page_title: Mountain
section_title: Mountains and humans
hierarchical_section_title: Mountain / Mountains and humans
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Потоси. Рисунок из Хроники Перу, 1553 Español: Potosi. El imagen de la Cronica del Peru, 1553
context_page_description: A mountain is a large landform that rises above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally considered to be steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism. These forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, and glaciers. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges.
  High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, such as mountain climbing and skiing.
  The highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m.
context_section_description: The highest known permanently tolerable altitude is at 5,950 metres (19,520 ft). At very high altitudes, the decreasing atmospheric pressure means that less oxygen is available for breathing, and there is less protection against solar radiation (UV). Above 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) elevation, there is not enough oxygen to support human life. This is known as the "death zone". The summits of Mount Everest and K2 are in the death zone.
caption: The silver-rich Cerro Rico in Potosí, Bolivia, was in colonial times an immense source of wealth for the Spanish administration.
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