17
votes
How high can a mountain possibly get?
Found an article that used a simple analytical modelling to determine how high a mountain can be. Reference
Based on simple physics, tallest a mountain will be on Earth is ~10 km.
This is based on:
...
- 5,959
13
votes
How high can a mountain possibly get?
The glacial buzzsaw hypothesis (summary; sample paper) is that mountains can't get much higher than the elevation at which glaciers form cirques. The upper walls of the cirques are steep and erode ...
- 531
6
votes
Accepted
Is altitude of everything decreasing due to sea level rise?
Altitudes are referred to a geoid (an imaginary surface of equal gravity strength), that is chosen to fit the mean sea level. Therefore, if we were to constantly adjust the geoid to fit the rising sea ...
- 17.6k
5
votes
Accepted
How can isostatic compensation of the crust be reconciled with a relatively strong upper mantle?
Because it is not the strong portion that gets displaced. The mantle just below the crust bends, just like the crust above it, together they make up the lithosphere, It is not the thing being ...
- 6,878
5
votes
Accepted
How to define the force at the base of an oceanic crust
Your approach of adding all the forces together is correct. You have a mistake in in the solution of the $F_{oc}$ integral, though.
You forgot to integrate the terms $\rho_{w}gh_{w}$ and $-\rho_{oc}...
- 413
5
votes
Accepted
How to calculate hydrostatic equilibrium?
I am assuming you are asking for the case of sea level being 200m higher and in isostatic equilibrium. In that case we can make use of Airy's isostasy model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostasy#...
- 413
5
votes
Is Mount Everest currently becoming taller or shorter every year?
The question seems to assume that the increase or decrease in mountain elevation is consistent and uniform, which it isn't. The Indian and Tibetan tectonic plates are converging in a NNE-SSW direction ...
- 14.2k
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