What is prominence and isolation in topography and how is it used?
In: Geology
Prominence is measured by how many feet/meters from the ‘saddle’ of the mountain closest with the most elevation. Isolation is how far it is away from the next highest mountain. A good example is mt Whitney in CA and mt elbert in co. Whitney is the ‘parent’ with the most elevation in the states, and mt elbert is the 2nd highest. You measure the isolation from the lowest point in elevation (the saddle) , and the mileage between is isolation and the elevation is the prominence. And then the next highest mountain in CO is mt massive (right next door to elbert) so has a lower isolation # and lower prominence.
Generally there must be at least 300’ drop in the saddle between two peaks for them to be considered separate mountains. Massive has many peaks to it, but none have more than 300’ of elevation drop & gain between them for them to be considered separate.
It is interesting because the mean elevation around Mt Elbert is ~10,500’ so it is really only about 4k ft ‘prominent’. Whereas Pikes Peak has a low prominence but rises over 7,000’ from Colorado Springs so it looks a lot bigger.
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