People in the Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 494

seasonality. To these may be added longer-term variation and changes in temperature
and precipitation.
A constraint at one point may be useful at another point, the tipping point being
determined by people and environment. For example, people travel to mountain areas
for winter recreation, the attractions being scenery, terrain, snow, and social ambience.
This was not always the case, as snow and steep terrain imposed many costs and incon-
veniences, so much so that some settlements were and are vacated during the winter in
the Alps, North American Cordillera, and Himalaya (De Scally and Gardner 1994). Snow
and cold make agriculture impossible, animals need to be protected and fed, travel may
be difficult, heating of homes is expensive, and terrain, snow, and weather conditions
interact to produce landslides, flash floods, or avalanche hazards. Yet today, millions of
people are attracted, not repelled, by snow and cold for the recreational value, and their
presence in the mountains is facilitated by many forms of modern transportation, hous-
ing, and hazard mitigation technologies. Other examples occur where forested land is
cleared for the expansion of agriculture, roads, and ski slopes. The clearing may res-
ult in increased surface runoff of water, leading to floods, erosion, and damage to land,
property, and people. This is a form of negative feedback in people-environment rela-
tionships, arising from actions that produce negative or costly outcomes.
Geoecological factors influence, but do not determine, the numbers and distribution
of people and livelihoods and risks to which they are exposed. Important factors include
geology, topography, climate and weather, and atmospheric pressure, all interacting to
influence the distribution and characteristics of water, vegetation, and soils. The com-
bination of factors produces a diversity of micro-environments, niches, and ecological
complementarity in the relationships between people and environment (e.g., Moats and
Campbell 2006).
Geological Conditions
Tectonics, geological structure, and rock types are conditions that have important im-
plications for mountain people. Tectonic forces are relevant through processes such as
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. While contributing to mountain building and shap-
ing the mountain stage with negative and positive effects, these processes also are part
of everyday life for many mountain people (Hewitt 1997a), posing a hazard and, in the
case of some volcanoes, augmenting the soil resource base, among other things. For
example, the 2005 Kashmir and 2008 Wenchuan (Sichuan, China) earthquakes had dev-
astating impacts on millions of mountain people but also set the stage for some pos-
itive redevelopment processes (Zimmermann and Issa 2009; Schutte and Kreutzmann
2011). The volcanoes of Java (Indonesia) are among the most densely populated moun-
tain areas on Earth, in part because of their altitude-driven ecological complementarity
and rich volcanic soils that contribute to an agricultural economy, even as they pose a
hazard and a high risk of disaster. Geological structure primarily impacts human activ-
ities through its role in shaping mountain topography, a topic discussed below.
Rock types and their genesis have a strong bearing on the presence of valuable min-
erals. Mining for ores, gem-stones, fossil fuels, and rock salt has been, and is, important
in shaping human settlement in the Alps and other European ranges, the central and
southern Andes, and the North American Cordillera. It has been associated with moun-