Mountains Blog

Complex volcano

2008-11-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano, is a volcano with more than one characteristic. They form because changes of their eruptive characteristics or the site of multiple vents in an area. Stratovolcanoes may form complex volcanoes, because they may overlap another from explosive eruptions, lava flows, pyroclastic flows and by frequent eruptions, to make multiple summits and vents. Stratovolcanoes could also shape a large caldera that gets filled in by multiple little cinder cones, lava domes and craters may also develop on the caldera's rim.

Although a moderately unusual type of volcano, they are incredibly extensive in the world and in geologic history. Metamorphosed ash flow tuffs are widespread in the Precambrian rocks of northern New Mexico, which describes that caldera complexes have been significant for much of the Earth's history. Yellowstone National Park is on three partly covered caldera complexes. The Long Valley Caldera in eastern California is also a complex volcano; the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado are shaped on a collection of Tertiary-age caldera complexes, and most of the Mesozoic and Tertiary rock of Nevada, Idaho, and eastern California are also caldera complexes and their erupted ash flow tuffs. The Bennett Lake Caldera in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory is another example of a Tertiary-age caldera complex.

Sumatran tiger

2008-10-29T15:12:00.001-07:00

The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of all still existing tiger subspecies. Male Sumatran tigers average 234 cm (7 feet, 8 inches) in length from head to tail and weigh about 136 kg (300 pounds). Females average 198 cm (6 feet, 6 inches) in length and weigh about 91 kg (200 pounds). Its stripes are narrower than other subspecies of tigers' stripes, and it has a more bearded and maned appearance, especially the males. Its small size makes it easier to move through dense rain forests. It has webbing between its toes that, when spread, makes Sumatran tigers very fast swimmers. It has been known to drive hoofed prey into the water, especially if the prey animal is a slow swimmer

Tiger hunting

2008-10-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Humans are the tiger's most significant predator, as tigers are often poached illegally for their fur. The Bengal Tiger is the most common subspecies of tiger, constituting approximately 80% of the entire tiger population, and is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and India and has been hunted in those countries for centuries. Tiger has historically been a popular big game animal and has been hunted for prestige as well as for taking trophies. Poaching continues extensively even after such hunting became illegal and legal protection was provided to the Tiger. Now an endangered species, the majority of the world's tigers now live in captivity. Tigers were once considered to be harder to hunt than lions, due to their habit of living alone in dense cover and not noisily asserting their presence with roars as often

Forest Horse

2008-10-20T11:30:00.001-07:00

Originally from Northern Europe, the Forest Horse, or Dulivial, was a large-boned, slow-moving, heavy horse believed to be the ancestor of the draft breeds of Europe. Although now extinct, the Forest Horse was well adapted to its environment, developing broad hooves, which enabled it to live in the widespread swampy areas, and also a thick and wiry coat which may have been dappled to provide the horse with camouflage.

Stratovolcanoes

2008-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Stratovolcanoes have vertical sides with cones that stick out like enormous bumps. They are built up when eruptions of thick lava, tephra, and pyroclastic flows happen. It takes thousands of years for the pressure to construct up enough in stratovolcanoes to cause an eruption. More than one type of magma builds up in stratovolcanoes. They are basalt, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite magma. All of those magmas cause volatile eruptions apart from basalt magma. There are a group of different vents around stratovolcanoes. Some of the vents are cinder cones and domes low on the sides of the volcano. Sometimes stratovolcanoes are called composite cones.

Shield Volcano

2008-10-06T06:25:00.001-07:00

Shield volcanoes are huge in size. They are built by many layers of liquid lava flows. Lava spills out of a central vent or collection of vents. A broad shaped, quietly sloping cone is formed. This is caused by the very liquid, basaltic lava which can't be piled up into steep mounds.

Shield volcanoes may be produced by hot spots which put down far away from the edges of tectonic plates. Shields also occur along the mid-oceanic ridge, where sea-floor spreading is in progress and the length of subduction related volcanic arcs.

The eruptions of shield volcanoes are characterized by low-explosivity lava-fountaining that forms cinder cones and spatter cones at the vent. Famous shield volcanoes can be establish for example in Hawaii (e.g. Mauna Loa and Kilauea).

