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Montpelier, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Montpelier mŏntpēlˈyər [key], city (1990 pop. 8,247), state capital (since 1805) and seat of Washington co., central Vt., at the junction of the Winooski and North Branch rivers; inc. 1855. The ec...

Asheville

(Encyclopedia)Asheville ăshˈvəl, –vĭl [key], city (2020 pop. 94,589), seat of Buncombe co., W N.C., on the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers and on a plateau in the Blue Ridge Mts...

Hindu Kush

(Encyclopedia)Hindu Kush hĭnˈdo͞o ko͝osh [key], a high mountain system, extending c.500 mi (800 km) W from the Pamir Knot, N Pakistan, into NE Afghanistan; rising to 25,236 ft (7,692 m) in Tirich Mir, on the bo...

Gifford, Sanford Robinson

(Encyclopedia)Gifford, Sanford Robinson, 1823–80, American painter, b. Greenfield, N.Y. A major painter of the American movement known as luminism, Gifford, who was influenced by Thomas Cole early in his career, ...

edelweiss

(Encyclopedia)edelweiss āˈdəlvīs [key], perennial aster plant (genus Leontopodium) found at high altitudes in the mountains of Europe, Asia, and South America. It is about 6 in. (15.2 cm) tall with woolly-white...

Coast Ranges

(Encyclopedia)Coast Ranges, series of mountain ranges along the Pacific coast of North America, extending from SE Alaska to Baja California; from 2,000 to 20,000 ft (610–6,100 m) high. The ranges include the St. ...

thunder

(Encyclopedia)thunder, sound produced along a path of a lightning flash, caused by the rapid heating and expansion of the adjacent air; lightning can heat air to temperatures as much as five times hotter than those...

timberline

(Encyclopedia)timberline, elevation above which trees cannot grow. Its location is influenced by the various factors that determine temperature, including latitude, prevailing wind directions, and exposure to sunli...

Pyatigorsk

(Encyclopedia)Pyatigorsk pyĭtyēgôrskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 129,500), Stavropol Territory, SE European Russia, on the Podkumok River in the N Caucasus. The administrative center of the North Caucasian federal ...

Virunga

(Encyclopedia)Virunga vēro͝ongˈgä [key], volcanic range of mountains, E Congo, N Rwanda, and SW Uganda, central Africa, NE of Lake Kivu. It extends along the eastern rim of the Great Rift Valley and separates t...