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23-451: The Hira Mountains ( 比良山地 , Hira-sanchi ) are a mountain range to the west of Lake Biwa on the border of Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture , Japan . The range runs 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north to south. It is narrowest in the southern part of the range, running 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east to west, and broadest at the northern part of the range, running 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) km east to west. The eastern side of

46-627: A mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes , for example thrust sheets , uplifted blocks , fold mountains, and volcanic landforms resulting in 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

69-528: A peak in the 18th century in the Qinling Mountains. The region is home to the endemic Qinling panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis ), a brown-and-white subspecies of the giant panda ( A. melanoleuca ), which is protected with the help of the Changqing and Foping nature reserves . An estimated 250 to 280 pandas live in the region, which is thought to represent around one-fifth of

92-416: A popular destination for skiing, hiking, and mountain climbing. This Shiga Prefecture location article 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

115-632: Is about 100 kilometers (62 mi) west of the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an . Three culturally significant peaks in the range are Mount Hua (2,155 meters or 7,070 feet), Mount Li (1,302 meters or 4,272 feet), and Mount Maiji (1,742 meters or 5,715 feet). The environment of the Qin Mountains is a deciduous forest ecoregion . The Qin Mountains form the watershed of the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins; historically,

138-538: 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

161-448: Is consequently somewhat impoverished in regard to fertility and species diversity. Furthermore, the mountains have also acted in the past as a natural defense against nomadic invasions from the north, as only four passes cross the mountains. In the late 1990s a railway tunnel and a spiral were completed, thereby easing travel across the range. The highest mountain in the range is Mount Taibai at 3,767 meters (12,359 ft), which

184-541: Is one of the largest amphibians in the world, and is critically endangered ; it is locally pursued for food, and for use of its body parts in traditional Chinese medicine . An environmental education program is being undertaken to encourage sustainable management of wild populations in the Qin Mountains, and captive-breeding programs have also been set up. According to the Nuclear Information Project, China "keeps most of its nuclear warheads at

207-551: The Annamite Range . If the definition of a mountain range is stretched to include underwater mountains, then 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

230-583: The Eight Views of Ōmi . A strong local wind Hira-oroshi ( 比良颪 ) often blows from Hira Mountains to Lake Biwa especially in the late days of the March. The wind sometimes sinks boats on the lake and stops trains of the Kosei Line , a JR line passing along the foot of the mountains. In every 26 March, Tendai priests hold a memorial service for casualties of shipwreck accidents. The Hira Mountains are

253-618: 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 . Qinling The Qinling ( Chinese : 秦岭 ) or Qin Mountains , formerly known as

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276-593: The Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Yellow River systems, providing a natural boundary between North and South China and support a huge variety of plant and wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else on earth. To the north is the densely populated Wei River valley, an ancient center of Chinese civilization. To

299-848: The North American Cordillera , the Aleutian Range , on through Kamchatka Peninsula , Japan , Taiwan , the Philippines , Papua New Guinea , to New Zealand . The Andes 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

322-428: The understory . The region is home to a large number of rare plants, of which around 3,000 have been documented. Plant and tree species native to the region include ginkgo ( Ginkgo biloba —thought to be one of the oldest species of tree in the world), as well as Huashan or Armand pine ( Pinus armandii ), Huashan shen ( Physochlaina infundibularis ), Acer miaotaiense and Chinese fir . Timber harvesting reached

345-516: The Hira Mountains looks steeply over Lake Biwa, while the western side of the range forms a gentler valley in Kyoto. The three main peaks of the Hira Mountains are Mount Bunagatake , the highest with an elevation of 1,214.4 metres (3,984 ft); Hōraisan , at 1,174 metres (3,852 ft), and Mount Uchimi at 1,103 metres (3,619 ft). The spring snow of the Hira Mountains is one of

368-627: The air descends on the leeward side, it warms again (following the adiabatic lapse rate ) and 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

391-485: 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,

414-569: The entire wild giant panda population. The Qinling Mountains are also home to many other species of wildlife, including numerous birds , like the crested ibis , Temminck's tragopan , golden eagle , black throat and golden pheasants , as well as mammals like the Asiatic golden cat , Asiatic black bear , clouded leopard , golden takin , golden snub-nosed monkey , yellow-throated marten , and leopard . The Chinese giant salamander ( Andrias davidianus ), at 1.8 meters (5 ft 11 in),

437-813: The former was home to deciduous broadleaf forests, while the latter has milder winters with more rainfall, and was generally covered in warmer, temperate, evergreen broadleaf forests. Thus, the Qin Mountains are commonly used as the demarcation line between northern and southern China . The low-elevation forests of the Qin foothills are dominated by temperate deciduous trees, like oaks ( Quercus acutissima , Q. variabilis ), elm ( Ulmus spp.), common walnut ( Juglans regia ), maple ( Acer spp.), ash ( Fraxinus spp.) and Celtis spp. Evergreen species of these low-elevation forests include broadleaf chinquapins ( Castanopsis sclerophylla ), ring-cupped oaks ( Quercus glauca ), and conifers , like Pinus massoniana . At

460-450: The middle elevations, conifers, like Pinus armandii , are mixed with broadleaf birch ( Betula spp.), oaks ( Quercus spp.), and hornbeams ( Carpinus spp.); from about 2,600 to 3,000 meters (8,500 to 9,800 ft), these mid-elevation forests give way to a subalpine forest of firs ( Abies fargesii , A. chensiensis ), Cunninghamia , and birch ( Betula spp.), with rhododendrons ( Rhododendron fastigiatum ) abundant in

483-619: The ranges of the Himalayas , Karakoram , Hindu Kush , Alborz , Caucasus , and the Alps . The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in 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

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506-627: 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

529-527: The south is the Han River valley. To the west is the line of mountains along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau . To the east are the lower Funiu and Dabie Mountains, which rise out of the coastal plain. The northern side of the range is prone to hot weather, the rain shadow cast by the physical barrier of the mountains dictating that the land to the north has a semi-arid climate, and

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