Mountain
A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and 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, 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, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain.
Elevation, relief, steepness and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic and block.
All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
Nathan Meeker
Nathanial Cook Nathan Meeker was a 19th-century United States journalist, homesteader and Indian agent for the federal government. He is noted for his founding in 1870 of the Union Colony, in 1878, he was appointed U. S. Agent at the White River Indian Agency in western Colorado, the next year, he was killed by Ute warriors in what became known as the Meeker Massacre, during the White River War. His wife and adult daughter were taken captive for three weeks. The town of Meeker and Mount Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park are named for him, Nathan Cook Meeker was born in Euclid, Ohio on July 12,1817, to Enoch and Lurana Meeker. Meeker was a writer and submitted articles to area publications when he was a boy and he left home at 17 years-of-age for New Orleans, where he worked as a copy boy for the New Orleans Picayune. In the late 1830s, Meeker returned to Ohio, where he attended and graduated from Oberlin College, after college, Meeker worked as a school teacher in Cleveland and Philadelphia.
He saved up his money to move to New York, hoping to fulfill a desire to become a poet, in New York, he became a contributor to the Mirror, which was owned by N. P. Willis. Unable to support himself, he moved back to Euclid and was a traveling salesman, Meeker married Arvilla Delight Smith, a Congregationalist, on April 8,1844. He was baptized a Disciple of Christ to address her concern about his lack of faith, Smith was concerned that Meeker was younger than her. So, he stated that his year of birth was 1814 on their marriage certificate, the couple settled in the Trumbull Phalanx colony in Ohio. The colony was based upon the theories of Charles Fourier. Arvilla taught kindergarten and Nathan was a teacher, auditor, secretary, in 1845, their son Ralph Lovejoy was born. Two years George Columbus was born at the colony, the Trumbull Phalanx colony failed due to financial and health issues in the fall of 1847. In 1847, Meeker opened a store with his brothers in Cleveland, rozene was born in 1849 in Munson.
Meeker opened another store in Hiram in 1852 and he was asked to help found the Western Reserve Institute by the Disciples of Christ, but he was furious when his claim was held up because he sold whiskey. He only sold whiskey by prescription, but was so angry over the misunderstanding that he left the church, in 1854, Mary was born in Hiram, and three years Josephine was born there. Meeker lost his store and property during the Great Panic of 1857 and he moved to Dongola, where he opened a small store and grew fruit
Geographic Names Information System
It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail.
In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
Boulder County, Colorado
Boulder County is one of the 64 counties of the U. S. state of Colorado of the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 294,567, the most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is Boulder. Boulder County comprises the Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Denver-Aurora, Boulder County was one of the original 17 counties created by the Territory of Colorado on November 1,1861. The county was named for Boulder City and Boulder Creek, so named because of the abundance of boulders in the area. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 740 square miles. Longs Peak, the parks highest summit at 4,345 meters elevation, is located in Boulder County, the population density was 392 people per square mile. There were 119,900 housing units at a density of 162 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 88. 54% White,0. 88% Black or African American,0. 61% Native American,3. 06% Asian,0. 06% Pacific Islander,4. 67% from other races, and 2. 18% from two or more races. 10.
46% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,26. 30% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the family size was 3.03. In the county, the population was out with 22. 90% under the age of 18,13. 40% from 18 to 24,33. 60% from 25 to 44,22. 30% from 45 to 64. The median age was 33 years, for every 100 females there were 102.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.70 males, in 2014, the median income for a household in the county was $69,407, and the median income for a family was $94,938. Males had an income of $65,489 versus $48,140 for females. About 7. 0% of families and 14. 6% of the population were below the poverty line, Boulder County is divided into three districts each represented by a commissioner elected county-wide. The three commissioners comprise the county Board of Commissioners and represent the county as a whole, each commissioner must reside in their respective district and may be elected to a maximum of two four-year terms.
