Wouldn’t Everest still be the tallest? I mean, I have to assume it extends below sea level, too. It’s not just floating at sea level But where does a mountain start being a mountain and not just the ground? 🤔
It’s not floating at sea level, but it doesn’t even extend to sea level. The base of the mountain is well above sea level. If you live in a flat part of New Mexico, South Africa, or Mongolia you’re significantly higher above sea level than someone in England, Eastern Europe, or Mississippi. If you think of the mountain as extending below sea level you start seeing (tectonic) mountain ranges as like Aspen forests, where it’s just a single thing. Such as the Rocky mountain and the Himalaya mountain, while volcanic mountains such as the Cascades and Hawaii remain ranges.
But yeah differentiating where a new mountain starts vs just another peak of the same one isn’t necessarily easy
Got me thinking, Olympus Mons is the tallest peak in the solar system right? But there is no water on Mars.
Mount Everest is measured from sea level. If you measured from the bottom of the ocean it’s there a taller peak somewhere on earth?
That would be Mauna Kea in Hawai’i
Cool, thanks! 9,330 m
Still not close to Olympus Mons but the more you know…
Wouldn’t Everest still be the tallest? I mean, I have to assume it extends below sea level, too. It’s not just floating at sea level But where does a mountain start being a mountain and not just the ground? 🤔
It’s not floating at sea level, but it doesn’t even extend to sea level. The base of the mountain is well above sea level. If you live in a flat part of New Mexico, South Africa, or Mongolia you’re significantly higher above sea level than someone in England, Eastern Europe, or Mississippi. If you think of the mountain as extending below sea level you start seeing (tectonic) mountain ranges as like Aspen forests, where it’s just a single thing. Such as the Rocky mountain and the Himalaya mountain, while volcanic mountains such as the Cascades and Hawaii remain ranges.
But yeah differentiating where a new mountain starts vs just another peak of the same one isn’t necessarily easy
I was wondering about this too. Which peak is furthest from the center of the planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimborazo
Interesting! Thank you!