1.
Summit
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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, peak, 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 also 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
2.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
3.
Stratovolcano
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A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma then rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome. In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
4.
Volcano
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A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
5.
Taupo Volcanic Zone
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The Taupo Volcanic Zone is a highly active volcanic V-shaped area in the North Island of New Zealand that is spreading east–west at the rate of about 8 mm per year. It is named after Lake Taupo, the caldera of the largest volcano in the zone. There are numerous volcanic vents and geothermal fields in the zone, with Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe, the zones largest eruption since the arrival of Europeans was that of Mount Tarawera in 1886, which killed over 100 people. Early Maori would also have been affected by the much larger Kaharoa eruption from Tarawera around 1300 AD, the last major eruption from Lake Taupo, the Hatepe eruption, occurred in 181 AD. It is believed to have first emptied the lake then followed that feat with a flow that covered about 20,000 square kilometres of land with volcanic ash. A total of 120 km3 of material is believed to have been ejected, the date of this activity is known since the ash expulsion was sufficiently large to turn the sky red over Rome and China. Taupo erupted an estimated 1,170 km3 of material in its Oruanui eruption 26,500 years ago and this was Earths most recent eruption reaching VEI-8, the highest level on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The Rotorua caldera has been dormant longer, with its main eruption occurring about 240,000 years ago, the Taupo Volcanic Zone is approximately 350 kilometres long by 50 kilometres wide. Mount Ruapehu marks its end, while the submarine Whakatane volcano is considered its northeastern limit. It forms a portion of the active Lau-Havre-Taupo back-arc basin. Although the back-arc basin continues to propagate to the southwest, with the South Wanganui Basin forming an initial back-arc basin, South of Kaikoura the plate boundary changes to a transform boundary with oblique continental collision uplifting the Southern Alps in the South Island. A subduction zone reappears southwest of Fiordland, at the corner of the South Island. Solander Island is an extinct volcano associated with subduction zone. Recent scientific work indicates that the Earths crust below the Taupo Volcanic Zone may be as little as 16 kilometres thick, a film of magma 50 kilometres wide and 160 kilometres long lies 10 kilometres under the surface. The geological record indicates some of the volcanoes in the area erupt infrequently but have large, violent. There is also some possible rifting in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, see also List of volcanoes in New Zealand#Taupo Volcanic Zone. The following Volcanic Centers belong to the Taupo Volcanic Zone, Rotorua, Okataina, Maroa, Taupo, Tongariro and Mangakino. The Okareka Embayment and the Tarawera Volcanic Complex are inside the Haroharo Caldera which in turn is inside the Okataina Ring Structure, from Newhall, the Waikato River course follows roughly the northern Maroa caldera rim on one side
6.
Types of volcanic eruptions
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Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content
7.
Botany
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Botany, also called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field, the term botany comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning pasture, grass, or fodder, βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν, to feed or to graze. Nowadays, botanists study approximately 410,000 species of plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance and they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden and these gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, in the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science, dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botany originated as herbalism, the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties, many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago. This early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, the early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings. His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to science until the Middle Ages. De Materia Medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years, important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyyas Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarīs the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassals The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner and these gardens continued the practical value of earlier physic gardens, often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject, lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe, the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, throughout this period, botany remained firmly subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three German fathers of botany, along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock, Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification, physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner and herbalist John Gerard published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants, naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was considered the father of natural history, which included the study of plants
8.
Scrambling
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Scrambling is a walk up steep terrain involving the use of ones hands. It is a term that lies somewhere between hiking, hillwalking, mountaineering, and easy rock climbing. Alpine scrambling is a term applied to scrambling in high mountains like the Alps and the Rockies of North America, the Mountaineers climbing organization defines alpine scrambling as follows, Alpine Scrambles are off-trail trips, often on snow or rock, with a non-technical summit as a destination. A non-technical summit is one that is reached without the need for certain types of climbing equipment, however, this can mean negotiating lower angle rock, traveling through talus and scree, crossing streams, fighting ones way through dense brush, and walking on snow-covered slopes. Although ropes may be sensible on harder scrambles, sustained use of rope and belay counts as climbing, typically, for this reason mountain walkers are advised to carry a rope on harder scrambles. Scramblers are also advised to know their limits and to turn back before they get into difficulties, some mountain tops may be reached by walking or scrambling up their least-steep side. The essence of a modern via ferrata is a cable which runs along the route and is periodically fixed to the rock. Using a via ferrata kit, climbers can secure themselves to the cable, the cable can also be used as aid to climbing, and additional climbing aids, such as iron rungs, pegs, carved steps and even ladders and bridges are often provided. Thus via ferratas allow otherwise dangerous routes to be undertaken without the associated with unprotected scrambling and climbing or the need for climbing equipment such as ropes. Many of theses routes include a bad step, where the scrambling suddenly becomes more serious. The bad step on Crib Goch for example, involves only 20 feet or so of climbing, the rock face here is well polished by countless boots, but there are many holds which offer firm support. By contrast, the traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye demands use of a rope at one point at least, the ridge routes of Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross are easier to traverse but are extremely exposed. Descent from such ridges is very limited, so once committed, an Teallach to the north offers scrambling, as does Stac Pollaidh further north in Sutherland, which includes a bad step. One resource for scramblers in Britain are the guides by W A Poucher, though these are now dated, a guide to 156 scrambling routes in the Canadian Rockies can be found in Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies by Alan Kane. Backpacker magazine has featured the book as an expedition guide. The Canadian Alpine Journal referred to it as a scree gospel, mount Jefferson is in Coos County, New Hampshire, and is the third highest mountain in the state. Mount Jefferson has a direct ascent along the Caps Ridge Trail, whose base and this route, gaining only 2,700 feet vertically to the summit, makes for the easiest ascent of any Presidential mountain. However, climbing over the caps involves some exposed scrambling and can be steep, many easy scrambles become serious climbs in bad weather
9.
