cordilleraSeveral mountain ranges linked into one great system. The word is Spanish and goes back to cuerda, rope. It is used above all for the mountain systems of the Americas, the Andes among them.
elevationThe figure that tells how high a summit or town is. It is counted from sea level. A height in the air, such as an aircraft's, is called an altitude.
foothillsLow hills where a plain starts climbing to mountains. Another name for foothills is piedmont. They are a transition zone between the plains and the higher ground beside them.
hillRaised ground, not as tall or steep as a mountain. Hills are counted among the slope landforms. Some low mountain ranges, such as the Black Hills of the United States, are called hills.
mountainA landform that towers over the country around it. No definition of a mountain is agreed everywhere. About 24 percent of Earth's land is mountainous.
mountain passA way through a range, across a low place in a ridge. Passes have played a key part in trade, war and migration. A pass is often found a little way above the place where a river starts.
Show all 36 terms (30 more)
Mountains and their parts, continued
mountain rangeA long chain of neighboring mountains. The Andes, the longest range on land, run for more than 7,000 kilometers down South America. A longer range still, the mid-ocean ridge, lies under the sea.
prominenceHow far a summit rises above its link to higher land. It measures how independent a summit is. The low point that joins a peak to higher ground is called its key col.
ridgeA long, narrow stretch of high ground, steep-sided. The narrow top of a ridge is called its crest.
summitThe highest spot on a mountain, where climbing ends. Peak means the same thing. A large rock beside the main summit is not counted as a summit of its own.
tree lineWhere the forest gives out partway up a mountain. High mountains have one, and so do the lands near the poles. Trees right at the line are often stunted and bent by wind and cold, a growth form called krummholz, German for crooked wood.
valleyA long low area with higher land on either side. Rivers and streams cut most valleys, over a very long time. Glaciers carved others.
How mountains form 12
dome mountainA rounded mountain pushed up by magma from below. The magma hardens underground without ever erupting. Navajo Mountain in the United States formed this way.
fault-block mountainA mountain made as crust breaks and one side rises. The blocks move along faults. A block tilted along one fault has one steep side and one gentle side, as in the Basin and Range country of the American West.
fold mountainA mountain of rock layers crumpled by squeezing. Fold mountains rise where two plates collide and the crust between them is shortened and thickened. The Jura Mountains of Europe are an example. Geologists use the term less than they once did.
grabenA block of crust that has dropped between two faults. Graben is a German word for a ditch or trench. Death Valley in California lies in one.
horstA raised block of crust between two faults. The Vosges Mountains of France and the Black Forest of Germany are horsts, with the sunken Upper Rhine valley between them.
isostasyThe floating balance of the crust on the mantle. Mountains have deep roots of light rock that hold them up. French surveyors working beside the Andes found an early sign of it.
lavaMagma's new name once it reaches the surface. Lava can erupt from a volcano or from a crack in the crust, on land or under the sea. Cooled lava is volcanic rock.
magmaMelted rock deep in the Earth, before any eruption. Magma is not only liquid: crystals and gas bubbles are often mixed in. It collects in chambers beneath volcanoes.
subductionOne plate's plunge under another at a deep trench. Fluids released by the sinking plate set off volcanoes in the plate above, as along the Andes.
tectonic plateA drifting piece of the planet's broken outer layer. There are seven or eight major plates and many minor ones. Most of the great mountain ranges on Earth are the result of their movement.
upliftThe lifting of land by forces inside the Earth. A mountain-building event is called an orogeny. Uplift brings buried rock closer to the surface, where it is worn away.
volcanic mountainA mountain piled up by eruptions of molten rock. Mount Fuji in Japan is one. Mountains made by volcanoes usually stand on their own.
