Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: thedoc on 03/12/2016 21:53:01

Title: Is there a limit to the height of a mountain?
Post by: thedoc on 03/12/2016 21:53:01

Luke Pullar asked the Naked Scientists:
   
How tall can a mountain get? On first thought, it seems obvious that the larger a planet, the higher a mountain can rise, but then the gravitational pull of the planet would restrict the height (among doing other things). Is there a point where a mountain can only get so high relative to it's planet's size?
What do you think?

Title: Re: Is there a limit to the height of a mountain?
Post by: Bass on 06/12/2016 05:01:19

Olympus Mons on Mars is thought to be the largest volcanic mountain in the solar system- something like 22 km in height. Compare this to Mt Everest, which is not a volcano, at around 9 km. Mauna Kea, the tallest volcano on earth, is also around 9 km in height (from the ocean bottom)

Title: Re: Is there a limit to the height of a mountain?
Post by: Atomic-S on 08/12/2016 03:30:18

The operative phenomena that govern this question are the shear strength of the material of which the mountain is made, its density, the strength of the planet's gravity, and the available footprint for the mountain's base.  Observations returned from space have demonstrated that the height of surface irregularities as a fraction of average planetary radius is larger for smaller bodies, which is completely consistent with their weak gravities.