Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

Silvretta panorama from the Ochsenkopf

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...)

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An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: sandurs), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and carries the debris along. The meltwater at the snout of the glacier deposits its load of sediment over the outwash plain, with larger boulders being deposited near the terminal moraine, and smaller particles travelling further before being deposited. Sandurs are common in Iceland where geothermal activity accelerates the melting of ice flows and the deposition of sediment by meltwater. (Full article...)

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The Sør Rondane Mountains are a group of mountains about 100 miles (160 km) long with main peaks rising to 3400 m, between the Queen Fabiola Mountains and Wohlthat Mountains in Queen Maud Land. They were discovered and photographed from the air by members of the Lars Christensen Expedition (LCE) on February 6, 1937, and named after Rondane, a mountain massif in southern Norway. The mountains and their constituent features were mapped in greater detail and named in 1957 by Norwegian cartographers working with air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47. (Full article...)

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A polygenetic volcanic field is a group of polygenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts repeatedly, in contrast with monogenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts only once. Polygenetic volcanic fields generally occur where there is a high-level magma chamber. These volcanic fields may show lithological discontinuities due to major changes in magma chemistry, volcanotectonic events, or long erosional intervals, and may last over 10 million years.

Unlike monogenetic volcanoes, polygenetic volcanoes reach massive sizes, such as Mauna Loa, which is the world's largest active volcano. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Reinhold Messner, the first mountaineer to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders

This is a list of climbers and mountaineers who are notable for their activities in mountaineering (including alpine climbing), rock climbing (including aid climbing, free climbing, bouldering, speed climbing and competition climbing) or in ice climbing (including mixed climbing). (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup has been held since 1983. Many Nordic combined competitions use the Gundersen method, where placement in the ski jumping segment results in time (dis)advantages added to the contestant's total in the cross-country skiing segment (e.g. the ski jumping winner starts the cross-country skiing race at 00:00:00 while the one with the lowest jumping score starts with the longest time penalty). (Full article...)

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