Mountains facts, information, pictures Encyclopedia. Mountains. Science of Everyday Things. COPYRIGHT 2. 00. 2 The Gale Group Inc. CONCEPTAmong the most striking of geologic features are mountains, created by several types of tectonic forces, including collisions between continental masses. Mountains have long had an impact on the human psyche, for instance by virtue of their association with the divine in the Greek myths, the Bible, and other religious or cultural traditions. Twenty years ago, a gas emitted by Pinatubo caused the Earth to temporary cool off, but past volcanoes have shown they can have an even more dramatic effect on climate. Mount Yasur is an active volcano on Tanna Island, Vanuatu with a height of 361 m 1,184 ft above sea level. The glow of the volcano was apparently what attracted. Taal Volcano A hazy view of the famous Taal Volcano, in the Philippines, it has been called the smallest active volcano in the world. It is located about 70km south. One does not need to be a geologist to know what a mountain is indeed there is no precise definition of mountain, though in most cases the distinction between a mountain and a hill is fairly obvious. On the other hand, the defining characteristics of a volcano are more apparent. Created by violent tectonic forces, a volcano usually is considered a mountain, and almost certainly is one after it erupts, pouring out molten rock and other substances from deep in the earth. HOW IT WORKSPlate Tectonics. Pictures Of Active Volcanoes In The Philippines' title='Pictures Of Active Volcanoes In The Philippines' />Earth is constantly moving, driven by forces beneath its surface. The interior of Earth itself is divided into three major sections the crust, mantle, and core. The lithosphere is the upper layer of Earths interior, including the crust and the brittle portion at the top of the mantle. Tectonism is the deformation of the lithosphere, and the term tectonics refers to the study of this deformation. Most notable among examples of tectonic deformation is mountain building, or orogenesis, discussed later in this essay. The planets crust is not all of one piece it is composed of numerous plates, which are steadily moving in relation to one another. This movement is responsible for all manner of phenomena, including earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. All these ideas and many more are encompassed in the concept of plate tectonics, which is the name for a branch of geologic and geophysical study and of a dominant principle often described as the unifying theory of geology see Plate Tectonics. CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE. Tectonism results from the release and redistribution of energy from Earths interior. This energy is either gravitational, and thus a function of the enormous mass at the planets core, or thermal, resulting from the heat generated by radioactive decay. Differences in mass and heat within the planets interior, known as pressure gradients, result in the deformation of rocks, placing many forms of stress and strain on them. In scientific terms, stress is any attempt to deform an object, and strain is a change in dimension resulting from stress. Rocks experience stress in the form of tension, compression, and shear. Tension acts to stretch a material, whereas compression is a form of stress produced by the action of equal and opposite forces, whose effect is to reduce the length of a material. Compression is a form of pressure. Shear results from equal and opposite forces that do not act along the same plane. If a thick, hardbound book is lying flat, and one pushes the front cover from the side so that the covers and pages are no longer in alignment, is an example of shear. Rocks manifest the strain resulting from these stresses by warping, sliding, or breaking. They may even flow, as though they were liquids, or melt and thus truly become liquid. As a result, Earths interior may manifest faults, or fractures in rocks, as. The effects can be seen on the surface in the form of subsidence, which is a depression in the crust or uplift, the raising of crustal materials. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions also may result. Orogenesis. There are two basic types of tectonism epeirogenesis and orogenesis. The first takes its namefrom the Greek words epeiros, meaning mainland,. Epeirogenesis, which takes the form of either uplift or subsidence, is a chiefly vertical form of movement and plays little role in either plate tectonics or mountain building. Orogenesis, on the other hand, is mountain building, as the prefix oros mountain shows. Orogenesis involves the formation of mountain ranges by means of folding, faulting, and volcanic activitylateral movements as opposed to vertical ones. Anti Wga Windows 7. Geologists typically use the term orogenesis, instead of just mountain building, when discussing the formation of large belts of mountains from tectonic processes. PLATE MARGINS. Plates may converge move toward one another, diverge move away from one another, or experience transform motion, meaning that they slide against one another. Convergence usually is associated with subduction, in which one plate is forced down into the mantle and eventually undergoes partial melting. This typically occurs in the ocean, creating a depression known as an oceanic trench. There are three types of plate margins, or boundaries between plates, depending on the two types of crusts that interact oceanic with oceanic, continental with continental, or continental with oceanic. Any of these margins may be involved in mountain formation. Orogenic belts, or mountain belts, typically are situated in subduction zones at convergent plate boundaries and consist of two types. The first type occurs when igneous material i. This can take place either in the oceanic crust, in which case the mountains formed are called island arcs, or along continental oceanic margins. The Aleutian Islands are an example of an island arc, while the Andes range represent mountains formed by the subduction of an oceanic plate under a continental one. The second type of mountain belt occurs when continental plates converge or collide. When continental plates converge, one plate may try to subduct the other, but ultimately the buoyancy of the lower plate which floats, as it were, on the lithosphere pushes it upward. The result is the creation of a wide, unusually thick or tall belt. An example is the Himalayas, the worlds tallest mountain range, which is still being pushed upward as the result of a collision between India and Asia that happened some 3. See Plate Tectonics for more about continental drift and collisions between plates. REAL LIFE APPLICATIONSWhat Is a MountainIn the 1. The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, the British actor Hugh Grant plays an English cartographer, or mapmaker, sent in 1. Wales. He quickly determines that according to standards approved by His Majesty, the mountain in question is, in fact, a hill. Much of the films plot thereafter revolves around attempts on the part of the villagers to rescue their beloved mountain from denigration as a hill, a fate they prevent by piling enough rocks and dirt onto the top to make it meet specifications. This comedy aptly illustrates the somewhat arbitrary standards by which people define mountains. The British naturalist Roderick Peattie 1. Mountain Geography, maintained that mountains are distinguished by their impressive appearance, their individuality, and their impact on the human imagination. A list of famous volcanoes. Information on historic eruptions, including Vesuvius Krakatoa, and recent volcanic activity, including the Icelandic volcano. Beautiful mountains, blue water lakes, magnificent oceans with fabulous islands our planet has many breathtaking places and aweinspiring sceneries just. Title Length Color Rating Volcanoes and Volcanology Volcanoes can be one of the most destructive forces on Earth. It is estimated that some 500 million people. This sort of qualitative definition, while it is certainly intriguing, is of little value to science fortunately, however, more quantitative standards exist. In Britain and the United States, a mountain typically is defined as a landform with an elevation of 9. This was the standard applied in The Englishman, but the Welsh villagers would have had a hard time raising their hill to meet the standards used in continental Europe 2,9.