My Science School

Traditional methods of farming in the mountains involve pastoral farming and growing crops that are native to the region. One of the most popular methods of farming in highlands is called terrace farming. In this method, the hillside is carved into a series of broad steps to grow crops. These steps prevent soil and water runoff and maintain fertility and irrigation in the farm.

These farms were worked in harmony with nature. However, traditional farming requires a lot of manpower and the yield is not enough to be sold commercially. As a result of this, modern farming practices are taking over traditional methods. Terrace farming has given way to direct farming on slopes, which leads to greater soil erosion.

The increased production of cash crops is wiping out native crops from many regions. Chemical pesticides are being used which kill many beneficial species along with the pests. The result of this is that plant diversity is decreasing and many species are becoming extinct. Long term sustainability is being sacrificed for short term gains.       

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Due to global warming glaciers are melting at an alarming rate all around the world. Glaciers are now losing 31 per cent more snow and ice per year than they did 15 years ago. This leads to greater ice melt runoff in the mountains. Many glacial lakes in the Himalayas are in danger of breaching their natural barriers and causing catastrophic floods, as we have already witnessed in Kedarnath in 2013 when a melting glacier and heavy rainfall led to thousands being washed away. Such events also lead to mass destruction of forest habitats.

Unfortunately there has also been an increase in civil wars in the past decades. When insurgents use mountains as a base for their operations, retaliation and crossfire may lead to heavy shelling and damage to the environment.

A United Nations report calculates that 67 per cent of Africa’s mountainous regions have been affected by violent human conflict. Additionally some highlands have become bases for narcotic production, which leads to armed conflicts and degradation of the environment.

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Mountain ranges all over the world are facing various threats due to logging, farming, global warming and excessive tourism.

To add to this, ill-conceived construction projects are also posing a severe threat to mountain habitats. About 25 per cent of the world’s mountainous regions are under threat from development projects planned for the next 30 years.

Such projects ultimately lead to loss of forest cover, loss of endemic flora and fauna, landslides and flooding. In India a large number of developmental projects in the Western Ghats are underway or in the process of being passed.

Instead of conserving and nurturing our precious natural resources, developmental projects such as the construction of hydro power plants, nuclear plant expansion, highway expansion, mining and industrial activities and railway projects destroy and sacrifice forests and pristine environments.

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Sherpas are the superheroes of the Himalayas! The very first Sherpa to reach the top of Mt. Everest was Tenzing Norgay who performed this extraordinary feat along with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.

Since then they have become invaluable as guides and porters to those aspiring to climb Mt. Everest. These gentle, small mountain dwellers are genetically adapted to withstand extreme cold and extreme deprivation of oxygen. This is because Sherpas are genetically predisposed to use oxygen more efficiently than lowlanders or people living in the plains. They combine with their extraordinary climbing skills and genetic advantage, a positive and cheerful mindset to face challenges.

This is what makes the Sherpa so special.

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The word ‘transhumance’ is used to describe the seasonal movement of livestock between summer and winter pastures. Herders usually have a fixed home in the valleys, where farming may be carried out as the soil is more fertile. Higher up farmland gives way to forests and then to alpine pastures. Beyond the snow line there is very little vegetation. Herdsmen usually take their cattle high up into the alpine zone in summer. Here cattle graze on green pastures and grow strong.

Once winter comes they move to the lower slopes where the weather is milder. Herdsmen often bring cattle into their houses and feed them grain that has been grown on terraces. The animals are kept warm and the heat from their bodies warms the homes of the herdsmen as well!

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The Andes Mountains were the seat of the ancient Incas. The Incan Empire was the largest empire in the Americas till 1532 AD. Between 1438 and 1532 the Incas had gained control over a large portion of western South America.

The civilization flourished till the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in 1532 AD, who wiped out the last true ruler of the Incas, Atahualpa.

The Incas were extraordinary people. Their main language was Quechua but they did not have a written script. Instead they recorded information by tying knots into coloured ropes called quipu. They accomplished great feats of engineering using unconventional methods.

They built magnificent cities such as Machu Picchu high in the mountains and constructed suspension bridges and roads that crossed steep mountain valleys.

Sadly, their unique civilization was destroyed by the Spanish who carried away their wealth and made the Incas their slaves.

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Mountain folk or people who live at altitudes of 300 m or more are generally a hardy lot. They have to adapt to the mountain environment, which is much more challenging than living in the plains or lowlands. To begin with the air is thinner in the mountains. The body needs to manufacture more red blood cells to make up for the lack of oxygen at high altitudes. Another drawback is that the soil is of poor quality on mountains. To top it all the weather is bitterly cold, and harsh.

To compensate for all this, mountain folk are usually tough and self-reliant, like the Highlanders of Scotland and the Quechuas of the Andes. Mountain folk like the Sherpas of Nepal are blessed with a modified genetic make-up that enables their bodies to use available oxygen more efficiently. Gurkhas, who originate from the mountainous region of Gorkha in Nepal, are among the fiercest soldiers in the world today. You could say that mountain folk are a cut above the rest!

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A seamount is an underwater mountain that rises from the ocean floor but does not reach the water’s surface. Most seamounts are volcanic in origin and are generally extinct. It is estimated that the Earth’s oceans contain more than 100,000 seamounts higher than 1,000 m.

During the course of their evolution and when they are in their eruptive phase, some seamounts may reach the sea surface due to the piling up of lava. However, wave action may erode the summit to form a flat surface. Such subsided, flat-topped seamounts are called ‘guyots’.

