Portal Mountains

Source From Wikipedia English.
  Portal   WikiProject   Discussion

Introduction

Silvretta panorama from the Ochsenkopf
Silvretta panorama from the Ochsenkopf
Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain

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). (Full article...)

Selected mountain-related landform

The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9

A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny. Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics. Mountain ranges are also found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets.

Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys. Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, and volcanic landforms resulting in a variety of rock types. (Full article...)

Selected mountain range

The "Sleeping Indian" on Sheep Mountain

The Gros Ventre Range (/ˌɡr ˈvɑːnt/ groh-VAHNT) is part of the Central Rocky Mountains and is located west of the Continental Divide in U.S. state of Wyoming. The name "Gros Ventre" is French for "big belly." The highest summit in the range is Doubletop Peak at 11,720 feet (3,570 m). The Gros Ventre Range is mostly within the Gros Ventre Wilderness of Bridger–Teton National Forest. To the northwest of the range lies the valley known as Jackson Hole. Snow King ski resort is in the range adjacent to the town of Jackson, Wyoming. Also in the Gros Ventre Range is the Gros Ventre landslide, which in 1925 slid down the north slope of Sheep Mountain. (Full article...)

Selected mountain type

Grave Creek Mound, in Moundsville, West Virginia

A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including habitation (see Tell and Terp), ceremonial (platform mound), burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes (e.g. Kościuszko Mound). (Full article...)

Selected climbing article

Climbing is a major US-based rock climbing magazine first published in 1970. In 2007, it was bought by Skram Media, the publisher of Urban Climber Magazine. The headquarters of the magazine is in Boulder, Colorado. It is published nine times a year. Climbing was purchased by Outside in 2021. (Full article...)

Related portals

General images

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

Selected skiing article

An ice block, photographed at the Duluth Canal Park in Minnesota

Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 °C, 32 °F, or 273.15 K. As a naturally occurring crystalline inorganic solid with an ordered structure, ice is considered to be a mineral. Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color.

Ice exhibits at least nineteen phases (packing geometries), depending on temperature and pressure. When water is cooled rapidly (quenching), up to three types of amorphous ice can form depending on its history of pressure and temperature. When cooled slowly, correlated proton tunneling occurs below −253.15 °C (20 K, −423.67 °F) giving rise to macroscopic quantum phenomena. In the Solar System, ice occurs naturally from as close to the Sun as Mercury to as far away as the Oort cloud objects. Beyond the Solar System, it occurs as interstellar ice, which is overwhelmingly amorphous. Yet, virtually all of the ice on Earth is of a hexagonal crystalline structure denoted as ice Ih (spoken as "ice one h"). (Full article...)

Subcategories

Need help?

Do you have a question about Mountains that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Mountains-related articles, see WikiProject Mountains.

Topics

NASA Landsat-7 imagery of Himalayas
NASA Landsat-7 imagery of Himalayas
Shivling
Shivling
Eruption of Pinatubo 1991

Flora and fauna

Climbing in Greece
Climbing in Greece

Lists of mountains

Recognized content

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: