What is a hill? And how does it differ from an ordinary mountain? In our article, we will try to answer this difficult geographical question.
Hills - what is it?
The relief of our planet is beautiful in its diversity. Canyons, dunes, punches, ravines, hollows, fjords, drumlins - this is not a complete list of its forms. What is a hill? And what does it have in common with the mountain? Let's get it right.
The term most likely comes from the Old Slavonic “sop” - an earthen mound (the Russian verb “pour” came from the same word). A hill refers to the general name of low mountains and hills, which are characterized by two key features:
- Flat, smoothly defined slopes.
- Low absolute height (usually up to 1000 meters).
It is interesting to note that in archeology this word has its own meaning - this is one of the types of burial grounds.
The term “hill” is most common in the following regions:
- Far East of Russia ;
- Transbaikalia;
- Kola Peninsula;
- Kurile Islands;
- Crimea;
- Caucasus.
Sopka and the mountain: what are the differences?
So, we already figured out a bit what a hill is. In geography, by the way, there is no clear and unambiguous definition of this term. Moreover, in many countries of the world no one knows such a word! What is the difference between a hill and an ordinary mountain? Let us turn to etymology.
These words have ancient Slavic origin. From ancient times, mountains have designated positive landforms on our lands, in other words, elevations. It is not superfluous to mention that even in the ancient Indian language the word giris existed with a similar meaning. What is a hill? According to the dictionary of Vladimir Dahl, this word comes from the Old Slavonic "sop." Our ancestors called all kinds of embankments or ramparts.
And now back to the modern science of geography, where a mountain is a very specific geomorphological concept, denoting a positive landform with distinct slopes, a peak and a foot. But the hill is a more vague and non-specific concept. So, in Transbaikalia these are ordinary low mounds, in Kamchatka - volcanoes, and in the Crimea and the Caucasus - mud volcanoes (specific natural formations that spew mud streams).
Klyuchevskaya hill
What is a hill, we have already figured out. Now we invite you to get acquainted with the most famous hills of Russia.
Klyuchevskaya Sopka is an active volcano. Moreover, the most active in all of Eurasia today. It is located in the central part of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The absolute height of the Klyuchevskaya hill is 4750 meters. The volcano is 7,000 years old.
The largest of the last eruptions of the Klyuchevskaya hill began in the fall of 2009 and lasted until December 2010! The next time the volcano woke up in August 2013. In the culmination phase of the eruption, the ash column emanating from the volcanic vent reached a height of 12 km.
Avacha hill
This is another active volcano of Kamchatka, located just 20 km from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. He is, however, less active. The last time the volcano woke up in 1991.
The absolute height of the Avacha hill is 2741 meters. For the first time, this volcano was described in detail by Stepan Krasheninnikov as early as the 30s of the 18th century. Today Avachinsky Sopka is one of the most visited volcanoes on the peninsula, due to its territorial proximity to a large city and the capital of the Kamchatka Territory. A hiking trail is laid to the top of the volcano. In summer, you can climb it without special equipment.
Sopka Refrigerator
Within the city of Vladivostok, there are about 20 hills of various sizes. The largest and highest of them is the Refrigerator (258 meters above sea level). It got its unusual name thanks to the old military refrigerated warehouses located at the foot of the warehouse.
Today, downhill and cross-country championships are held on the hills of the hill. At the top of the refrigerator, the remains of the Muravyov-Amursky fort, built at the end of the 19th century, are also preserved. Here are several abandoned Soviet guns.