The most interesting thing you can tell about the mountains. Mountain message. Interesting Mountain Facts for Kids
Many poems and songs are dedicated to mountains. They attract not only writers, but also artists and filmmakers - no one is alien to romance. Here are some interesting facts about mountains.
The peak of the highest mountain on Earth - Everest, is located at an altitude of 8848 meters above sea level. The first climbers reached this peak at half past eleven in the morning on May 29, 1953. They were Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide. Tenzing later claimed that it was Edmund Hillary who first climbed the mountain.
The Konder mountain range is located in the Khabarovsk Territory, unique in that it has the shape of an almost perfect ring. Interestingly, this is not the crater of an extinct volcano, but the result of a magmatic intrusion. In this process, igneous rock emerges from the deep layers of the earth.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa. Its height is 5895 meters above sea level.
Talking about interesting facts about the mountains, we should mention the Austrian lake Gruner, surrounded by mountains. In winter, the depth of the lake does not exceed two meters. There is a nice park around the lake. In spring, sometimes the snow in the mountains begins to melt, feeding the lake with new water. By May, the depth of the lake increases to 12 meters and the water covers benches, paths and even tree crowns. Thanks to the crystal clear water, the lake with a flooded park turns into a popular diving spot.
Angel Falls (meaning "angel"), falling from the top of Mount Auyantepui, is considered the highest in the world. The mountain that gives it its beginning, translated from the dialect of local Indians, is translated as "mountain of the devil."
The well-known stone-carved heads of American presidents were the result of the work of sculptors in the period 1925-1941. The original monument to Washington, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt was designed by sculptor Gotzum Borglum. After his death, the work was continued by his son, but soon, due to a stop in funding, the project was completely discontinued. The monument to the presidents was declared completed, despite the original intention to portray the leaders of the nation to the waist.
The Austrian part of the Alps occupies 62% of the total land area of this European country.
Mount Ararat, considered the symbol of Armenia and depicted on the coat of arms of this country, is not located in Armenia. Part of the territory of Armenia with the mountain in 1921 went to Turkey.
The first scientific measurement of the height of Mount Everest was carried out in 1856. The result was exactly 29,000 feet (equivalent to 8,839 meters). Considering that round figures are rare in nature, and wishing to avoid accusations of approximate measurements, scientists declared 29,002 feet as the height of the mountain.
There are many mysteries associated with mountains. The height of Mount Kailash is 6666 meters. The distance from this mountain to the English monument Stonehenge is 6666 km. People living near Kailash age much faster (their 12 hours are equal to two weeks). Evidence of this is the growth of nails and hair. The mountain has two huge crests-cracks, the shadows from which, especially in the late afternoon, form an image of a huge swastika.
In some parts of Indonesia, China and the Philippines, there are burials in the form of coffins nailed to the rocks. One of the Chinese national minorities, the Bo people, consider the mountains the most suitable place for burials. This is explained by their belief that the mountains are a ladder leading from the earthly to the heavenly world.
The entrance to the Lemaire Canal in Antarctica is marked by a rock with two peaks, which has an official designation on maps as Una "s Tits, which means "Una's breasts." The peaks got their name in honor of an employee of one of the British Antarctic expeditions. This native of the Falkland Islands wore Una's name.
Interesting video. Noah's Ark found on Mount Ararat:
The story of the mountains
The mountains do not like big words. Mountains are anti-world. People there admire the rainbow UNDER THE FEET, cook porridge from the cord, live high in the magnetic field of the peaks, and even there the wind beats in the face - the WIND FROM THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH.
There is a COOLEST SUPERSHOW in high-altitude mountaineering. It's called "BREAK TEST". This is when food, heavy equipment, barrels of fuel, camping kitchen utensils, hefty shipping bags are dropped onto the moraine near the base camp from a helicopter. It turned out that the gas stove was flying down with the squeal of an uncut pig.
wrapped in foam rubber gas cylinders fall on the moraine like bombs, only they do not explode. But harmless flour in bags EXPLODES when it hits the ground: a durable jute bag breaksapart! The ghee in tin cans was tightly corked, but the lid was knocked out... The marmots licked the greasy stones for a long time; The marmots obviously liked the ghee. The biggest miracle: after a hard hit on the moraine, the gas stove WORKED!
