Contents What is a Mountain Moving Plates Fold and Block Mountains Volcanic Mountains FOCUS ON The Andes Changing Mountains FOCUS ON The Alps Climate Biomes FOCUS ON The Rocky Mountains People and Mountains FOCUS ON The Himalayas Mountain Resources FOCUS ON The Appalachian Mountains Glossary Test Yourself Index 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 29 30 31 32
What is a Mountain Mountains are high rocky areas of land with steep sloped sides They are found on every continent on Earth There are even mountains deep under the sea The Rocky Mountains page 22 Mountains There is no official minimum height for a mountain However most people would use the word mountain to describe an area that rises dramatically higher than sea level and its surroundings The bottom part of a mountain is called the base and the top is called the peak or summit peak mountain ranges base sea level The Appalachian Mountains page 29 Mountain ranges Mountains are millions of years old The way in which mountains are created see pages 8 11 means that they often form in groups known as ranges Well-known mountain ranges across the world include the Himalayas in Asia the Alps in Europe the Andes in South America and the Rocky Mountains in North America 4 The Andes page 12
Everest K2 29,035 feet 8,850 m 28,251 feet 8,611 m Kangchenjunga 28,169 feet 8,586 m Lhotse 27,939 feet 8,516 m Makalu 27,837 feet 8,485 m This map shows some the main of mountain ranges on Earth Record breakers While Everest is officially the highest mountain on Earth there are many high mountains throughout the world FOCUS ON The Himalayas page 26 There are also mountains on other planets The tallest known mountain in our solar system is Olympus Mons on the planet Mars which is 388 miles 624 km wide and 15.5 miles 25 km high That’s almost three times the FOCUS ON The Alps page 16 height of Everest High and tall There is a difference between the highest mountain and the tallest mountain on Earth The highest mountain measuring from sea level to peak is Mount Everest at 29,035 feet 8,850 m The tallest mountain measuring from base to peak is Mauna Kea which is over 32,800 feet 10,000 m tall However most of Mauna Kea is underwater so it only measures 13,796 feet 4,205 m from sea level 5
