Portal:Mountains

Portal:Mountains

Portal:Mountains


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Introduction

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...)

Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, upland refers to a range of hills, typically from 300 m (980 ft) up to 600 m (2,000 ft), while highland is usually reserved for ranges of low mountains. However, the two terms are interchangeable and also include regions that are transitional between hilly and mountainous terrain. (Full article...)

Selected mountain range

The Chilcotin Ranges exhibit vibrant colours from heavy mineralization

The Chilcotin Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains (in some classifications they are a separate subdivision). They lie on the inland lea of the Pacific Ranges, abutting the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. Their northwestern end is near the head of the Klinaklini River and their southeast end is the Fraser River just north of Lillooet; their northern flank is the edge of the Plateau while their southern is the north bank of the Bridge River. In some reckonings they do not go all the way to the Fraser but end at the Yalakom River, which is the North Fork of the Bridge.

They are not one range but a collection of ranges, often very distinct from each other. There are three major named subranges: (Full article...)

Selected mountain type

Sugarloaf Mountain, a non-inselberg bornhardt in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A bornhardt ( /ˈbɔːrnˈhɑːrt/) is a dome-shaped, steep-sided, bald rock outcropping at least 30 metres (100 ft) in height and several hundred metres in width. They are named after Wilhelm Bornhardt (1864–1946), a German geologist and explorer of German East Africa, who first described the feature.

While bornhardt was originally used to sometimes denote a type of inselberg (literally island mountain—an isolated dome in an otherwise flat landscape), the term bornhardt is used in modern literature to refer to domed hills and mountains regardless of isolation; thus, not all bornhardts are inselbergs and not all inselbergs are bornhardts. Bornhardts are commonly composed of igneous rocks, often granites, but examples of gneiss, quartzite and arkose bornhardts exists. (Full article...)

Selected climbing article

In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused on reaching the tops of iconic mountains (e.g. the eight-thousanders) and climbing routes (e.g. the great north faces of the Alps) by whatever means possible, often using considerable amounts of aid climbing, and/or with large expedition style support teams that laid "siege" to the climb.

As all the key tops were summited, the manner in which each top was reached became important, particularly the ability to complete the ascent without artificial aid, which is called free climbing. In free climbing, the term first free ascent (abbreviated FFA) is used where a mountain or climbing route is ascended without any artificial aid (devices for protection in the event of a fall could be used as long as they did not aid progression). Completing the FFA of a climbing route is often called freeing (or more latterly sending) a route. (Full article...)

General images

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

Selected skiing article

A piste in Serfaus, Austria

A piste (/pst/) is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports.

This European term is French ("trail", "track") and synonymous with 'trail', 'slope', or 'run' in North America. The word is pronounced using a long "e" sound so that it rhymes with "beast". (Full article...)

Subcategories

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Topics

NASA Landsat-7 imagery of Himalayas

Flora and fauna

Lists of mountains

Recognized content

Associated Wikimedia

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