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). 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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Satellite image of kettle lakes in Yamal Peninsula (Northern Siberia), adjacent to the Gulf of Ob (right). The lake colors indicate amounts of sediment or depth.

A kettle (also known as a kettle hole, kettlehole, or pothole) is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating glaciers, which become surrounded by sediment deposited by meltwater streams as there is increased friction. The ice becomes buried in the sediment and when the ice melts, a depression is left called a kettle hole, creating a dimpled appearance on the outwash plain. Lakes often fill these kettles; these are called kettle hole lakes. Another source is the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake and when the block melts, the hole it leaves behind is a kettle. As the ice melts, ramparts can form around the edge of the kettle hole. The lakes that fill these holes are seldom more than 10 m (33 ft) deep and eventually fill with sediment. In acidic conditions, a kettle bog may form but in alkaline conditions, it will be kettle peatland. (Full article...)

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Kinsman Mountain from Bald Peak on the west

The Kinsman Range, also known as the Cannon–Kinsman Range, is a north–south range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the United States. Its highest point is 4,358-foot-high (1,328 m) Kinsman Mountain, followed by the 4,293-foot (1,309 m) North Peak of Kinsman, and 4,080-foot (1,240 m) Cannon Mountain, one of the richest in rock climbing routes in the Whites. All are official "Four-thousand footers". 3,478-foot (1,060 m) Mount Wolf is on the crest of the range south of Kinsman Mountain. Rounding out the range are 2,470-foot (750 m) Bald Peak on the west side of Kinsman Mountain and 2,530-foot (770 m) Mount Pemigewasset on the east side, overlooking Franconia Notch.

To the northeast, the range is connected by The Cannon Balls ridge to Cannon Mountain. The southwest end of the range is at Kinsman Notch, a 1,870-foot (570 m) mountain pass and westernmost of the White Mountains' four major notches. The 16.9-mile-long (27.2 km) Kinsman Ridge Trail traverses the entire range from Kinsman Notch to the north base of Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch. The Appalachian Trail follows the Kinsman Ridge Trail from Kinsman Notch to just north of the North Peak of Kinsman, where it turns east to Lonesome Lake before descending into the southern end of Franconia Notch. (Full article...)

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Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro. Trap is also used to refer to flood (plateau) basalts, such as the Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps. The erosion of trap rock created by the stacking of successive lava flows often creates a distinct stairstep landscape from which the term trap was derived from the Swedish word trappa, which means "stairway".

The slow cooling of magma either as a sill or as a thick lava flow sometimes creates systematic vertical fractures within the resulting layer of trap rock. These fractures often form rock columns that are typically hexagonal, but also four- to eight-sided. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

The American Death Triangle, also known as the "American Triangle", "Triangle Anchor" or simply the "Death Triangle", is a dangerous type of rock and ice climbing anchor infamous for both magnifying load forces on fixed anchors and lack of redundancy in attachment to the anchor. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They are the primary on-hill transport at most ski areas (in such cases referred to as 'ski lifts'), but are also found at amusement parks and various tourist attractions.

Depending on carrier size and loading efficiency, a passenger ropeway can move up to 4000 people per hour, and the fastest lifts achieve operating speeds of up to 12 m/s (39.4 ft/s) or 43.2 km/h (26.8 mph). The two-person double chair, which for many years was the workhorse of the ski industry, can move roughly 1200 people per hour at rope speeds of up to 2.5 m/s (8.2 ft/s). The four person detachable chairlift ("high-speed quad") can transport 2400 people per hour with an average rope speed of 5 m/s (16.4 ft/s). Some bi- and tri-cable elevated ropeways and reversible tramways achieve much greater operating speeds. (Full article...)

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