Mountain makeup about one-fifth of the world’s landscape, and provide homes to at least one-tenth of the world’s people. Heights of mountains are generally given as heights above sea level. The world’s highest peak on land is Mount Everest in the Himalayas. It is 29,036 feet tall.
Unknown Fun Facts About Mountain
- Ben Nevis is also the highest mountain in Great Britain.
- The tallest known mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons, located on Mars.
- There are mountains under the surface of the sea!
- Mountains occur more often in oceans than on land; some islands are the peaks of mountains coming out of the water.
- About 80 percent of our planet’s fresh water originates in the mountains.
- All mountain ecosystems have one major characteristic in common – rapid changes in altitude, climate, soil, and vegetation over very short distances.
- Plants that may be found on mountains include conifers, oak, chestnut, maple, junipers, stonecrops, campions, mosses, ferns and climbers.
- The highest 14 mountains in the world are all found in the Himalayas
- In some mountainous areas, the rivers are permanently frozen. These are called glaciers.
- Some of the highest mountains are at the bottom of the sea. Hawaii is at the top of a volcanic mountain in the
Pacific Ocean. More than half the mountain is below water. - Mountains are formed by movements of the huge tectonic plates that make up Earth’s crust.
- Fold Mountains are formed when plates collide.
- Block Mountains occur when a slab of land is forced upward.
- Volcanic mountains are built up from layers of cooled and hardened lava and ash.
- Some relatively young mountains are still rising, as colliding plates continue to force the land at their edges upward. At the same time, mountains are constantly eroded by ice, rain, and the wind.
- Mountain tops are cold because the thin air high up does not hold the Sun’s heat well, and the temperature falls 1.8°F (1°C) for every 500 feet (150 m) of height. It is therefore, cold enough to snow over high peaks.
- The longest mountain chain on land is the Andes, which runs for 4,470 miles (7,200 km) down the western edge of South America.
- An undersea mountain chain called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is even longer. It stretches 7,000 miles (11,300 km) down the center of the Atlantic Ocean.
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