Best of all, our pet vobla passed the ejection test - at least henna to her! But Dr. Aleksey Shindyaikin let us down ... He saw boxes with a red cross falling on the glacier and yelled at the whole Pamir: “There is my optics! KODAK WITH A PENTAPRISM! What are you doing... fuck... mother!!!" Calm down, doc! Upon hitting a glacier, your pentaprism will become a SIX PRISM!
At the exit from the tent under EVEREST, at an altitude of about 8000 m, they are going as if into outer space. The cosmonauts wear a helmet with light filters on their heads, the climbers have a motorcycle helmet and dark glasses. Behind shoulders in backpacks at those and at others oxygen. The astronauts have a strong halyard, the climbers have a nylon rope "forty".
The doctors stuck a needle in my vein, but the BLOOD PUSHED OUT THE NEEDLE! It turns out that at the height of all your blood is in circulation. On the plain, one third of it is usually in a reserve depot - in the liver. However, William Shakespeare guessed about this four hundred years ago: “Squeeze all the veins, put all the blood into battle. May your great spirit rise to its full height!”
On the Pamir firn plateau, I suddenly saw butterflies in the snow. Golden, colorful, but they were dead. What brought them to the ice-snow desert at a height of 6000 m? Gust of wind? The beauty of the icefall or just curiosity? Ernest Hemingway wrote in his book Green Hills of Africa how he saw the skeleton of a tiger on top of Kilimanjaro.
What is this strange tiger climber? Maybe he was tired from the heat in the savannah and therefore reached the highest point of the continent, where the snow lies? Boris Korshunov, a high-altitude climber from Moscow, told me that among the snow and ice at an altitude of about seven kilometers, there are quite a lot of living creatures: dragonflies, flies, butterflies, spiders. BUTthe ubiquitous crows visit the rubbish dumps at the climbers' camps.
Mountains are the kitchen of the weather. Right behind the canopy of the tent, a storm front is forming before our eyes: tomorrow's clouds are gaining moisture. I see how the "snow - ice" or "rocks - snow" thermocouple works. Any couloir (a hollow in a slope) acts like a wind tunnel: it directs the wind. However, the great German Goethe knew about all this about 250 years ago: “On the plain we get the weather ready-made, in the mountains we are present at its birth.”
A story about the mountains - under the Becho pass in the Caucasus, a rescue team fell into a thunderstorm. At the tip of my ice ax, bluish-green lights suddenly flashed - the fires of St. Elmo ... Electric discharges funny nibbled on the earlobes. It wasn't scary at all. However, I am afraid of ball lightning: it is smart and alive. This fireball flies into a tent where three people are resting. It will simply circle over two, not touch, and burn the third. In a word, I LOVE A STORM WHEN DOWN.
The doctors told the master of sports, the “snow leopard” from Dushanbe Vladimir Mashkov: “You have a microinfarction. You are already over fifty, lie still, move carefully ... Nanny will bring a duck. It will get worse, swallow nitroglycerin.” On the third day after being discharged from the hospital, Mashkov flew to the Pamirs. And immediately, without acclimatization, he rushed to the Pamir firn plateau, there was his scientific base-laboratory - business!
Ascent to 5800 m, Vladimir overcame quite easily: the residual acclimatization had an effect. Vladimir “forgot” his medicines at home. A month later, after several ascents to a height of 7495 m (the former peak of Communism), Mashkov returned to Dushanbe, went to his cardiologist. “Excuse me, where are your scars ?!” - “I threw them into one kuluarchik there ...” Physicians still do not know much about human resources, especially ABOUT SPIRITUAL RESOURCES.
One day, 15 young Sherpani-porters appeared in the bamboo thickets under the eight-thousandth peak of Kanchenjunga. They were still girls of 13-14 years old, citizens of Nepal. Each confidently carried a load of 15 kilograms behind her shoulders. Sherpanis made their way through the dense jungle, deftly wielding crooked Nepalese knives - kukri. All of them were dressed ... in black naval overcoats with anchors on buttons, each had a badge of the Leningrad Nakhimov School on their shoulders.