The Board of County Commissioners are full-time public servants and approve the budget for the entire County government. The Board oversees the management of 10 County departments and the operations of the county
Elevation
GIS or geographic information system is a computer system that allows for visualizing, manipulating and storage of data with associated attributes. GIS offers better understanding of patterns and relationships of the landscape at different scales, tools inside the GIS allow for manipulation of data for spatial analysis or cartography. A topographical map is the type of map used to depict elevation. In a Geographic Information System, digital models are commonly used to represent the surface of a place. Digital terrain models are another way to represent terrain in GIS, USGS is developing a 3D Elevation Program to keep up with growing needs for high quality topographic data. 3DEP is a collection of enhanced elevation data in the form of high quality LiDAR data over the conterminous United States, there are three bare earth DEM layers in 3DEP which are nationally seamless at the resolution of 1/3,1, and 2 arcseconds. This map is derived from GTOPO30 data that describes the elevation of Earths terrain at intervals of 30 arcseconds and it uses color and shading instead of contour lines to indicate elevation.
Hypsography is the study of the distribution of elevations on the surface of the Earth, the term originates from the Greek word ὕψος hypsos meaning height. Most often it is used only in reference to elevation of land, related to the term hypsometry, the measurement of these elevations of a planets solid surface are taken relative to mean datum, except for Earth which is taken relative to the sea level. In the troposphere, temperatures decrease with altitude and this lapse rate is approximately 6.5 °C/km. S
Topographic prominence
It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet.
Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff.
John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
Front Range Urban Corridor
The corridor derives its name from the Front Range, the mountain range that defines the west central boundary of the corridor. The Front Range Urban Corridor had an population of 4,757,713 on July 1,2015. The corridor comprises three primary subregions, the South Central Colorado Urban Area, the North Central Colorado Urban Area, the influence of the Corridor extends well beyond its defined boundaries. The Colorado Eastern Plains, Nebraska Panhandle and Albany County, among other areas, are culturally and economically tied to the Corridor, the definition included here is not used for the greater Front Range Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The table below includes the information, The urban region. The Core Based Statistical Area as designated by the United States Office of Management, the CBSA population as of July 1,2015, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. The county population as of July 1,2015, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau, the county population as of April 1,2010, as enumerated by the 2010 United States Census.
The percent county population change from April 1,2010, to July 1,2015. In the State of Wyoming, the Front Range Urban Corridor includes the Town of Albin, the Town of Burns, the City of Cheyenne, the Town of Pine Bluffs, and unincorporated Laramie County. S. S
Summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
Mountain range
A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. 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, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains.
If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport.
The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
United States
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power.
The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations.
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
Thirteener
In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener is a mountain that exceeds 13,000 feet above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar fourteeners, which exceed 14,000 feet. In most instances, thirteeners refers only to those peaks between 13,000 and 13,999 feet in elevation, the importance of thirteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America with over 600 of them. Despite the large number of peaks, over 20 peak baggers have reported climbing all of Colorados thirteeners, thirteeners are significant in states whose highpoints fall between 13,000 and 13,999 feet. Not all summits over 13,000 feet qualify as thirteeners, objective standards for independence include topographic prominence and isolation, or a combination. However thirteener lists do not always consistently use such objective rules, a rule commonly used by mountaineers in the contiguous United States is that a peak must have at least 300 feet of prominence to qualify. According to the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, it is standard in Alaska to use a 500 ft prominence rule rather than a 300-foot rule and these are the standards applied for the lists below.
Thirteeners are found in nine U. S. states, different sources list varying numbers of 13, 000+ ft peaks in the state, mainly because many of the peaks are unnamed and have no spot elevations given on the USGS topographical maps. The following list may miss a few peaks that should be included, Wyoming has 34 thirteeners with at least 300 ft of prominence,30 of the 34 are located in the rugged and remote Wind River Range. The highest of them are, Other notable Wyoming thirteeners include, Utah has 17 thirteeners with at least 300 ft of prominence, all of them are located in the remote Uinta Mountains near the Wyoming border. The highest of the thirteeners are, New Mexico has 3 thirteeners, Hawaii has two thirteeners, the great shield volcanoes which comprise the bulk of the Big Island of Hawaii. Nevada has only a single thirteener that meets the threshold for inclusion, the highest point in the state is Boundary Peak, which is a sub-peak of Californias Montgomery Peak with only 240 feet of prominence
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