Mountains have always struck the imagination of man and attracted to them with their proud grandeur and bewitching beauty. No one can remain indifferent at the sight of mountain peaks covered with snow caps and wrapped in blankets of clouds. Anyone who has seen mountains, even if not very high, will remember them for a lifetime. Can anything compare to this magnificence? Probably only even higher mountains, with even steeper slopes and snow-white glaciers sliding down them, with sharp peaks of peaks that stretch upwards towards the bright sun and hide in the blue abyss of the sky.
The greatness of nature and its creations makes a person think about many things. And not only about our being and life problems, but also about what surrounds us. After all, we know so little about the world around us! And even what seems to us a long time ago is not so unambiguous. For example, when asked what is the highest mountain on Earth, many will answer without hesitation that it is Everest. From the school bench, we even know its height - 8848 meters. We also know its location - the Himalayas.
Is it really so?
The fact is that the values of the height of the mountain depend on the way it is measured. If we consider the height above the level of the World Ocean, then, of course, the highest mountain on Earth is Chomolungma, which is also called Everest. Many argue that this peak continues to grow and its height has already reached 8852 meters. There is another opinion: Chomolungma is decreasing in size, it seems to sink into the bowels of the earth, so it has become lower - 8841 meters. But be that as it may, Everest is considered the highest above-ground peak of our planet.
But not everything is so simple. After all, there are mountains not only on land, but also under water. And if you measure the height from the foot to the top, it turns out that the highest mountain on Earth has a “growth” of about 10,000 meters. This giant is the symbol of the Hawaiian Islands - the volcano Mauna Kea.
With the first method of counting, this mountain would not even be able to get into the top ten most significant peaks in the world. And with the second method, the lower part of the mountain, hidden in the waters of the Pacific Ocean to a depth of almost 6000 meters, is added to 4205 meters above sea level, as a result, the full height is obtained, which, according to various sources, ranges from 9750 to 10205 meters. But still it is much more than Everest. After all these calculations, the honorary title"The highest mountain on Earth" should be given to Mauna Kea.
Known Stranger
The name of the volcano translates as "White Mountain". Its peak is hidden under an ice cap that formed a very long time ago. The snow cover of the mountain is constantly replenished with newly fallen snow, sometimes many meters thick. Mauna Kea belongs to the centers of modern glaciation, as well as Elbrus, the highest mountain in the Caucasus.
Mauna Kea was born on the ocean floor at that distant time, when the entire Hawaiian archipelago was formed as a result of numerous volcanic eruptions. Today, the volcano is considered extinct, but its awakening is only a matter of time, since the process of mountain building in this section of the Pacific Ocean floor continues to the present, and the highest mountain on Earth may still grow.