Mountains occupy about 24% of all land. Most mountains in Asia - 64%, least of all in Africa - 3%. 10% of the world's population lives in mountains. And it is in the mountains that most of the rivers on our planet originate.
Characteristics of the mountains
By geographic location mountains unite in different communities, which should be distinguished.
. mountain belts- the largest formations, often stretching across several continents. For example, the Alpine-Himalayan belt runs through Europe and Asia, or the Andean-Cordillera, stretching through North and South America.
. mountain system- groups of mountains and ranges, similar in structure and age. For example, Ural mountains.
. mountain ranges- a group of mountains, elongated in a line (Sangre de Cristo in the USA).
. mountain groups- also a group of mountains, but not elongated in a line, but simply located nearby. For example, the Ber-Po Mountains in Montana.
. Solitary mountains- not related to others, often of volcanic origin (Table Mountain in South Africa).
Natural areas of mountains
Natural areas in the mountains are arranged in layers and change depending on the height. At the foot, there is most often a zone of meadows (in the highlands) and forests (in the middle and low mountains). The higher, the more severe the climate becomes.
The change of belts is influenced by climate, height, topography of mountains and their geographical position. For example, continental mountains do not have a belt of forests. From the foot to the top, natural areas change from deserts to grasslands.
Mountain views
There are several classifications of mountains according to various criteria: by structure, shape, origin, age, geographical location. Consider the most basic types:
1. By age distinguish old and young mountains.
old called mountain systems, whose age is hundreds of millions of years. The internal processes in them have subsided, and the external ones (wind, water) continue to destroy, gradually comparing them with the plains. The old mountains include the Ural, Scandinavian, Khibiny (on the Kola Peninsula).
2. Height distinguish between low, medium and high mountains.
Low mountains (up to 800 m) - with rounded or flat tops and gentle slopes. There are many rivers in these mountains. Examples: Northern Urals, Khibiny, spurs of the Tien Shan.
Medium mountains (800-3000 m). They are characterized by a change in landscape depending on the height. These are the Polar Urals, the Appalachians, the mountains of the Far East.
High mountains (over 3000 m). Basically, these are young mountains with steep slopes and sharp peaks. Natural areas change from forests to icy deserts. Examples: Pamir, Caucasus, Andes, Himalayas, Alps, Rocky Mountains.
3. By origin they distinguish volcanic (Fujiyama), tectonic (Altai Mountains) and denudation, or erosional (Vilyuysky, Ilimsky).
4. According to the shape of the top mountains are peak-shaped (Communism Peak, Kazbek), plateau-shaped and canteen (Amby in Ethiopia or Monument Valley in the USA), domed (Ayu-Dag, Mashuk).
Climate in the mountains
The mountain climate has a number of characteristic features that appear with height.
Decrease in temperature - the higher, the colder. It is no coincidence that the peaks of the highest mountains are covered with glaciers.
The atmospheric pressure drops. For example, at the top of Everest, the pressure is two times lower than at sea level. That is why water in the mountains boils faster - at 86-90ºC.
The intensity of solar radiation increases. In the mountains, sunlight contains more ultraviolet light.
The amount of precipitation is increasing.
High mountain ranges delay precipitation and affect the movement of cyclones. Therefore, the climate on different slopes of the same mountain may differ. On the windward side there is a lot of moisture, sun, on the leeward side it is always dry and cool. A striking example is the Alps, where subtropics are represented on one side of the slopes, and a temperate climate dominates on the other.
The highest mountains in the world
(Click on the picture to enlarge the scheme in full size)
There are seven highest peaks in the world, which all climbers dream of conquering. Those who succeeded become honorary members of the "Seven Peaks Club". These are mountains such as:
. Chomolungma, or Everest (8848 m). Located on the border of Nepal and Tibet. Belongs to the Himalayas. It has the shape of a trihedral pyramid. The first conquest of the mountain took place in 1953.
. aconcagua(6962 m). It is the highest mountain in the southern hemisphere, located in Argentina. Belongs to the Andes mountain system. The first ascent took place in 1897.
