mountain

Introduction
Geomorphic characteristics
Tectonic processes that create and destroy mountain belts and their components
- Mechanisms that support elevated terrains
- Tectonic processes that produce high elevations
  - Volcanism
  - Crustal shortening
  - Heating and thermal expansion
- Tectonic processes that destroy elevated terrains
Major types of mountain belts
- Mountain belts associated with volcanism
  - Mid-ocean ridges and rises
  - Volcanic structures along subduction zones
  - Landforms associated with hot spot volcanism
- Mountain belts associated with crustal shortening
  - Alpine- (or Himalayan-)type belts
  - Andean-type belts
  - Intracontinental mountain belts
Major mountain belts of the world
- The Circum-Pacific System
  - The Andes
  - The Caribbean chains
  - The North American Cordillera
  - Volcanoes and island arcs surrounding the northwest Pacific basin
- The Alpine-Himalayan, or Tethyan, System
  - The Himalayan chain
  - The Zagros and Bitlis mountains
  - The western segment of the system
- Residual mountain ranges and thermally uplifted belts
Selected world mountains

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images, Videos & Interactives

A car drives along the Trans-Canada Highway with Mount Sir Donald's sharp, snow-capped peak rising above forested slopes in the Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia.

Mount Triumph, Washington

Bearhat Mountain

Understand how the age of mountains determine their types; young mountains and old mountains

The video thumbnail image shows a snowcapped mountain against a blue sky.

Two diagrams illustrate continental collision. The top shows two continental crusts converging at a subduction zone, with oceanic crust and lithosphere beneath. The bottom shows the result: a new mountain range formed where the crusts collide, with the oceanic crust subducted below. Arrows indicate the direction of crust movement.

A simplified geological cross section of the Himalayas running north to south, showing the Ganga Basin as a foreland basin, crystalline rock overthrusting the Indian Plate, and a steep thrust fault ramp beneath the Great Himalayas, with labeled features including the Main Boundary Thrust, Main Central Thrust, ophiolites, and Kangdese granites.

World map with labeled continents and red location pins marking the highest mountain on each continent, titled "The highest mountain on each continent."

Snow-capped Mount Fuji rises above a layer of mist, with a bridge and calm water in the foreground under a pink and blue sky in Japan.

At a Glance

Karakoram Range: K2 (Mount Godwin Austen)

mountain summary

mountain: Media

landform

Videos

Understand how the age of mountains determine their types; young mountains and old mountains

Understand how the age of mountains determine their types; young mountains and old mountains

Young mountains have steep slopes and high, pointed peaks. Old mountains have been...

Video: Created and produced by QA International. © QA International, 2010. All rights reserved. www.qa-international.com

The video thumbnail image shows a snowcapped mountain against a blue sky.

How to Measure a Mountain

Some of the world's tallest mountains are actually growing.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

How is sea level measured?

How is sea level measured?

The people who figure this out are called “geodesists.”

Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

How global warming increases the likelihood of avalanches

How global warming increases the likelihood of avalanches

Learn about researchers studying melting permafrost on mountains in order to predict...

Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Mangroove/Dreamstime.com

Know about the various factors that affect the height and overall size of the earth's mountains

Know about the various factors that affect the height and overall size of the earth's mountains

Learn about mountain building and the factors that affect the overall size and height...

Video: © MinuteEarth (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

How does plate tectonics change Earth's surface?

How does plate tectonics change Earth's surface?

A general discussion of plate tectonics.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

A car drives along the Trans-Canada Highway with Mount Sir Donald's sharp, snow-capped peak rising above forested slopes in the Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia.

Mount Sir Donald

Mount Sir Donald in the Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia, looms above a segment...

© Steve Estvanik/Dreamstime.com

Mount Triumph, Washington

Mount Triumph, Washington

Mount Triumph rises to a height of 2,208 metres (7,244 feet) in North Cascades National...

© Walter Siegmund

Bearhat Mountain

Bearhat Mountain

Bearhat Mountain above Hidden Lake on a crest of the Continental Divide in Glacier...

Ray Atkeson/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Peru

Peru

The volcano Chachani overlooks terraced fields in southern Peru. Chachani is the...

