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Introduction

Silvretta panorama from the Ochsenkopf
Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain

A mountain is an elevated portion of the surface of a planet, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although there are no universally accepted definitions, a mountain is usually considered higher than a hill. By definition, mountains are often thought of as being a landform which is higher than 2,000 feet (610 m). It may either have a limited summit area or be a smaller plateau with high elevation and steep sides. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges.[page needed ]

Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism,[page needed ] 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 highest mountain on Earth from base to peak is Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which rises 9,330 m (30,610 ft) from its base at the bottom of the ocean; some scientists consider it to be the tallest on Earth. (Full article... )

New York's Finger Lakes. Lying south of Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes formed in tunnel valleys.

A tunnel valley is a U-shaped valley originally cut under the glacial ice near the margin of continental ice sheets such as that now covering Antarctica and formerly covering portions of all continents during past glacial ages. They can be as long as 100 km (62 mi), 4 km (2.5 mi) wide, and 400 m (1,300 ft) deep.

Tunnel valleys were formed by subglacial erosion by water and served as subglacial drainage pathways carrying large volumes of meltwater. Their cross-sections often exhibit steep-sided flanks similar to fjord walls. They presently appear as dry valleys, lakes, seabed depressions, and as areas filled with sediment. If they are filled with sediment, their lower layers are filled primarily with glacial, glaciofluvial or glaciolacustrine sediment, supplemented by upper layers of temperate infill. They can be found in areas formerly covered by glacial ice sheets including Africa, Asia, North America, Europe, Australia and offshore in the North Sea, the Atlantic and in waters near Antarctica. (Full article... )

Selected mountain range

Nevado del Plomo (left) and Nevado Juncal (behind) are two mountains of the Principal Cordillera along the Argentina-Chile border and the Atlantic-Pacific watershed.

Principal Cordillera (Spanish: Cordillera Principal) is the Andean mountain range that makes up the boundary between Central Chile and neighbouring areas of Argentina. It is also a continental divide between the Atlantic and the Pacific watersheds. It extends in a north–south direction in the Argentine provinces of La Rioja, San Juan and Mendoza and the Chilean regions of Valparaíso, Santiago, O'Higgins and Maule. To the east of the Principal Cordillera lies the Frontal Cordillera which is fully in Argentina. Aconcagua, the tallest mountain outside Asia, lies in the Principal Cordillera. (Full article... )

Selected mountain type

A monogenetic volcanic field is a type of volcanic field consisting of a group of small monogenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts only once, as opposed to polygenetic volcanoes, which erupt repeatedly over a period of time. The small monogenetic volcanoes of these fields are the most common subaerial volcanic landform.

Many monogenetic volcanoes are cinder cones, often with lava flows, such as Parícutin in the Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field, which erupted from 1943 to 1952. Some monogenetic volcanoes are small lava shields, such as Rangitoto Island in the Auckland volcanic field. Other monogenetic volcanoes are tuff rings or maars. A monogenetic field typically contains between ten and a hundred volcanoes. The Michoacán-Guanajuato field in Mexico contains more than a thousand volcanoes and is exceptionally large. (Full article... )

Selected climbing article

Tofana massif with Cortina d'Ampezzo in the foreground

The Dolomites (Italian: Dolomiti, pronounced [doloˈmiːti] ) or Pale Mountains (Italian: Monti Pallidi) are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the river Adige in the west to the Piave Valley (Pieve di Cadore) in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley (Italian: Valsugana). The Dolomites are in the regions of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, covering an area shared between the provinces of Belluno, Vicenza, Verona, Trentino, South Tyrol, Udine and Pordenone.

Other mountain groups of similar geological structure are spread along the river Piave to the east–Dolomiti d'Oltrepiave; and far away over the Adige River to the west Dolomiti di Brenta (Western Dolomites). A smaller group is called Piccole Dolomiti (Little Dolomites), between the provinces of Trentino, Verona and Vicenza. (Full article... )

General images

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

Selected skiing article

Cross-country skiers in western Norway.

Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a means of travel. Variants of cross-country skiing are adapted to a range of terrain which spans unimproved, sometimes mountainous terrain to groomed courses that are specifically designed for the sport.

Modern cross-country skiing is similar to the original form of skiing, from which all skiing disciplines evolved, including alpine skiing, ski jumping and Telemark skiing. Skiers propel themselves either by striding forward (classic style) or side-to-side in a skating motion (skate skiing), aided by arms pushing on ski poles against the snow. It is practised in regions with snow-covered landscapes, including Europe, Canada, Russia, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. (Full article... )

Subcategories

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Topics

Shivling
Shivling

Flora and fauna

Climbing in Greece
Climbing in Greece

Lists of mountains

Recognized content

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