mountains

There is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity has been used as criteria for defining a mountain.[|[1]] In the [|Oxford English Dictionary] a mountain is defined as "a natural elevation of the earth surface rising more or less abruptly from the surrounding level and attaining an altitude which, relatively to the adjacent elevation, is impressive or notable."[|[1]] Whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on usage among the local people. The highest point in [|San Francisco], [|California], is called [|Mount Davidson], notwithstanding its height of 300 m (980 ft), which makes it ten feet short of the minimum for a mountain in American appellation. Similarly, [|Mount Scott] outside [|Lawton, Oklahoma] is only 251 m (823 ft) from its base to its highest point.

==Given enough time, millions of years generally, all mountains crumble. High jagged peaks become low rounded hills. Finally, mountains wear away to become soil on plains, sand on beaches, or sediments in oceans. What makes mountains crumble? Rain, wind, and ice wear away mountains. Water gets into the cracks in rocks and pushes the cracks wider as it expands with both heat and cold. Water also dissolves some minerals, washing them out of the rocks. Eventually, the rocks crack and split off. Some crash down the mountain as boulders, others move only a tiny bit as clay particles. ==

[[image:http://img.wallpaperstock.net:81/blue-mountains-lake-wallpapers_8634_1600x1200.jpg width="264" height="222"]]blue mountain lake
A glacier forms in a location where the accumulation of snow and sleet exceeds the amount of snow that melts. Over many years, often decades or centuries, a glacier will eventually form as the snow compacts and turns to ice. A glacier is distinct from [|sea ice] and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water. which are simialar to mountains.