Chip and Rosa Maria de la Cueva Peterson

Two diagrams illustrate continental collision. The top shows two continental crusts converging at a subduction zone, with oceanic crust and lithosphere beneath. The bottom shows the result: a new mountain range formed where the crusts collide, with the oceanic crust subducted below. Arrows indicate the direction of crust movement.

continental collision

Colliding masses of continental crust displace rock upward as one plate subducts...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

A simplified geological cross section of the Himalayas running north to south, showing the Ganga Basin as a foreland basin, crystalline rock overthrusting the Indian Plate, and a steep thrust fault ramp beneath the Great Himalayas, with labeled features including the Main Boundary Thrust, Main Central Thrust, ophiolites, and Kangdese granites.

cross section of the Himalayas

Simplified north–south cross section of the Himalayas, revealing a foreland basin...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Snow-capped Mount Fuji rises above a layer of mist, with a bridge and calm water in the foreground under a pink and blue sky in Japan.

Mount Fuji, Japan

Fog in the foreground of Mount Fuji, Japan.

© Platongkoh/Dreamstime.com

St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park reflects surrounding Rocky Mountains, with small Wild Goose Island at the lake's center and evergreen trees in the foreground.

St. Mary Lake

St. Mary Lake reflects the Rocky Mountains in scenic Glacier National Park. The park...

© Michael Trofimov/Shutterstock.com

Kraternaya Bay

Kraternaya Bay

The summit of a partially submerged volcano forms the outline of Kraternaya Bay,...

Michael V. Propp

Dinaric Alps, Croatia

Dinaric Alps, Croatia

The Dinaric Alps rising from the Dalmatian coast at Makarska, a resort town south...

Leo de Wys Inc./Van Phillips

Plateau of Tibet

Plateau of Tibet

The Plateau of Tibet looking toward the Himalayas and (right of centre) Mount Everest.

Jill Singer—CLICK/Chicago

Iran: Zagros Mountains

Iran: Zagros Mountains

The Zagros Mountains rise above orchards and pasturelands, southwestern Iran.

© Matyas Rehak/Dreamstime.com

Algeria:
geography

Algeria: geography

The Ahaggar Plateau rises from the barren landscape of the Sahara in southern Algeria.

Geoff Renner/Robert Harding Picture Library

Antarctica: Mount Erebus

Antarctica: Mount Erebus

Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica.

Eli Duke

Acacia trees on the plain below the summits of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Kibo cone is at right, Mawensi (Mawenzi) at left.

Acacia trees on the plain below the summits of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Kibo cone is...

© J.S. Wightman/Ardea London

Afromontane moorland

Afromontane moorland

A view of the Afromontane moorland of tussocky grasses, giant groundsel, and lobelias...

Caroline Weaver/Ardea London

Several hikers make their way across rocky terrain toward Margherita Glacier on Mount Stanley, with rugged peaks and clouds in the background in the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda.

Uganda: Margherita Peak

Margherita Peak in the Ruwenzori Mountains, Uganda

© martin/stock.adobe.com

Vinson Massif

Vinson Massif

Vinson Massif, in the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica's highest range.

© Wayne/stock.adobe.com

Karakoram Range: K2 (Mount Godwin Austen)

Karakoram Range: K2 (Mount Godwin Austen)

K2 (Mount Godwin Austen), in the Karakoram Range, viewed from the Gilgit-Baltistan...

Snow-covered peaks of Kangchenjunga rise sharply above forested lower slopes, with dramatic ridges and clouds partially obscuring the Himalayan mountain range.

Kanchenjunga

Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas, at the border of India (Sikkim state) and Nepal.

© artqu/stock.adobe.com

Mount Elbrus, highest peak of the Caucasus mountains

Mount Elbrus, highest peak of the Caucasus mountains

Novosti Press Agency

Dykh-Tau

Dykh-Tau

Dykh-Tau peak, Kabardino-Balkariya, Russia.

Shaman17

Small town with wooden buildings nestled among dense green trees in a valley, with the forested slopes and rocky peaks of Mont Blanc rising in the background.

Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc overlooks a town in France.

© Noamfein/Dreamstime.com

Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) Alps, Switzerland

Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) Alps, Switzerland

Photographer's Name / Tom Stack & Associates

Dom

Dom

Dom peak in the Pennine Alps, with the Matterhorn in the distance (right), southern...

Terra3

The highest peak in North America

The highest peak in North America

Mount McKinley (Denali), south-central Alaska, U.S.

© Peter_Nile—iStock/Getty Images

Orizaba

Orizaba

Citlaltépetl rising above Orizaba, Mexico.

David Tuggy

Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas, Argentina.

Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas, Argentina.

Chris Sharp—DDB Stock Photo

Figure 2: Vegetation profile of tropical mountain lands.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Figure 1: Worldwide distribution of mountain lands.

Figure 1: Worldwide distribution of mountain lands.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Interactives

World map with labeled continents and red location pins marking the highest mountain on each continent, titled "The highest mountain on each continent."

world's highest mountains

Mountains are found all over the world. See where the highest mountain on each continent...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski

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