. McKinley- the highest peak in North America (6168 m). Located in Alaska. First conquered in 1913. It was considered the highest point in Russia until Alaska was sold to America.
. kilimanjaro- the highest mark in Africa (5891.8 m). Located in Tanzania. First conquered in 1889. This is the only mountain where all types of the Earth's belts are represented.
. Elbrus- the highest peak in Europe and Russia (5642 m). Located in the Caucasus. The first ascent took place in 1829.
. Vinson Massif- the highest mountain of Antarctica (4897 m). It is part of the Ellsworth Mountains. First conquered in 1966.
. Mont Blanc — highest point Europe (many attribute Elbrus to Asia). Height - 4810 m. Located on the border of France and Italy, belongs to the mountain system of the Alps. The first ascent in 1786, and a century later, in 1886, Theodore Roosevelt conquered the summit of Mont Blanc.
. Pyramid of Carstens- the highest mountain in Australia and Oceania (4884 m). Located on the island of New Guinea. The first conquest was in 1962.
Mountains occupy about 40% of the Earth's surface* They are on every continent and large island* Even along the bottom of the oceans, mountain ranges stretch, individual peaks of which rise above the water, forming islands or chains of islands * The smallest mountains in Australia, and most of the mountains of Antarctica are hidden under ice.
The youngest mountain system on our planet is the Himalayas, the longest is the Andes (about 7560 km long), and the oldest mountains are the mountains belonging to the Nuvvuagittuq mountain formation, located in the vicinity of Hudson Bay (about 4.28 billion years old). ).
Mountains are very diverse. Top shape peak-shaped, dome-shaped, plateau-shaped, and other mountains are distinguished. The mountains are different by origin: tectonodenudation, volcanic, etc. In the Sayans, Transbaikalia and Far East dominated by a special type of mountain - hills. The hills are distinguished by a conical shape and a rocky or flattened top.
In mountain formations are often distinguished individual peaks, rising high above the surrounding, even alpine, landscape. These peaks include the city of Chomolungma in the Himalayas, Elbrus in the Caucasus, Belukha in Altai.
The relief of mountainous regions is characterized by the presence mountain ranges- elongated mountain formations with a clearly defined axis, along which the most high mountains. This axis is often the watershed of the area.
In the case when the height of the mountain range is small, and the tops of the mountains are rounded, then such a chain of mountains is called mountain range. Mountain ranges, as a rule, are the remains of ancient destroyed mountains (in Russia - the Timan ridge, the Yenisei ridge, etc.)
The mountain range has two slope often dissimilar to one another. While one slope is gentle, the other can be steep (Ural Mountains).
The top part of the mountain ranges is called mountain ridge. The ridge crest can be pointed (near young mountains) or rounded and plateau-like (near old mountains).
Wide depressions with gentle slopes are called mountain passes.
Approximately the same in length and width, a mountain uplift, which is characterized by weak dissection, is called mountain range . (Putorana Plateau in Eastern Siberia, Russia).
The intersection of two mountain ranges is called mountain knot. Mountain knots consist of high hard-to-reach mountains (mountain knot Tabyk-Bogdo-Ola in Altai).
Mountain ranges that are identical in origin and located in the same order (linearly or radially) are called mountain systems. The outskirts of mountain systems, characterized by low altitudes, are called foothills.
Africa is characterized by a special kind of mountains called canteens. They are characterized by flat tops and stepped slopes. The formation of these mountains is associated with the action of the water of the rivers that cut through the formation valley.
The presence of mountains is characteristic not only for land. The bottom of the ocean is also replete with various kinds of mountain formations. Single mountains of volcanic origin are scattered here and there along the bottom of the oceans. Active volcanoes pour out lava, ash and rock fragments, have pointed peaks. The tops of extinct volcanoes are smoothed out by waves and currents. The tops of many underwater volcanoes form islands. Iceland is an example of such an island.
There are mountain ranges at the bottom of the oceans. The most important discovery in recent years in oceanology was the discovery mid-ocean ridges. They run almost in the middle of each ocean, forming a huge single chain. Read more about mid-ocean ridges
