Portal:Mountains

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Uluguru Mountains, in Tanzania

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

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Selected mountain-related landform

In glaciology, a roche moutonnée (or sheepback) is a rock formation created by the passing of a glacier. The passage of glacial ice over underlying bedrock often results in asymmetric erosional forms as a result of abrasion on the "stoss" (upstream) side of the rock, and plucking (i.e. pieces cracked off) on the "lee" (downstream) side. Some geologists limit the term to features on scales of a metre to several hundred metres and refer to larger features as crag and tail, though they are formed in essentially the same way. (Full article...)

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A section of the Cordillera de Lípez in the extreme south of Bolivia at the boundary with Argentina

The Cordillera de Lípez is a mountain range in southern Potosí, Bolivia, and northern Argentina, part of the Andes. The range covers an area of 23,404 km (14,543 mi) and runs in a northeast–southwest direction, between the parallels 22 degrees and 23 degrees, helping to form the boundary between Bolivia and Argentina. Thus the Cordillera de Lípez is a transverse range in the Andes, between the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Occidental, creating the southern boundary of the Bolivian Altiplano.

The highest peak is Uturunku at 6,008 m (19,711 ft). Other important peaks are Cerro Lípez (5,933 m) sometimes misidentified as Nuevo Mundo (5,438 m); Soniquera (5,899 m) (sometimes misspelled as Soreguera); and Tinte (5,849 m) which is on the Bolivian-Argentine border. Despite the high elevations, there is no current glacier activity in the Cordillera de Lípez, just some semi-permanent snow fields. (Full article...)

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Igneous rock (igneous from Latin igneus 'fiery'), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.

The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Climbing is a major US-based rock climbing magazine first published in 1970. In 2007, it was bought by Skram Media, the publisher of Urban Climber Magazine. The headquarters of the magazine is in Boulder, Colorado. It is published nine times a year. Climbing was purchased by Outside in 2021. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)
Image 2The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 3Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 4Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 5Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 6Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 7Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 8Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 9Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 10The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 11Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 12This 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 13Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 14An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 15Apennine Mountains and Trebbia river, Italy (from Mountain)
Image 16Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 17Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 18The 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 19Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 20A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 21Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest, 29 May 1953
Image 22Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 23Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)
Image 24Distribution of mountains by location and elevation (from Mountain)
Image 25Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 26Mont Blanc in Aosta Valley, Italy, the highest point in the European Union (from Mountain)
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 28Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 29Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 30Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 31Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 32Everest 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 33A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 34Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 35Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 36The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 37Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 38Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 39Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 40The Dolomite Mountains, Italy, in summer. The climate of the Dolomites is characterized by short but warm and mild summers, while winters are long and very cold. (from Mountain)
Image 41Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 42The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)

Selected skiing article

This is a list of medalists from the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in ski jumping. Bold numbers in brackets denotes record number of victories in corresponding disciplines.

The Winter Olympics from 1924 to 1980 were also the Nordic World Ski Championships. This meant that the Olympic champions were also World champions and received an additional medal from the International Ski Federation (FIS). This list does not take into account the Olympic champions from 1924 to 1980. (Full article...)

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