![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
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) and some scientists consider it to be the tallest on earth. (Full article...)
An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an asar, osar, or serpent kame, is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North America. Eskers are frequently several kilometres long and, because of their uniform shape, look like railway embankments. (Full article...)
Bukowica Range (Pasmo Bukowicy in Polish) part of the Pogórze Bukowskie and Low Beskids in southern Poland. The Bukowica created by the long mountain massif, situated in the eastern part of the Beskid Niski between the valleys of the Wisłok and Osławica rivers. The Bukowica Range separating the west Low Beskids from the east Pogórze Bukowskie.
It consists of a larger ridge of Bukowica with summits as Skibce (776 m. above the sea level ) in the north-west and Tokarnia (777 m. above the sea level ) in the south-east and the smaller range of Kamien Peak (718 m. above the sea level ). Bukowica is rather a monotonous mountainous bank and is heavily except Tokarnia covered with forest it has a panoramic view in all directions. The southern part is a steep rocky wall, while the other side consist of less steep rocky fields. (Full article...)
A pancake dome is an unusual type of lava dome found on the planet Venus. They are widely scattered on that planet and often form groups or clusters, though with smaller numbers of pancake domes in each group than is typical for the more common shield volcanos. They are commonly found near coronae and tesserae (large regions of highly deformed terrain, folded and fractured in two or three dimensions, believed to be unique to Venus) in the lowland plains. Pancake domes are between 10 and 100 times larger than volcanic domes formed on Earth. (Full article...)
A bolt is an externally helical threaded fastener that fastens objects with unthreaded holes together. This is done by applying a twisting force (torque) to a matching nut. The bolt has an external male thread requiring a matching nut with a pre-formed female thread. Unlike a screw, which holds objects together by the restricting motion parallel to the axis of the screw via the normal and frictional forces between the screw's external threads and the internal threads in the objects to be fastened, a bolt prevents that linear motion via the frictional and normal forces between the bolt's external threads and the internal threads of the matching nut (not objects to be fastened, which is what allows the bolt to secure objects with unthreaded holes), which can be tightened by applying a torque which moves the nut linearly along the axis of the bolt and compresses the objects to be fastened. (Full article...)
The Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI) is a nonprofit education association involved in ski instruction. PSIA-AASI establishes certification standards for snowsports instructors and develops education materials.
PSIA-AASI supports instructional programs in alpine skiing, snowboarding, telemark skiing, cross-country skiing, and para-alpine skiing. (Full article...)
Do you have a question about Mountains that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Mountains-related articles, see WikiProject Mountains.
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: