What is a hill? And how is it different from a normal mountain? In our article, we will try to answer this difficult geographical question.
Sopki - what is it?
The relief of our planet is beautiful in its diversity. Canyons, dunes, kars, ravines, hollows, fjords, drumlins - this is not a complete list of its forms. What is a sop? And what does it have to do with the mountain? Let's figure it out.
The term, most likely, comes from the Old Slavonic "sop" - an earthen embankment (the Russian verb "pour" came from the same word). Sopka is the general name of low mountains and hills, which are characterized by two key features:
- Gentle, smoothly contoured slopes.
- Insignificant altitude (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 "sopka" is most common in the following regions:
- Russian Far East;
- Transbaikalia;
- Kola Peninsula;
- Kuril Islands;
- Crimea;
- Caucasus.
Sopka and mountain: what is the difference?
So we are alreadyfigured out a little 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's turn to etymology.
These words have Old Slavonic origin. Since ancient times, mountains have denoted positive landforms on our lands, in other words, hills. It would not be superfluous to mention that even in the ancient Indian language there was a word giris with a similar meaning. What is a sop? According to the dictionary of Vladimir Dahl, this word comes from the Old Slavonic "sop". Our ancestors called all kinds of mounds or ramparts.
And now let's get back to the modern science of geography, where a mountain is a very specific geomorphological concept, denoting a positive form of relief with clearly defined slopes, top and 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 erupt mud streams).
Klyuchevskaya Sopka
What is a hill, we have already found out. Now we invite you to get acquainted with the most famous hills in 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 Klyuchevskaya Sopka is 4750 meters. The volcano is 7,000 years old.
The biggestof the latest eruptions of Klyuchevskaya Sopka began in the fall of 2009 and continued until December 2010! The next time the volcano woke up in August 2013. At the culminating phase of the eruption, the ash column emanating from the vent of the volcano reached a height of 12 km.
Avachinskaya Sopka
This is another active volcano in Kamchatka, located just 20 km from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. He is, however, less active. The volcano last erupted in 1991.
The absolute height of Avachinsky Sopka is 2741 meters. This volcano was first described in detail by Stepan Krasheninnikov back in the 30s of the 18th century. Today, Avachinskaya Sopka is one of the most visited volcanoes of the peninsula, due to its territorial proximity to a large city and the capital of the Kamchatka Territory. There is a hiking trail to the top of the volcano. In summer, you can climb it without special equipment.
Sop 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.
Today, downhill and cross-country championships are held on the slopes of the hill. At the top of the Refrigerator, the remains of the Muravyov-Amursky Fort, built at the end of the 19th century, have also been preserved. There are also several abandoned Soviet guns here.