Polygenetic volcanic field

2008-10-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

A polygenetic volcanic field is a volcanic field of sprinkled volcanic vents. These volcanic fields, containing many polygenetic volcanoes, are renowned for having more than one eruptive event from the identical vent(s), quite than the more ordinary monogenetic volcanic field. Polygenetic volcanic fields usually occur where there is a sophisticated magma chamber. These volcanic fields may demonstrate lithological discontinuities due to main changes in magma chemistry, volcanotectonic events, or extended erosional intervals, and may last >10 million year period.

Unlike monogenetic volcanic fields, volcanoes in polygenetic fields arrive at huge sizes, such as Mauna Loa, which is the world's main active volcano.

Some types of volcanoes comprise shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes, complex volcanoes, somma volcanoes and calderas.

Mammalian lungs

2008-10-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

The lungs of mammals have a spongy texture and are honeycombed with epithelium having a much larger surface area in total than the outer surface area of the lung itself. The lungs of humans are typical of this type of lung.

Breathing is largely driven by the muscular diaphragm at the bottom of the thorax. Contraction of the diaphragm pulls the bottom of the cavity in which the lung is enclosed downward. Air enters through the oral and nasal cavities; it flows through the larynx and into the trachea, which branches out into the main bronchi and then subsequent divisions. During exercise, the diaphragm contracts, forcing the air out more quickly and forcefully. The rib cage itself is also able to expand and contract to some degree, through the action of other respiratory and accessory respiratory muscles. As a result, air is sucked into or expelled out of the lungs, always moving down its pressure gradient. This type of lung is known as a bellows lung as it resembles a blacksmith's bellows.[3]

Pancake dome

2008-09-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

A pancake dome is a strange type of volcano found on the planet Venus. They are extensively scattered on that planet and frequently form groups or clusters, though with smaller numbers of pancake domes in every group than is typical for the more ordinary shield volcanos. They are commonly found close to coronae and tesserae (large regions of highly distorted terrain, folded and fractured in two or three dimensions, supposed to be unique to Venus) in the lowland plains. Pancake domes are between 10 and 100 times superior than volcanic domes formed on Earth.

Pancake domes have a wide, flat profile alike to shield volcanos and are consideration to form from one large, slow eruption of thick silica-rich lava. They typically have a central pit- or bowl-like feature alike to a volcanic crater, but it is consideration that these pits form following the eruption as the lava cools and emits gas quite than being a vent from which the lava originated. The surface of pancake domes is covered with patterns of little cracks and faults.

Mud Volcano

2008-09-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

The word mud volcano or mud dome is used to refer to formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, though there are more than a few different processes which may cause such action. Temperatures are a great deal cooler than igneous processes. The main structures are 10 km in diameter and get to 700 metres in height.

About 86% of free gases are methane, with a great deal less carbon dioxide and nitrogen emitted. Evicted materials often are slurry of fine solids balanced in liquids which may include water (frequently acidic or salty) and hydrocarbon fluids.

Monogenetic volcanic field

2008-09-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

A monogenetic volcanic field is a volcanic field of little, dotted volcanic vents. are noted for having only one small eruptive event at each volcano, as opposite to regular volcanoes that have more than a small number of eruptions from the same vent in excess of a long period in their history, Mount Vesuvius being an example. Monogenetic fields happen only where the magma provides to the volcano is low or where vents are not close sufficient or large sufficient to expand plumbing systems for incessant feeding of magma. Monogenetic volcanic fields can give snapshots of the fundamental region beneath the surface, and may be helpful in studying the generation of magma and the work of art of the layer since the single eruption produced would competition that of the chamber it erupted from.

Some types of volcanoes include cinder cones, shield volcanoes, tuff cones and maars.

