Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Namib näˈmĭb [key], desert, c.800 mi (1,290 km) long and from 30 to 100 mi (50–160 km) wide, SW Africa, along the coast of Namibia. It occupies a rocky platform between the Atlantic Ocean and the...

(Encyclopedia) watershed, elevation or divide separating the catchment area, or drainage basin, of one river system or group of river systems from another system or group of systems. The term is also often used syno...

(Encyclopedia) foehn fān, Ger. fön [key], warm, dry wind that occurs on the leeward slopes of a ridge of mountains. The term was originally applied to a wind of the Alps but is now used as a generic term for all w...

(Encyclopedia) Cork, county, 2,881 sq mi (7,462 sq km), SW Republic of Ireland. Cork is the county seat. Largest of the Irish counties, it has a rocky and much-indente...

(Encyclopedia) Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

(Encyclopedia) Cardamoms kärˈdəməmz [key], Thai Banthat, Khmer Kravanh, mountain group extending c.100 mi (160 km) along the Thai-Cambodian border, E of Chanthaburi, SE Thailand. The mountains receive monsoon ra...

(Encyclopedia) chamois shămˈē [key], hollow-horned, hoofed mammal, Rupicapra rupicapra, found in the mountains of Europe and the E Mediterranean. It is about the size of a large goat and is light brown with a bla...

(Encyclopedia) bighorn or Rocky Mountain sheep, wild sheep, Ovis canadensis, of W North America, formerly plentiful in mountains from SW Canada to N Mexico. Indiscriminate hunting, disease, and scarcity of food enor...

(Encyclopedia) Gilbert, Grove Karl, 1843–1918, American geologist, b. Rochester, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Rochester, 1862. When the U.S. Geological Survey was created in the Dept. of the Interior in 1879 (to replace f...

(Encyclopedia) mountain men, fur trappers and traders in the Rocky Mts. during the 1820s and 30s. Their activities opened that region of the United States to general knowledge. Since the days of French domination th...