and Trebbia river, Italy (from Mountain)
Image 12A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 13Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 14A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 15Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 16British 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 17The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 18Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 19Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 20The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 21Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 22Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 23The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 24Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 25An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 26Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 27Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 28Distribution of mountains by location and elevation (from Mountain)
Image 29The Dolomite Mountains, Italy, in summer. The climate of the Dolomites is characterized by short but warm and mild summers, while winters are long and very cold. (from Mountain)
Image 30Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 31Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
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 33Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 34Treeline elevation by latitude (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 35Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 36Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystem)
Image 37Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 38Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak, United States (from Mountaineering)
Image 39Everest 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 40Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 41Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 42Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 43Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)