Is Mount Chimborazo In Ecuador The Tallest Mountain In The World?

[Judi Lynn]

Is Mount Chimborazo In Ecuador The Tallest Mountain In The World?
20 May 2016, 5:44 am EDT By Alyssa Navarro Tech Times



Mount Chimborazo

Has Mount Everest been dethroned? Is Ecuador's Mount Chimborazo actually the tallest mountain in the world?

Like any good ole scientific dispute, the issue is debatable, but there are surefire methods to arrive at the right answer.

According to a report by the New York Times, Mount Chimborazo — an inactive volcano located in the Andes — is the highest peak in the world by only one measure.

On the other hand, if you calculate mountains based on traditional metrics or from above sea level, the highest peak in the world will still be Mount Everest.

Confused yet? Here are the facts: the summit of Mount Chimborazo rises about 20,500 feet (3.8 miles) above sea level. It is indeed nearly 10,000 feet short of Mount Everest's 29,029 feet (5.5 miles).

However, it is a different story when you look at it in another method. If you measure mountains from the center of our planet, the apex of Mount Chimborazo rises the farthest at about 21 million feet or 3,977 miles. Mount Everest won't even be in the top 20 farthest peaks.

- See more at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/159519/20160520/is-mount-chimborazo-in-ecuador-the-tallest-mountain-in-the-world.htm#sthash.sKlpPS2O.dpuf

[center]





[/center]

[pokerfan]

1. Mauna Kea = world's tallest

Everest = world's highest above sea level.
Chimborazo = world's highest above Earth's center

http://geology.com/records/highest-mountain-in-the-world.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

2. Wow! Even more interesting. Had no idea. Thank you for adding Mauna Kea. Intriguing. n/t

[pokerfan]

3. Then there's "topographic prominence"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topographic_prominence

(I used to climb mountains and I still find them fascinating.)

[Judi Lynn]

12. A whole realm of information I've never encountered. Wow. Thanks for the link. n/t

[shadowmayor]

4. Maybe not

Mount Lam Lam on Guam right next to the Trench seems a candidate for the highest from nearest low spot or bottom?

[pokerfan]

5. Only because it's next to the trench...

which can't honestly be argued to be part of the mountain per se in term of "tallness." In terms of elevation rise from the nearest depression, sure. And one can make a prominence argument that I won't deny.

But Mauna Kea, on the other hand, is all mountain from the sea floor. One continuous mountain "only" a million years old. Amazing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. The problem with Mauna Kea is defining what is 'that mountain'

That article is reduced to measuring from the woolly 'nearby' ocean floor. At what distance does the ocean floor stop being 'nearby'? They can't say. The Everest and Chimborazo measurements are at least precisely defined.

[pokerfan]

8. It seems to me

that for a volcano such as the Hawaii chain, it's fairly straightforward. The mountain begins at the point it rises from the ocean floor:

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. What about the highest point on a continent?

That rises from the ocean floor too - it's just further from that floor.

[pokerfan]

10. Wait, now you're talking highest point

When geologists say that Mauna Kea is the talles mountain they mean something different than highest.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. 'Tallest' is not precisely defined

and I wonder if it's geologists who use it.

What I'm saying is that a continent (even Asia, with Mount Everest on it) still goes down to the ocean floor, as deep as the ocean floor that surrounds Mauna Kea.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. Mt Chimborazo is a beautiful mountain.

I posed in front of it 20 years ago. I'll see if I can dig up the picture.