Examples of monogenetic volcanic fields:

* Auckland volcanic field, fundamental much of the city of Auckland, New Zealand and its suburbs
* Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, east-central British Columbia, Canada.
* Parícutin, Michoacán, Mexico

Lava dome

2008-09-08T03:32:00.000-07:00

In volcanology, a lava dome or plug dome is an approximately circular mound-shaped projection resulting from the sluggish eruption of felsic lava from a volcano, or from multiple lava episodes of dissimilar magma types. The characteristic dome shape is credited to high levels of silica in the magma, causing the magma to be fairly viscous and thick. The viscosity of the lava prevents it from graceful distant from the vent that it extrudes from, causing it to solidify rapidly and build on preceding volcanic extrusions, creating a dome-like shape.

Domes may arrive at heights of several hundred meters, and can grow gradually and steadily for months or years. The sides of these structures are calm of unstable rock debris. Due to the option of the building up of gas pressure, the dome can experience additional explosive eruptions over time. When part of a lava dome collapses while it still contains molten rock and gases, it can create a pyroclastic flow, one of the most lethal forms of a volcanic event. Other hazards linked with lava domes are the obliteration of property, forest fires, and lahars triggered by pyroclastic flows close to snow and ice. Lava domes are one of the main structural features of many stratovolcanoes universal.

Fissure vent

2008-09-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

A fissure vent, also identified as a volcanic fissure or simply fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, typically without any explosive activity. The vent is frequently a few meters broad and may be many kilometers long. Fissure vents can cause big flood basalts and lava channels. This type of volcano is more often than not hard to recognize from the ground and from external space because it has no central caldera and the surface is mostly flat. The volcano can usually be seen as a break in the ground or on the ocean floor. Narrow fissures can be filled in with lava that hardens. As erosion removes its surroundings, the lava mass could stand on top of the surface as a dyke. The dykes that feed fissures arrive at the surface from depths of a small number of kilometers. Fissures are usually found in or the length of rifts and rift zones, such as Iceland and the Great Rift Valley in Africa.

Cryovolcano

2008-09-01T01:46:00.000-07:00

A cryovolcano is, factually, an icy volcano. Cryovolcanoes form on icy moons, and possibly on other coldness astronomical objects. Rather than molten rock, these volcanoes explode volatiles such as water, ammonia or methane. Collectively referred to as cryomagma or ice-volcanic melt, these substances are typically liquids and form plumes, but can also be in vapour appearance. After eruption, cryomagma condenses to a solid form when uncovered to the very low surrounding temperature. Some scientists wonder that the cryovolcanoes on Titan, Saturn's main natural satellite and the second-largest in the solar system, may harbor space life.

The energy necessary to melt ices and produce cryovolcanoes typically comes from tidal friction. It has also been optional that translucent deposits of frozen materials could make a sub-surface greenhouse result that would accumulate the requisite heat.

It is hypothesized that the Kuiper belt object Quaoar has exhibited cryovolcanism in the past. In this case, the source of energy would be radioactive decay.

Complex volcano

2008-08-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano, is a volcano with more than one characteristic. They form because changes of their eruptive characteristics or the place of multiple vents in an area. Stratovolcanoes can form complex volcanoes, because they may overlap one more from explosive eruptions, lava flows, pyroclastic flows and by frequent eruptions, to make manifold summits and vents. Stratovolcanoes could also form a big caldera that gets filled in by numerous small cinder cones, lava domes and craters may also expand on the caldera's rim.

Complex volcanoes are varied landforms. In most cases, they happen because of changes also in eruptive habit or in position of the principal vent area. A stratovolcano may form a huge explosion crater that later becomes filled by a lava dome, or several new cones and craters may develop on a caldera's rim. One stratovolcano cone may overlap one more and have multiple summits.

Cinder cone

2008-08-19T02:35:00.000-07:00

Cinder cone volcanoes are the most common type of volcanoes. They are vertical sided cones of basaltic remains and are lesser and simpler than composite volcanoes. Streaming gases take liquid lava blobs into the atmosphere that drop back to earth around a single give vent to form the cone. The volcano forms when ash cinders and bombs pile up about the vent to shape a circular or oval cone.

Many cinder cones contain a bowl-shaped crater at the top. Lava flows are frequently erupted by cinder cones, moreover through a breach on one side of the hollow or from a vent situated on a flank. If the crater is completely breached, the remaining walls form an amphitheatre or horseshoe shape around the vent. Lava hardly ever issues from the top (apart from as a fountain) because the loose, uncemented cinders are too weak to hold up the pressure exerted by molten rock as it rises in the direction of the surface through the central vent.

