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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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...)

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The Owl Creek Mountains are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains in central Wyoming in the United States, running east to west to form a bridge between the Absaroka Range to the northwest and the Bridger Mountains to the east. The range forms the boundary between the Bighorn Basin to the north and the Shoshone Basin to the south. The Wind River passes through the gap between the range and the Bridger Mountains to the east, and becomes the Bighorn River on the north side of the mountains. The high point of the range is 9,665 feet (2,946 m). The range is entirely within the Wind River Indian Reservation. (Full article...)

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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...)

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Selected climbing article

A person wearing a simple face mask

Oxygen therapy, also referred to as supplemental oxygen, is the use of oxygen as medical treatment. Supplemental oxygen can also refer to the use of oxygen enriched air at altitude. Acute indications for therapy include hypoxemia (low blood oxygen levels), carbon monoxide toxicity and cluster headache. It may also be prophylactically given to maintain blood oxygen levels during the induction of anesthesia. Oxygen therapy is often useful in chronic hypoxemia caused by conditions such as severe COPD or cystic fibrosis. Oxygen can be delivered via nasal cannula, face mask, or endotracheal intubation at normal atmospheric pressure, or in a hyperbaric chamber. It can also be given through bypassing the airway, such as in ECMO therapy.

Oxygen is required for normal cellular metabolism. However, excessively high concentrations can result in oxygen toxicity, leading to lung damage and respiratory failure. Higher oxygen concentrations can also increase the risk of airway fires, particularly while smoking. Oxygen therapy can also dry out the nasal mucosa without humidification. In most conditions, an oxygen saturation of 94–96% is adequate, while in those at risk of carbon dioxide retention, saturations of 88–92% are preferred. In cases of carbon monoxide toxicity or cardiac arrest, saturations should be as high as possible. While air is typically 21% oxygen by volume, oxygen therapy can increase O₂ content of air up to 100%. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

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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