Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mountain

A mountain is a landform that extends over the nearby terrain in a limited area. A mountain is normally steeper than a hill, but there is no commonly accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill though a mountain typically has an exacting summit.

Mountains are on the whole given as heights over mean sea level. The Himalayas generally 5 km above sea level, at the same time as the Andes average 4 km. Most other mountain has 2 – 2.5 km. The peak mountain on Earth is Everest, 8,848 m (29,028 feet), locate in the world's most vital mountain range, the Himalayas.

Sufficiently big mountains have particularly different climatic conditions at the top than at the base, and will thus have different life zones at different altitudes on their slopes. The plants and animals of a sector are to some extent lonely when the zones above and below are harsh, and numerous unique species take place on mountainsides as an end result. Great cases are identified as sky islands. Cloud forests are forests on mountain sides which are a focus for moisture from the air, and thus creating a single ecosystem. Very tall mountains may possibly be enclosed in ice or snow.

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