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

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Selected mountain-related landform

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...)

Selected mountain range

Southern summit

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...)

Selected mountain type

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...)

Selected climbing 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...)

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General images

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

Image 1Everest 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 2British 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 3Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 4Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 5This 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 6The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 7Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 8The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 9Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)
Image 10Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 11Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 12Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 13The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 14Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)
Image 15A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 16Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 17Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 18Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 19Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 20Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 21Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 22Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 23Mountain rescue team members and other services attend to a casualty in Freiburg Germany. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 24Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 25Mont Blanc in Aosta Valley, Italy, the highest point in the European Union (from Mountain)
Image 26Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 27The 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 28Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 29A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 30The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 31The Catskills in Upstate New York represent an eroded plateau. (from Mountain)
Image 32Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 33Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 34Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 35Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 36Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 37Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 38Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 39An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 40Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 41A mountain rescue team in Iran moving a casualty. (from Mountain rescue)

Selected skiing 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...)