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). (Full article...)

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Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial terraces, or uplands by distinctly steeper strips of land called "risers". These terraces lie parallel to and above the river channel and its floodplain. Because of the manner in which they form, fluvial terraces are underlain by fluvial sediments of highly variable thickness. River terraces are the remnants of earlier floodplains that existed at a time when either a stream or river was flowing at a higher elevation before its channel downcut to create a new floodplain at a lower elevation. Changes in elevation can be due to changes in the base level (elevation of the lowest point in the fluvial system, usually the drainage basin) of the fluvial system, which leads to headward erosion along the length of either a stream or river, gradually lowering its elevation. For example, downcutting by a river can lead to increased velocity of a tributary, causing that tributary to erode toward its headwaters. Terraces can also be left behind when the volume of the fluvial flow declines due to changes in climate, typical of areas which were covered by ice during periods of glaciation, and their adjacent drainage basins. (Full article...)

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Slavyanka

Slavyanka (Bulgarian: Славянка, "Slavic woman") or Orvilos (Greek: Όρβηλος), formerly known as Alibotush (from Turkish Alibotuş) and Kitka Planina (Китка планина), is a mountain located on the border of southwestern Bulgaria and northernmost Greece, located south of the Pirin Mountains and connected with it by the Paril Saddle. The highest peak of Slavyanka is Gotsev Vrah at 2,212 m, while other notable peaks include Golyam Tsarev Vrah (2,186 m), Malak Tsarev Vrah (2,087 m), Shabran (2,196 m) and Salyuva Dzhamiya (2,027 m). The Bulgarian section of the mountain is part of the Ali Botush Reserve.

The massif is dome-shaped and has very steep ridges. Slavyanka has a pronounced karst character and thus features over 30 caves, attracting many speleologists. The climate has a considerable Mediterranean influence, with precipitation being at its highest in the autumn and winter and at its lowest in the summer, and the average temperatures being higher than in the rest of the country at this height. The average annual temperature in the lowest part of the mountain is almost 14°C and about 6 °C in the highest part. (Full article...)

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In volcanology, a pyroclastic shield or ignimbrite shield is an uncommon type of shield volcano. Unlike most shield volcanoes, pyroclastic shields are formed mostly of pyroclastic and highly explosive eruptions rather than relatively fluid basaltic lava issuing from vents or fissures on the surface of the volcano. They typically display low-angle flank slopes and often have a central caldera caused by large eruptions. Lava is commonly extruded after explosive activity has ended. The paucity of associated Plinian fall deposits indicates that pyroclastic shields are characterized by low Plinian columns.

Pyroclastic shields are commonly known to form in the Central Andes of South America, as well as in Melanesia (the island of Bougainville alone has two). There are also pyroclastic shields in Africa, such as Emi Koussi in Chad. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Clean climbing is rock climbing techniques and equipment which climbers use in order to avoid damage to the rock. These techniques date at least in part from the 1920s and earlier in England, but the term itself may have emerged in about 1970 during the widespread and rapid adoption in the United States and Canada of nuts (also called chocks), and the very similar but often larger hexes, in preference to pitons, which damage rock and are more difficult and time-consuming to install. Pitons were thus eliminated in North America as a primary means of climbing protection in a period of less than three years.

Due to major improvements in equipment and technique, the term clean climbing has come to occupy a far less central, and somewhat different, position in discussions of climbing technology, compared with that of the brief and formative period when it emerged four decades ago. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

Alpine skiing has been contested at every Winter Olympics since 1936, when a combined event was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

From 1948 to 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships in Olympic years, with separate competitions held in even-numbered non-Olympic years. During this period, the Olympic medalists received an additional medal of the same metal from the International Ski Federation (FIS). (Full article...)

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