Mountain Institution

Mountain-Block Hydrology and Mountain-Front Recharge

In semiarid climates, a significant component of recharge to basin aquifers occurs along the mountain front. Traditionally called “mountain-front recharge” (MFR), this process has been treated by modelers of basins as a boundary condition. In general, mountain-front recharge estimates are based on the general precipitation characteristics of the mountain (as estimated, e.g., by the chloride mas...

Mountain rescue

Last month the Australian Alps were awarded National Heritage status in recognition of the outstanding natural and cultural significance of Australia’s most spectacular mountain range. The heritage listing applies to a group of national parks that encompass the High Country in Victoria, the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, and the Brindabella Ranges in the Australian Capital Territory and to...

Mountain excitement

theory? What is its legacy today in biology? Quite a few mathematical fads have burst onto the popular press, promising great new insights into biology: information theory, catastrophe theory, chaos theory, and most recently complexity theory, to name just a few. All were quite useful in their founding fields (except complexity, which has proven slippery to even define), but all failed to live ...

Carnegie Institution

Mountain concerns

While global fears mount about the dwindling numbers of many amphibian species as a result of disease and other unknown factors, three separate teams of researchers have announced the discovery of several new species and other organisms in the mountain rainforests of Colombia, Tanzania and India. Scientists in Bogata carried out a ‘rapid assessment program’ expedition over three weeks in the mo...