A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny . Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics . Mountain ranges are also found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets .
17-580: The Heritage Range is a major mountain range , 160 km (99 mi) long and 48 km (30 mi) wide, situated southward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the southern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica . The range is complex, consisting of scattered ridges and peaks of moderate height, escarpments, hills and nunataks , with the various units of relief set off by numerous intervening glaciers. The northern portion of
34-843: A variety of rock types . Most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earth's land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide belt . The Pacific Ring of Fire includes the Andes of South America, extends through the North American Cordillera , the Aleutian Range , on through Kamchatka Peninsula , Japan , Taiwan , the Philippines , Papua New Guinea , to New Zealand . The Andes
51-615: A width of roughly 1,200 kilometres (750 mi), the highland region is almost cut in half by the East Siberian Lowland that stretches to the north in the central area. To the southwest the boundary is not clearly delimited, as it overlaps with the system of the South Siberian Mountains . Owing to the mountainous terrain, large swathes of the East Siberian system are uninhabited. The largest city
68-590: Is Magadan . The main rivers of the vast region are the Yana , Indigirka , Kolyma and its tributary Omolon , as well as the Anadyr . The world's lowest temperatures for inhabited places have been recorded in this region. In the south of the East Siberian Mountain System lies the area of the famous Oymyakon Depression , where record low temperatures are registered, even though the region
85-722: Is 7,000 kilometres (4,350 mi) long and is often considered the world's longest mountain system. The Alpide belt stretches 15,000 km across southern Eurasia , from Java in Maritime Southeast Asia to the Iberian Peninsula in Western Europe , including the ranges of the Himalayas , Karakoram , Hindu Kush , Alborz , Caucasus , and the Alps . The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in
102-463: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mountain range Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys . Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology . They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes , for example thrust sheets , uplifted blocks , fold mountains, and volcanic landforms resulting in
119-538: Is at work while the mountains are being uplifted until the mountains are reduced to low hills and plains. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example. As the uplift was occurring some 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of mostly Mesozoic sedimentary strata were removed by erosion over the core of the mountain range and spread as sand and clays across the Great Plains to
136-531: Is drier, having been stripped of much of its moisture. Often, a rain shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. As a consequence, large mountain ranges, such as the Andes, compartmentalize continents into distinct climate regions . Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to erosional forces which work to tear them down. The basins adjacent to an eroding mountain range are then filled with sediments that are buried and turned into sedimentary rock . Erosion
153-729: The Mithrim Montes and Doom Mons on Titan, and Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes on Pluto. Some terrestrial planets other than Earth also exhibit rocky mountain ranges, such as Maxwell Montes on Venus taller than any on Earth and Tartarus Montes on Mars . Jupiter's moon Io has mountain ranges formed from tectonic processes including the Boösaule , Dorian, Hi'iaka and Euboea Montes . East Siberian Mountains The East Siberian Mountains or East Siberian Highlands ( Russian : Восточно-Сибирское нагорье , romanized : Vostochno-Sibirskoye Nagorye ) are one of
170-473: The Ocean Ridge forms the longest continuous mountain system on Earth, with a length of 65,000 kilometres (40,400 mi). The position of mountain ranges influences climate, such as rain or snow. When air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools, producing orographic precipitation (rain or snow). As the air descends on the leeward side, it warms again (following the adiabatic lapse rate ) and
187-665: The rock formations that are highly valued in the culture of the Yakuts . The East Siberian System consists of several separate sections of mountain ranges rising to the north and south of the Arctic Circle . The main group of ranges stretches for a distance of nearly 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) from the Lena River valley to Cape Dezhnyov , at the eastern end of the Chukotka Peninsula . Although it reaches
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#1732771848957204-593: The 1962–63 and 1963–64 seasons, the University of Minnesota expeditions made geologic and cartographic surveys of the range. The entire range was mapped by USGS from aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Navy, 1961–66. The Heritage range was so named by US-ACAN because topographic units within the range have received names relating to the theme of American heritage . Geographical features include: [REDACTED] Media related to Heritage Range at Wikimedia Commons This Ellsworth Land location article
221-485: The east. This mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift. The removal of such a mass from the core of the range most likely caused further uplift as the region adjusted isostatically in response to the removed weight. Rivers are traditionally believed to be the principal cause of mountain range erosion, by cutting into bedrock and transporting sediment. Computer simulation has shown that as mountain belts change from tectonically active to inactive,
238-994: The largest mountain systems of the Russian Federation . They are located between the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Bering Strait in Northeast Siberia . The area of the East Siberian Mountains has a very low population density. The territory of the mountain system is one of the Great Russian Regions . In some areas of the East Siberian Mountains, such as the Kisilyakh Range and the Oymyakon Plateau there are kigilyakhs ,
255-417: The range was probably first sighted by Lincoln Ellsworth in the course of his trans-Antarctic flight of 23 November 1935. On 14 December 1959, the southern range was seen for the first time in a reconnaissance flight from Byrd Station , made by Edward C. Thiel, J. C. Craddock and E. S. Robinson. The team landed at a glacier on Pipe Peak, in the northwestern part of the range, on 26 December. During
272-627: The rate of erosion drops because there are fewer abrasive particles in the water and fewer landslides. Mountains on other planets and natural satellites of the Solar System, including the Moon , are often isolated and formed mainly by processes such as impacts, though there are examples of mountain ranges (or "Montes") somewhat similar to those on Earth. Saturn 's moon Titan and Pluto , in particular, exhibit large mountain ranges in chains composed mainly of ices rather than rock. Examples include
289-543: The world, including Mount Everest , which is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) high. Mountain ranges outside these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera , Appalachians , Great Dividing Range , East Siberians , Altais , Scandinavians , Qinling , Western Ghats , Vindhyas , Byrrangas , and the Annamite Range . If the definition of a mountain range is stretched to include underwater mountains, then
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