Mountains (Q822)
Subject, term, tag: Mountains
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Mountains |
Subject, term, tag: Mountains |
Statements
IPCC Glossary v1.5
1 reference
27 May 2026
A mountain is a landform formed through plate tectonics that rises above its surrounding area, characterised by verticality and ruggedness such as gentle or steep sloping sides, sharp or rounded ridges and a high point called a peak or a summit. Mountain regions consist of mountains and mountain ranges as defined by ruggedness, intermontane valleys, plateaus and tablelands, and hills and hilly forelands, together forming a complex terrain. To delineate mountain regions, a combination of terrain characteristics is used, such as elevation above sea level, steepness of slope and relative relief or local elevational range. Three mountain characterisations using different combinations of the above criteria applied to digital elevation models have been developed to arrive at mountain area statistics, described and analysed in detail by Sayre et al. (2018), namely K1 (Kapos et al., 2000), K2 (Körner et al., 2011) and K3 (Karagulle et al., 2017). (English)
IPCC Glossary v1.5
1 reference
27 May 2026