Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

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

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...)

Selected mountain-related landform

Starr Nunatak, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica

A nunatak (from Inuit nunataq) is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They often form natural pyramidal peaks. Isolated nunataks are also called glacial islands, and smaller nunataks rounded by glacial action may be referred to as rognons.

The word is of Greenlandic origin and has been used in English since the 1870s. (Full article...)

Selected mountain range

View of the Fletcher Group of the Tenmile Range off State Highway 91 North of Leadville. The large foreground mountain is "Drift Peak" at 13,900 feet (4,237 m) above sea level. Fletcher Mountain is the smaller-looking peak to the left, though with an elevation of 13,951 feet (4,252 m) it is taller than Drift. Only Quandary Peak is higher in the Tenmile Range than Fletcher Mountain. Clinton Reservoir can be seen in the foreground.

The Tenmile Range is a mountain range in U.S. state of Colorado. The range is an extension of the Mosquito Range which is part of the Rocky Mountains. The two ranges are effectively the same range. They are split only by the Continental Divide and name. The Tenmile Range is on the north side of the divide, and the Mosquito on the south. The range is often referred to as the Tenmile-Mosquito Range.

There are more than a dozen peaks in the range. Peak 1 is the northernmost peak. The sub-peaks of Mt. Victoria and Mt. Royal are located north of Peak 1. Tenmile Peak, south of Peak 1, is also known as Peak 2. Quandary Peak is the southernmost peak and highest point in the Range, elevation 14,271 feet. (Full article...)

Selected mountain type

Murg Valley in the Black Forest range

A Mittelgebirge (pronounced [ˈmɪtl̩ɡəˌbɪʁɡə] ; German: Mittel, "middle/medium"; Gebirge, "mountain range") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to something between rolling low hill country or Hügelland and a proper mountain range (German: Gebirge or Hochgebirge) like the High Alps. (Full article...)

Selected climbing article

Illustration from a 1924 textbook by Ernst Platz [de]

Climbing technique refers to a broad range of physical movements used in the activity or sport of climbing.

Notable groups include:

Related portals

General images

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

Selected skiing article

Altitude sickness warning – Indian Army

Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Symptoms may include headaches, vomiting, tiredness, confusion, trouble sleeping, and dizziness. Acute mountain sickness can progress to high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) with associated shortness of breath or high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) with associated confusion. Chronic mountain sickness may occur after long-term exposure to high altitude.


Altitude sickness typically occurs only above 2,500 metres (8,000 ft), though some are affected at lower altitudes. Risk factors include a prior episode of altitude sickness, a high degree of activity, and a rapid increase in elevation. Diagnosis is based on symptoms and is supported for those who have more than a minor reduction in activities. It is recommended that at high altitude any symptoms of headache, nausea, shortness of breath, or vomiting be assumed to be altitude sickness. (Full article...)

Subcategories

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Topics

NASA Landsat-7 imagery of Himalayas
NASA Landsat-7 imagery of Himalayas
Shivling
Shivling
Eruption of Pinatubo 1991

Flora and fauna

Climbing in Greece
Climbing in Greece

Lists of mountains

Recognized content

Associated Wikimedia

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