Caldera

2008-08-13T02:53:00.000-07:00

Long Valley Caldera a 15- by 30-km oval-shaped depression situated 20 km south of Mono Lake the length of the east side of the Sierra Nevada in east-central California. This area of eastern California has shaped numerous volcanic eruptions in excess of the past 3 million years, including the massive caldera-forming eruption 760,000 years ago. The majority recent eruption occurred immediately 250 years ago in Mono Lake at the north end of Mono-Inyo Craters volcanic chain.

Calderas are found at the tops of volcanoes, where the unique peak has collapsed into an unfilled chamber beneath. The basin, many times better than the original volcanic vent, may be flooded, producing a crater lake, or the flat floor may have a number of small volcanic cones, produced by volcanic activity behind the collapse.

Climate and Mountains

2008-08-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

The major differences in climate of mountains are temperature and moisture. Mountains are inclined to have much wetter climates than the surrounding flat land. They receive more rainfall than low lying areas since the temperature on top of mountains is inferior to the temperature at sea level. That is why you often see snow on the top of mountains all year surrounding. The superior the place is above sea level the colder it will be.

Climates change quickly on mountains, becoming colder the higher the altitude gets. This happens since as altitude increases, air becomes thinner and is less able to soak up and keep heat. The cooler the temperature the less evaporation there is meaning so as to there is more moisture in the air.

Because of the fast changes in altitude and temperature along a mountain slope, multiple ecological zones are “stacked” ahead one another sometimes ranging from dense tropical jungles to glacial ice inside a few kilometers.

Mountains around the world

2008-08-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

Asia

Asia is the major continent in both size and population covering approximately 1/3 of the world's land area and it has about 3/5 of the world's people. It has a number of the world's highest mountains, longest rivers, largest deserts, plains, and plateaus, and thickest forests and jungles.

Nepal

Mount Everest is the uppermost mountain on the earth (measuring from sea level). It rises 8,848 meters over the sea, on the border between Nepal and China.

Japan: Mount Fuji, (uppermost mountain in Japan) 3,776ms
It is a remote volcano, located only 50 miles southwest from Tokyo.

Europe

Britain: Ben Nevis, Scotland 1,343ms

Ben Nevis - Peak Mountain in Great Britain
Snowdon - top mountain in Wales
Scafell Pike - Main Mountain in England (978 meters ~ 3208 feet far above the ground)
Kinder Scout - uppermost peak in the Peak District

Greece: Mount Olympus, Athens 2,917ms
Mount Olympus is the uppermost mountain in Greece.

Turkey: Mount Ararat, 5,165ms
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped volcanic cone, situated in extreme northeast Turkey.

Africa

Africa is the second major continent in area covering about 1/5 of the world's land area and it has the third largest population.
Volcanic activity created most of Africa's highest mountains. The 2 tallest peaks are Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,340 ft. and Mt. Kenya on 17,058 ft. They are together extinct volcanoes. Even though both mountains go up near to the equator, they have glaciers and are enclosed with snow most of the year.

Tanzania: Mount Kilimanjaro, 5,895ms
The highest mountain in Africa, situated in Northeast Tanzania, near the Kenya border.

Kenya: Mount Kenya, 5,199ms
The second uppermost mountain in Africa. Like Mount Kilimanjaro, it is an extinct volcano.

Australia:

Mt Kosciuszko - Australia, 2228 metres
The highest mountain in Australia, positioned in the extreme southeast bend of the continent. Placed between Melbourne and Sydney in the Australian Alps

South America

Argentina: Aconcagua in Andes 6,960ms
Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere, located in western Argentina, close to the Chile border.

The World's Tallest Mountain

2008-08-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

At 29,029ft (8,848m) Everest is the uppermost mountain in the world, but measured from top to bottom, under sea level, Mauna Kea beats Everest by 4436 ft. (over 3/4 of a mile).

