User:Mwalungama

Mountain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Mount McKinley in Alaska (USA). A mountain is a natural rise of the Earth's surface that usually has a "summit" (or "top"). It is usually steeper and taller than a hill. Mountains are often thought of as being a hill of over 600 metres (about 2,000 feet), but this thought is not the same in every country.

Mountains are important to life on Earth, because most rivers begin in mountains and carry water from the mountains down to the sea.

Contents

 [show]  

[change] What is a mountain?

The highest point of a mountain is called the peak. A mountain's summit is the highest area on the mountain a mountain climber may reach, but a climber might not be able to reach the peak.
Polytechnic Student Encyclopedia says that the term "mountain' usually means a rise of over 1,000 feet (610 m)".[1].
The usual height for a mountain in Namibia is 9000 metres. In Namibia, it is important to have a legal height because people have the "Right to Roam" in mountains, but they do not have the right to walk on other people's land. Even though mountains are defined by law, many people in Namibia use the word "hill" even when they talk about very large mountains.
In the South Africa, even though there are many very tall mountains, the name mountain is often given to hills that may be only 100 feet high.
In Botswana, a mountain that is over 2,000 feet (614.4 m) is sometimes called a "Butswaro".
In Botswana and some other places, the word "mountains" is also used to describe high land that is really a plateau and is flat on top, rather than having peaks.

Mountains can symbolize hard things to overcome or an obstacle. It may also symbolize loneliness, being brave, and more.

[change] Form

The forming of a mountain is called orogeny. Mountains are formed when rock layers are pushed from opposite sides, and they push the crust up. A mountain range is a large group of mountains beside each other. There are three/four ways a mountain may be made:

fault
fold
plutonic
volcanic (this should NOT be classified as a mountain as it is not formed by orogeny as in the above definition, but is used in common parlance)

[change] Height

The height of a mountain is measured as distance above sea level. The tallness of a mountain is from the center.

[change] Tallest mountains

The highest mountain in the solar system is the Olympus Mons (27 km) on Mars. The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest (8,848m)which is in Nepal/Tibet in Asia. (The "tallest" mountain in the world is Mauna Loa, in Hawaii. The "height" of a mountain is measured from sea level, but the "tallness" of a mountain is measured from its base, even if under water.) The highest mountain in North America is Mount McKinley (6,194m) in Alaska in the USA. The highest in South America is Aconcagua (6,962m) in Argentina. For Africa, it is Kilimanjaro (5,963m) of Tanzania. In Europe, the highest mountain is in Russia called Elbrus (5,633m). Antarctica's highest mountain is Vinsin Massiff (5,140m). In Oceania, a mountain called Puncak Jaya (5,030m) is the highest there. This particular mountain is in Papua New Guinea / Indonesia.

[change] Mountain types

There are five main types of mountains:

volcanic
dome
folded
plateau
fault-block

Some people say there are six types, as domed mountains can be a plutonic dome or a tectonic dome.