How Tall Can Mountains Be?

in #science6 years ago (edited)

Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in our Solar System, towers 21,000 meters above the surface of Mars,nearly two and a half times the height of Mount Everest.

bandicam 2018-09-13 17-30-04-288.jpg

On Earth, you would need a spacesuit to survive at that altitude but could
there even be a mountain that tall here on our home planet?
Based on the strength of Earth's gravity and the density and strength of rock, in principle you could make a single conical mountain that stretched
between New York and Chicago and soared over 45km!

bandicam 2018-09-13 17-38-37-232.jpg

That's twice the size of Olympus Mons and definitely dwarfs Everest.
However, there are a couple of reasons why we can't actually have that humongous of a mountain on Earth,For one, Earth's crust is made up of continental plates that essentially float in the semi-solid rock of the mantle below.

bandicam 2018-09-13 17-39-39-220.jpg

If you add more weight above the surface, they sink lower into the earth's hot interior,
and when they sink far enough, they soften and basically melt.
For our conical mountain, that gives a new height limit of just 15km.
As well, the powerful collision of two tectonic plates, which creates mountains in the first
place, also fractures and cracks the rock, weakening its structure and exposing it to erosion.
bandicam 2018-09-13 17-41-38-138.jpg
bandicam 2018-09-13 17-42-13-625.jpgbandicam 2018-09-13 17-42-41-772.jpg

Over millions of years, freeze-thaw cycles pry at these cracks, while winds claw at the
slopes and streams and glaciers carve deep valleys into the mountainside, all weakening
the mountain's support.This can end badly.For example, 3,764m tall Aoraki/Mount Cook in
New Zealand had its top fall off one night in 1991, trimming it down to a 3,754m mountain.

bandicam 2018-09-13 17-43-07-608.jpg
bandicam 2018-09-13 17-44-07-388.jpg

Given all the factors that conspire to limit the height of mountains,
sinking into the earth's mantle, fractures, and erosion.I wouldn't
bet on our tallest mountains getting too much taller than they
already are.Then again, Mount Everest is still growing, 50 years
from now, it could be 30 cm taller than it is today... or it could
be a good deal shorter. We'll just have to wait around to find out.
And, who knows? Maybe we'll be on Mars by then, anyway.

REFERENCES:

Scheuer, P. A. G. 1981. How High Can A Mountain Be? J. Astrophys. Astr. 2: 165--169.
http://www-old.ias.ac.in/jarch/jaa/2/165-169.pdf

Sort:  

Don't transcribe videos and present them as your own. Flagged for plagiarism. Source:

Steem Flag Rewards mention comment has been approved! Thank you for reporting this abuse, @mathowl.

  • plagiarism
    You are posting content that is not yours by copying it without sourcing or manipulating it to pass plagiarism tools. This post was submitted via our Discord Community channel. Check us out on the following link!
    SFR Discord

@buneki, I gave you a vote!
If you follow me, I will also follow you in return!
Enjoy some !popcorn courtesy of @nextgencrypto!

Nice post man, keep it up..

To get a vote from steemstem, cite the resources from where you get that knowledge and also source the images from where you have taken them...

thanks man i forgot to write them , now ı ll write

Congratulations @buneki! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 1 year!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!