Mount Ruapehu
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Mount Ruapehu, or just Ruapehu, is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. It is 23 kilometres northeast of Ohakune and 23 km southwest of the shore of Lake Taupo. The North Islands major skifields and only glaciers are on its slopes, Ruapehu, the largest active volcano in New Zealand, is the highest point on the North Island and has three major peaks, Tahurangi, Te Heuheu and Paretetaitonga. The deep, active crater is between the peaks and fills with Crater Lake between major eruptions, Ruapehu is largely composed of andesite and began erupting at least 250,000 years ago. In recorded history, major eruptions have been about 50 years apart, in 1895,1945, minor eruptions are frequent, with at least 60 since 1945. Some of the eruptions in the 1970s generated small ash falls. Between major eruptions, warm acidic Crater Lake forms, fed by melting snow, major eruptions may completely expel the lake water. In 2000, the ERLAWS system was installed on the mountain to detect such a collapse,1945 eruption and aftermath The 1945 eruption emptied Crater Lake and dammed the outlet with tephra. The crater slowly refilled with water, until on 24 December 1953 the tephra dam collapsed causing a lahar in the Whangaehu River and it was already known that the river had partially undermined one of the bridge piers and the lahar finished the job, causing the bridge to collapse. Although warned of the bridge, the train driver was unable to stop the train in time. 1995-96 eruptions Spectacular eruptions occurred during 1995 and 1996, Ruapehu had been showing signs of increased activity since late November 1994, with elevated Crater Lake temperatures and a series of eruptions that increased in intensity over about nine months. Several lahars were observed, both in the Whangaehu River and other areas of the mountain, between 18 September and 25 September 1995, indicating Crater Lake was being emptied by the eruptions. The Department of Conservation immediately issued warnings and advised people to keep off the mountain. The eruption cloud disrupted air travel, occasionally closing airports and the central North Island airspace, black sand-like ash fell on surrounding farmland and stock had to be moved. The ash also entered streams and was washed into the pen stocks, episodic eruptions continued until the end of November 1995. A web camera, dubbed the worlds first Volcano Cam, was set up, since then Ruapehu has been monitored by at least one and sometimes several volcano cams. Another, smaller, eruption phase began on the morning of 17 June 1996, despite a series of small eruptions that spread thin layers of ash across both Whakapapa and Turoa ski areas, the ski fields opened for the 1996 season. Turoa closed on 29 September – earlier than usual, while Whakapapa stayed open until Labour Weekend, after the 1996 eruption it was recognised that a catastrophic lahar could again occur when Crater Lake bursts the volcanic ash dam blocking the lake outlet
10.
Fumarole
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A fumarole is an opening in a planets crust, often in areas surrounding volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen sulfide. The steam forms when superheated water vaporizes as its pressure drops when it emerges from the ground, the name solfatara, from the Italian solfo, sulfur, is given to fumaroles that emit sulfurous gases. Fumaroles may occur along tiny cracks or long fissures, in clusters or fields. A fumarole field is an area of springs and gas vents where magma or hot igneous rocks at shallow depth release gases or interact with groundwater. From the perspective of groundwater, a fumarole could be described as a hot spring that boils off all its water before the water reaches the surface. Fumaroles may persist for decades or centuries if located above a persistent heat source, the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, for example, was formed during the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska. Initially, thousands of fumaroles occurred in the ash from the eruption. An estimated four thousand fumaroles exist within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park in the United States, in April 2006 fumarole emissions killed three ski-patrol workers east of Chair 3 at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in California. The workers were overpowered by toxic fumes that had accumulated in a crevasse they had fallen into, another example is an array of fumaroles in the Valley of Desolation in Morne Trois Pitons National Park in Dominica. Boiling Lake Mazuku Mofetta Mudpot Mud volcano USGS Photo Glossary, Fumarole Sulfur Mining on Gunung Welirang Volcano Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Fumarole
11.
Volcanic crater
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A volcanic crater is a roughly circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a bowl-shaped feature within which occurs a vent or vents, a volcanic crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth. During certain types of eruptions, a volcanos magma chamber may empty enough for an area above it to subside. In most volcanoes, the crater is situated at the top of a formed from the erupted volcanic deposits such as lava flows. Volcanoes that terminate in such a summit crater are usually of a conical form, other volcanic craters may be found on the flanks of volcanoes, and these are commonly referred to as flank craters. Some volcanic craters may fill either fully or partially with rain and/or melted snow, a crater may be breached during an eruption, either by explosions or by lava, or through later erosion. Breached craters have a lower rim on one side. Some volcanoes, such as maars, consist of a crater alone and these volcanic explosion craters are formed when magma rises through water-saturated rocks and causes a phreatic eruption. Volcanic craters from phreatic eruptions often occur on plains away from other obvious volcanoes
