The highest mountain in Antarctica, Mount Vinson rises 4,892 meters (16,050 feet) above sea level. Mount Vinson is one of the most recently discovered and explored of the Seven Summits, the highest peaks of the world's seven continents.
There are no trees or shrubs, and only two species of flowering plants are found: Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis). There are around 100 species of mosses, 25 species of liverworts, 300 to 400 species of lichens and 20-odd species of macro-fungi.
How Are Mountains Formed? The world's tallest mountain ranges form when pieces of Earth's crust—called plates—smash against each other in a process called plate tectonics, and buckle up like the hood of a car in a head-on collision.
People from all over the world undertake research in Antarctica, but Antarctica is not owned by any one nation. Antarctica is governed internationally through the Antarctic Treaty system. The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by 12 countries who had scientists in and around Antarctica at the time.
At the surface at the South Pole, there is just snow and ice, there are no other natural significant features, no mountains sticking through the ice (there are hills and mountains beneath the ice, but they aren't tall enough to reach through) no rock, no solid ground, just a vast endless plateau of more snow and more
Antarctica is a desert. It does not rain or snow a lot there. When it snows, the snow does not melt and builds up over many years to make large, thick sheets of ice, called ice sheets. Antarctica is made up of lots of ice in the form of glaciers, ice shelves and icebergs.
The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica, and its area is usually defined as extending from the edge of the continent (and its ice shelves) to the position of the 'polar front' separating it from the surrounding Pacific, Indian and South Atlantic Oceans.
No-one lives in Antarctica indefinitely in the way that they do in the rest of the world. It has no commercial industries, no towns or cities, no permanent residents. The only "settlements" with longer term residents (who stay for some months or a year, maybe two) are scientific bases.
Antarctic Mountains Put in "Deep Freeze"Then, about 34 million years ago, the Antarctic ice sheet began forming. "The whole [mountain range] was encased in ice and literally preserved in the deep freeze," Ferraccioli said. "Otherwise they would have been eroded, and we wouldn't have seen much at all."
There are few places (if any) more beautiful than the world's southernmost continent. Although 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice, the landscape still manages to be stunningly diverse—surreal blue glaciers, active volcanoes, the rough waterways of the Drake Passage, and 360-degree views of untouched snow.
More than 50 Antarctic stations were established for the IGY by just 12 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Antarctica is the world's highest, driest, windiest and coldest continent. Its record low temperature is -94°C. But it doesn't actually snow much – the Antarctic is so dry it's classed as a polar desert. And it's in darkness part of the year.
Due to its location, the frigid continent of Antarctica is covered with nothing but ice, making it seem like the continent is nothing but boring flat land. NASA virtually de-iced Antarctica to see what the underlying bedrock looks like, and it's pretty amazing.
The average annual temperature is around -50°C. The precipitation in Antarctica is mainly snow. In coastal regions about 200 mm can fall annually. In mountainous regions and on the East Antarctica plateau the amount is less than 50 mm annually.
Temperatures on the continent range on average from 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) on the Antarctic coast, to minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 60 degrees Celsius) at higher elevations of the interior, the meteorological organization said.
Both the Arctic (North Pole) and the Antarctic (South Pole) are cold because they don't get any direct sunlight. The Sun is always low on the horizon, even in the middle of summer. In winter, the Sun is so far below the horizon that it doesn't come up at all for months at a time.
One thing is for certain: Only the lucky few will personally see all of these seven beautiful mountain ranges in one lifetime.
- Canadian Rockies.
- Swiss Alps.
- Andes of Latin America.
- Sierra Nevada In California.
- Himalayas of Nepal.
- Italian Dolomites.
- Southern New Zealand Alps.
The world's 4 longest mountain ranges are:
- 4) Transantarctic Mountains (Length: 2,200 miles)
- 3) Rocky Mountains (Length: 3,000 miles)
- 2) Southern Great Escarpment (Length: 3,100 miles)
- 1) Andean Mountains (Length: 4,350 miles)
The recognised threshold for when a hill becomes a mountain is 609.6m (2,000ft) so the peak is 2mm above the required height.
| Vinson Massif |
|---|
| Coordinates | 78°31′31.74″S 85°37′1.73″WCoordinates: 78°31′31.74″S 85°37′1.73″W |
| Geography |
| Vinson Massif Antarctica |
| Parent range | Sentinel Range |
Answer and Explanation:The Rocky Mountains and Andes Mountains are not connected to one another.
