🏔️ Mountains of the World The big picture
Mountains cover about one quarter of Earth's land and are home to well over a billion people. They are where rivers are born (more than half of humanity depends on water that starts in the mountains), where weather is made, where volcanoes erupt, and where the last ice of the tropics and temperate zones is melting.
This site brings together the world's great peaks and ranges, its volcanoes and glaciers, with photos, a satellite map, and the science of how mountains form, how altitude changes climate and life, and how people have lived on, climbed and feared them. For live volcano alerts and glacier conditions, visit the Volcano Center and the Glacier Center.
The 14 highest ("eight-thousander") peaks
Height in metres. All 14 peaks above 8,000 m are in the Himalaya and Karakoram of Asia.
⚙️ How Mountains Form Colliding plates, rising magma and erosion
Earth's outer shell is broken into plates that move a few centimetres a year. Almost every mountain range is the result of plates colliding, pulling apart or sliding past each other, or of hot rock rising from below, and then being carved by ice, water and wind for millions of years.
Where do mountains sit?
A mountain's life cycle
🗻 The Highest Peaks
The world's tallest mountains are in Asia, but "highest" depends on how you measure: above sea level, from base to summit, or farthest from Earth's centre.
The Seven Summits
The highest peak on each continent. Climbing all seven is a famous mountaineering goal.
The fourteen 8,000-metre peaks
Heights are rounded; surveys differ by a few metres. Everest was re-measured jointly by China and Nepal in 2020 at 8,848.86 m.
Famous peaks
Three ways to be the "tallest"
⛰️ Great Mountain Ranges
From the mighty Himalaya to gentle, ancient ranges like the Appalachians and the Adirondacks, here are the ranges and notable mountains of every continent. Filter by continent.
🗺️ Explore the Map Peaks, ranges, volcanoes and glaciers
Tap any pin for a summary. Use the buttons to show or hide each kind of place, and the layer button (top right) to switch between satellite, topographic and dark maps. Every "Show on map" button on the page flies to its pin.
Square pins are peaks, circles are ranges, triangles are volcanoes and diamonds are glaciers. Imagery: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics.
🌋 Volcanoes
A volcano is a vent where molten rock (magma), ash and gas escape from Earth's interior. There are roughly 1,300 to 1,400 volcanoes on land that have erupted in the last 11,700 years, plus thousands more on the seafloor, and about 50 to 70 erupt in a typical year. Most lie along plate boundaries, especially the Pacific Ring of Fire, which holds about three quarters of the world's active volcanoes.
Types of volcano
How big was the eruption?
The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) rates eruptions from 0 to 8 by the volume of material thrown out.
Famous eruptions
Notable volcanoes
All volcanoes on this site
🧊 Glaciers & Ice
A glacier is a river of ice, formed where more snow falls in winter than melts in summer. Over years the snow is compressed into dense ice that slowly flows downhill under its own weight. About 10% of Earth's land is covered by glacial ice, most of it in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, and the ice in mountain glaciers supplies drinking water, irrigation and hydropower for hundreds of millions of people.
How are the glaciers on this site doing?
Condition of the 59 glaciers listed here, in our summary of scientific reports. For live details see the Glacier Center.
Types of glacier
Notable glaciers
Glaciers in the story of Earth
All glaciers on this site
🌡️ Altitude, Climate & Life Why it gets colder, thinner and wilder as you climb
Going up a mountain is like travelling toward the poles: for every 1,000 m of climb, the air cools by roughly 6.5°C, so snow can sit on the equator's peaks. The air also gets thinner. At the summit of Everest there is about a third of the air pressure, and so about a third of the oxygen available in each breath, as at sea level.
Temperature and air pressure by height
Standard-atmosphere estimates. Real conditions vary with season, latitude and weather.
Life zones on a mountain
Mountain weather & effects
Living high
Elevations are approximate. Many of the highest cities are in the Andes and on the Tibetan Plateau.
📜 People & Mountains Sacred peaks, first ascents and exploration
Mountains have been worshipped, feared, crossed by armies and traders, and finally climbed for sport. Many cultures treat them as the homes of gods.