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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In physical geography, a fjord or fiord (/ˈfjɔːrd, fiːˈɔːrd/ ^ⓘ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounded landmasses of the northern and southern hemispheres. Norway's coastline is estimated to be 29,000 km (18,000 mi) long with its nearly 1,200 fjords, but only 2,500 km (1,600 mi) long excluding the fjords. (Full article...)

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The Poiana Ruscă Mountains (part of the Western Carpathians) are a Carpathian mountain range in western Romania. The mountains are situated roughly south of the Mureș River, northeast of the Timiș River, and west of the Strei River. The Bega River emerges from these mountains. The nearest large towns are Lugoj, Hunedoara, and Caransebeș.

The Poiana Ruscă Mountains cover an area of about 2,640 square kilometres (1,020 sq mi), having mean altitudes from 700 to 1,000 metres (2,300 to 3,300 ft). The highest summit is the Padeș Peak [ro], at 1,382 metres (4,534 ft). (Full article...)

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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...)

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Selected climbing article

Rock climber with a helmet, harness & rope, and a traditional climbing "rack" of protection devices on their harness and additional gear sling, which contains SCLDs, nuts, a tricam, and quickdraws

Rock-climbing equipment varies with the type of climbing undertaken. Bouldering needs the least equipment outside of shoes and chalk and optional crash pads. Sport climbing adds ropes, harnesses, belay devices, and quickdraws to clip into pre-drilled bolts. Traditional climbing adds the need for carrying a "rack" of temporary passive and active protection devices. Multi-pitch climbing (and big wall climbing) adds devices to assist in ascending and descending fixed ropes. And finally aid climbing uses unique equipment (e.g. aiders).

Advances in equipment are a key part of the rock climbing history, starting with the climbing rope. Modern devices enable climbers to perform tasks that were previously done manually and with greater control (in all conditions) and less effort. Examples of replacements include the harness (replaced tieing the rope around the waist), the carabiner (replaced many knots), the descender/abseil device (replaced the dülfersitz), the ascender (replaced the prusik knot), the belay device (replaced the body belay), and nuts/hexes (replaced chockstones). (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

The physics of skiing refers to the analysis of the forces acting on a person while skiing. The motion of a skier is determined by the physical principles of the conservation of energy and the frictional forces acting on the body. For example, in downhill skiing, as the skier is accelerated down the hill by the force of gravity, their gravitational potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, the energy of motion. In the ideal case, all of the potential energy would be converted into kinetic energy; in reality, some of the energy is lost to heat due to friction. (Full article...)

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