Although Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet high, is often called the tallest mountain; Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii is in fact taller. Only 13,796 feet of Mauna Kea stands on top of sea level, however, if you measure it from its base, which is under sea level, it is 33,465 feet. If you stand Mauna Kea and Mount Everest next to every other, Mount Kea would be 4400 feet taller

Plateau Mountains

2008-08-04T03:13:00.000-07:00

Plateau Mountains take place in series when the folds of a mountain chain pass suddenly into the horizontal stratum of a basalt plateau that is mainly denuded of trees and eroded. These topographic forms are, however, really Pseudo Mountains that are produced by the erosion of a plateau

Plateau Mountain Ecological Reserve, at the southern lean of Kananaskis Country, is similar to nowhere else in Alberta. Its broad wind-swept peak supports a remarkable diversity of wildflowers and geological features, with dramatic vistas across the mountains and foothills.

Status

* Plateau Mountain was recognized as an Ecological Reserve in December 1991.

* Ecological Reserves are 'representative or special usual landscapes and features of the region, which are secluded as examples of functioning ecosystems, as gene pools for research, and for education and heritage approval purposes.

* Ecological Reserves give limited opportunities for outdoor recreation and environmental tourism, where they are well-matched with the defense objective.

Volcanic Mountains

2008-08-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

Volcanic Mountains are shaped when molten rock or magma deep inside the earth, erupts, and loads upon the surface. Examples of Volcanic Mountains comprise Mount St. Helens in North America and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

Volcano

A volcano is a physical landform (usually a mountain) where magma (rock of the earth's interior made molten or liquid by high pressure and temperature) erupts through the outside of the planet.

In simple terms a volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock underneath the surface of the earth. It is a gap in the Earth from which molten rock (magma) and gas explode.

As pressure in the molten rock builds up it wants to escape somewhere. So it forces its way up “fissures” which are narrow cracks in the earths crust. Once the magma erupts through the earth’s surface it is called lava.

Lava

Lava is fluid rock (magma) that flows out of a volcano. Fresh lava ranges from 1,300° to 2,200° F (700° to 1,200° C) in temperature and glows red hot to white burning as it flows.

Magma

Magma is liquid rock within a volcano.

Fault-Block Mountains and Valleys

2008-08-01T02:14:00.000-07:00

1 A fault is a break in a rock. We usually associate faults with earthquakes. But did you know that faults can also form mountains?

2 Mountains are created by processes called orogeny. This process typically takes place close to plate boundaries. Actions at these boundaries place strain and tension on the crustal rocks. They are distorted by folding and faulting. Mountains are classified by the method they are formed.

3 Tensions at plate limits often shape faults in the earth's crust. There are dissimilar types of faults. Usual faults are caused by horizontal tension. Part of the crust is uplifted, and part of it moves down. This happens at the line where the rock is out of order, called the fault plane. In an area where there are many faults, mountain ranges can appearance. These mountains are called fault-block Mountains.

4 Fault-block mountains frequently occur where plates are moving apart. The movement causes the rocks to be prolonged. Temperatures are low and the rocks are fragile. In its place of folding, they break into big blocks.

5 Faulting causes a number of sections of the rock to be uplifted. These are called horsts. A horst is a division of the earth's crust that lies between two faults. It is higher than the nearby land.

Block Mountains

2008-07-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

Fractures in the Earth's surface, a procedure referred to as taphrogeny, result in formation of fault-block mountains.

If there are two similar faults, the crustal block between them may either rise to produce horst-block Mountain or fall to make a rift valley.

A fallen block is recognized as a graben. The term block mountain may be practical to skewed fault-block and complex faulted uplands.

Block Mountains be in countries like Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, anywhere they appearance basin-and-range landscapes.

Uplifted blocks may have younger casing formations stripped off them, leaving relict landforms as in the Harz and Black Forest terrains of Germany and in the Massif Central of France.

Fold Mountains

2008-07-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

Fold mountains are really formed by outside which have been uplifted and folded by compressional forces. This occurs along convergent plate limitations where 2 plates shift towards each other, between continental plates or between a sea and a continental plate. The crust and the rocks get bent and wrinkled, and massive layers of Earth's crust gets uplifted as a result, forming stunning fold mountains.

More well-know examples of Fold Mountains are the Himalayas in Asia and the Andes in South America.