Mountain weather and life 12
air pressureThe press of the atmosphere on a place. It is lower on a mountain than at sea level. The air up there is thinner, with less oxygen to breathe.
alpine tundraTreeless high country, too cold and windy for trees. It lies between the tree line below and the snow line above, where snow and ice stay all summer.
altitudinal zonationThe stacking of climates and habitats up a mountain. Alexander von Humboldt was the first to propose it, after noticing that temperature drops as elevation rises.
avalancheSnow breaking loose and racing down a slope. A powder snow avalanche can exceed 300 kilometers an hour. Large avalanches can carry ice, rocks and trees along.
glacierA river of ice fed by the snows of many winters. Glaciers cover about 10 percent of Earth's land. Counted with the ice sheets, they hold about 69 percent of all fresh water.
landslideThe downhill slip of rock and soil off a steep slope. Gravity drives it. Heavy rain or an earthquake often sets one off.
lapse rateHow fast the air gets colder with height. Dry air that rises cools by 9.8 degrees Celsius for each kilometer. Once cloud starts to form in it, the air cools more slowly.
leewardDownwind: behind a barrier, out of the wind. Air sinking down the leeward side of a range is squeezed and warmed. The warm, dry winds it makes are called foehn winds.
orographic liftThe push of moving air up and over high ground. Orography is the study of the relief of mountains. Air lifted this way cools quickly as it gains height.
rain shadowA dry region behind mountains that catch the rain. The Himalayas keep the monsoon rains from the Tibetan Plateau behind them. Such regions are often deserts or dry shrubland.
snowpackSnow that piles up, packs down and melts by season. Melting snowpack is an important source of water for streams and rivers, and for drinking and farming in the communities down the slope.
windwardOn the side that faces into the wind. Sailors use the word as well as geographers. The windward side of a range is also called its rainward side.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-12. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the article on the term in the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Mountain, Hill, Summit, Ridge, Mountain range, Andes, Mid-ocean ridge, Cordillera, Foothills, Mountain pass, Valley, Elevation, Topographic prominence, Tree line, Fold mountains, Fault block, Volcano, Dome (geology), Plate tectonics, Tectonic uplift, Horst (geology), Graben, Magma, Lava, Subduction, Isostasy, Atmospheric pressure, Rain shadow, Windward and leeward, Orographic lift, Lapse rate, Alpine tundra, Altitudinal zonation, Glacier, Snowpack, Avalanche and Landslide. Mountains, mountain ranges, the Andes, the mid-ocean ridge, colliding plates, mountains made by volcanoes, the share of land that is mountainous and the thinner, colder air of high mountains were checked a second time against BBC Bitesize (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zyhf3j6, What are mountains?, and https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4g3qp3, Explore mountains); cordillera, fold, fault, horst, graben, uplift, orogeny, magma, lava, subduction, avalanche and landslide against the Glossary of Geologic Terms of the National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/gri-glossary-of-geologic-terms.htm); windward and leeward against their entries in the English Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/). The fact after each meaning is from the same pages. Licence: own work
How it works
This mountain vocabulary worksheet lists mountain, hill, summit, ridge, mountain range, foothills, mountain pass, valley, elevation and three more terms down the left, with their meanings in another order down the right. An answer key prints as the last page.
Read the full guide
How mountains form
Set opens on Mountains and their parts. The second set has fold mountain, fault-block mountain, volcanic mountain, dome mountain, tectonic plate, uplift, horst, graben, magma, lava, subduction and isostasy.
Mountain weather and life
The third set has air pressure, rain shadow, windward, leeward, orographic lift, lapse rate, alpine tundra, altitudinal zonation, glacier, snowpack, avalanche and landslide.
The names of ranges and peaks, from the Alps to Everest, are on the mountains word search.
Questions and answers
Why is it colder at the top of a mountain?
Air pressure falls with height, and air that rises expands and cools. In the lower atmosphere the temperature drops by about 6.5 degrees Celsius, on average, for every kilometer climbed.
Why does it rain more on one side of a mountain?
Moist air is pushed up the side that faces the wind. As it rises it cools, its moisture turns to cloud, and most of the rain or snow falls there. The air that comes down the far side is dry.
Is a volcano a mountain?
Many are: erupted rock can pile up into a volcanic mountain such as Mount Fuji. Strictly, though, a volcano is the vent that the molten rock comes out of, and most of Earth's volcanoes are under the sea.