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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 mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny . [ 1 ]
A popular and intuitive way to distinguish mountains from subsidiary peaks is by their height above the highest saddle connecting it to a higher summit, a measure called topographic prominence or re-ascent (the higher summit is called the "parent peak"). A common definition of a mountain is a summit with 300 m (980 ft) prominence.
Mountain formation occurs due to a variety of geological processes associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (tectonic plates). [1] Folding , faulting , volcanic activity , igneous intrusion and metamorphism can all be parts of the orogenic process of mountain building. [ 2 ]
Examples are mountains, hills, polar caps, and valleys, which are found on all of the terrestrial planets. The scientific study of landforms is known as geomorphology. In onomastic terminology, toponyms (geographical proper names) of individual landform objects (mountains, hills, valleys, etc.) are called oronyms. [4]
A sharp, narrow mountain ridge, often resulting from the erosive activity of alpine glaciers flowing in adjacent valleys. [2] arroyo. Also wash. A deep gully cut by a stream that flows only part of the year; a dry gulch. The term is used primarily in desert areas in North America and South America. [2] Arctic
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Diagram of a mountain range showing peaks and cols, from which mountain parentage and prominences can be determined. This means that, while simple to define, the encirclement parent often does not satisfy the intuitive requirement that the parent peak should be close to the child peak.