For a feature to be classified as a seamount, it must rise at least 1,000 m above the surrounding seafloor. Seamounts are found in every ocean basin on Earth. Because of their abundance seamounts are one of the most common marine eco-systems in the world.

In recent years their importance as biological hotspots has been recognized. Seamounts harbour an abundance of marine life from corals, sponges, sea anemones and fish to crustaceans such as crabs, barnacles, and lobsters.

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Mauna Kea is the highest point in the Hawaiian Islands and the highest mountain on Earth. It rises to 4,205 m above sea level but if measured from its base under the sea to its top, its actual height is 10,211 m. This makes it taller than Mt. Everest which is 8,848 m!

Mauna Kea is around 1 million years old. It is a dormant volcano that last erupted around 4,500 years ago. The name ‘Mauna Kea’ means ‘white mountain’ in native Hawaiian language, thus named because in winter it often has snow at the summit.

One of the reasons Mauna Kea is special is that it is an important site for astronomy. Its summit hosts the world’s largest astronomical observatory with telescopes operated from eleven countries! This is because conditions at the top of Mauna Kea are ideal for clear viewing of the skies. The atmosphere above the mountain is extremely dry and cloud-free. Another interesting feature of Mauna Kea is that it is the only volcano in the Hawaiian chain known to have been glaciated.

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The largest and most deadly eruption in recorded history was the 1815 explosion of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia. It ranked 7, which is considered ‘super-colossal’ on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI).

The blast was one of the most powerful ever documented in human history and killed more than 100,000 people directly and indirectly. It was heard more than 1,930 kilometres away on Sumatra Island. Large tsunamis with wave heights of 10 m or more are believed to have occurred as a result of this explosion.

The ash from the eruption dispersed around the world, obscuring the sun and increasing the reflectivity of Earth. This lowered global temperatures and led to what is called a volcanic winter. As a result of this, the year 1816 is known as the year without a summer. It triggered famines in Europe. These gloomy conditions are often cited as reasons for the inspiration of horror tales like ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley.

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Mauna Loa is not only the world’s largest active volcano; it is also one of the tallest mountains on Earth! It originates deep beneath the Pacific Ocean and rises to more than 9,170 m from base to peak. This is higher than Mt. Everest, which is only 8,848 m.

Mauna Loa is one of the five volcanoes that form the island of Hawaii. It is an active shield volcano and the largest subaerial volcano both in mass and volume on Earth. It is a gently sloping mountain that takes up almost half of the land area of the island of Hawaii. It was created by a large number of fluid lava flows. Its dome is 120 km long and 103 km wide.

 Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times since 1843 but has not seen any eruptions since 1984. However, since March 2021, a series of small earthquakes have been recorded under Mauna Loa, indicating that perhaps this dormant volcano is waking up.

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A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust through which lava, volcanic ash and gases escape. This lava starts out as magma which originates beneath the Earth’s surface. Magma is a thick-flowing, molten rock mixture that, being lighter than the surrounding rock, rises and collects in magma chambers.

If a magma chamber experiences great pressure it may cause fissures or cracks in the Earth’s surface. The magma then erupts through these fissures and reaches the surface as lava. Many volcanoes sit over magma chambers.

Eruptions also happen when tectonic plates move or collide against one another or when one plate slides under another. The magma is squeezed out between the plates and rises up to erupt as a volcano.

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Volcanoes are classified as extinct, dormant or active. An extinct volcano is one that has not had an eruption for at least 10,000 years and is not expected to erupt in the future. Kohala in Hawaii last erupted 120,000 years ago and is now an extinct volcano. Mt. Thielsen in Oregon, USA last erupted 250,000 years ago and is another extinct volcano.

A dormant volcano is an active volcano that is not erupting at present, but is expected to do so in the future. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a dormant volcano. It last erupted around 4,000 years ago.

An active volcano is a volcano that has had at least one eruption in the last 10,000 years. An active volcano may be erupting or dormant. Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii is an active volcano. It last erupted in December, 2020.

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The Earth is made of three parts - Crust, mantle and core. The crust is the outer layer of the earth. It is about 5-70 km thick. This is the part we can see and live on. The mantle is the second layer under the crust. It is about 2,890 km thick. The innermost layer is called the core. It is mostly made of iron.

Between the Earth’s crust and mantle is a substance called magma which is made of molten rock and gases. When pressure in the molten rocks builds up, it escapes through fissures (narrow cracks in the earth’s crust) in the form of a volcano. Volcanoes are mostly formed by the movement of tectonic plates.

There are about 1,500 potentially active volcanoes in the world today. Many of these are positioned along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped belt that extends around 40,000 km along South America, North America, the Bering Strait, Japan, Indonesia and New Zealand.

Volcanoes can be destructive but they are also of great use to us. Their explosive force brings minerals from deep within the earth to the surface. Geothermal energy is being harnessed from the internal heat of volcanoes. Volcanoes are therefore a productive force of nature.

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The Appalachian Mountains are found in the north-eastern region of North America. They were formed around 480 million years ago and are one of the oldest mountains in the world. They extend almost 3,200 km from the Canadian province of Newfoundland to Alabama in the United States. Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina is the highest peak in the Appalachians at 2,037 m. The Appalachian Mountains are divided into three sections - Northern, Central and Southern.

The origins of the word Appalachian can be traced back to the remains of a native American village that was discovered in Tallahassee, Florida in 1528, which was called ‘Apalachen’. Did you know that in the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed the name ‘Appalachia’ for the USA?

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