From the basics of geology we learn that the relief of the earth is the result of the slow movement of the tectonic plates, of their colliding, folding and rising, and of the erosive action of ice, wind and rainwater.
We have also learnt how volcanic activity has contributed to the emission of magmatic material, with the consequent and further uplift of some mountain areas.
If, from a geological point of view, mountains are found at the margins of the tectonic plates, in some way marking out their position, from a geographical point of view too we can observe that mountains end up marking out territories with homogeneous characteristics of landscape, climate, fauna and vegetation.
This makes mountains a key element for interpreting the features of the geographical landscape.
Mountains in fact sit at the centre of the geographical landscape and act upon it through many different factors:
- They have the capacity to influence the local climate through their natural action as a barrier. The slopes exposed to the prevailing winds become receivers of the masses of moist air, channelling the rainfall towards the valleys and giving life to lush local ecosystems;
- They themselves become a reserve of water thanks to glaciers, high-altitude lakes, streams and underground aquifers. During the season of transition from spring to summer the mountains gradually release water to the low-lying lands. Glaciers alone today cover almost 10% of all the land above sea level, and a good part of these glaciers lies in mountain areas. They are the most important reserve of fresh water on the planet;
- Mountains have the capacity to protect and hide plant and animal species from the harsh winter climate and from the advance of human civilisation. A very important example in Italy is the presence, inside an impenetrable recess of the Casentino forests (right in the heart of the Tuscan Apennines), of a patch of forest of post-glacial origin. This is the Sasso Fratino Integral Nature Reserve, which covers 763 hectares and where we can find species dating back 10,000 years;
- They are a resource for the livelihood of mountain peoples, who in turn set off synergies that protect the environment. The woods and the undergrowth of the foothills provide a living for mountain peoples, who in their turn contribute by tending the wooded areas and by terracing the sloping ground, preserving those very slopes from erosion;
- Among the mountains, cultures, farming activities and folk traditions arise that are unique to each place, far from the banal standardisation of the urban culture of the plains.
- Their protective action, throughout history, has made mountains the best border for national territories. The Great War was fought for years in the mountains, and the most tragic chapters in the history of peoples were written precisely by fighting among rugged mountains;
- And finally, from the point of view of the landscape, the peaks, the valleys, the shape of the slopes, the ridges and the mountain ranges give the landscape its character: easy to tell apart from a morphological point of view, culturally interesting for their aesthetic variety.
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In the light of all this, if, as the well-known geo-philosopher Oswald Spengler says, “landscape is the second face of man”, then we must take care of the landscape in the same way as
we take care of our own face.