Topographic isolation
The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum horizontal distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks and can even be calculated for submarine summits. Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, has an undefined isolation, since there are no higher points to reference.
Because topographic isolation can be difficult to determine, a common approximation is the distance to a peak called the nearest higher neighbour.
Isolation table
The following sortable table lists Earth's 40 most topographically isolated summits.Examples
- The nearest peak to Germany's highest mountain, the high Zugspitze, that has a contour is the Zwölferkogel in Austria's Stubai Alps. The distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is ; the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of. Its isolation is thus.
- Because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the Earth over the poles or – questionably, because there is no agreed definition – as half the Earth's circumference.
- After Mount Everest, Aconcagua, the highest mountain of the Americas, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no higher land for. Its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush.
- Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps. The geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. Kukurtlu Dome,, is the reference peak for Mont Blanc.
- Musala is the highest peak in Rila mountain, also in Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula mountain system; standing at 2,925 m it is the fourth-most topographically isolated major peak in Continental Europe. With a topographic prominence of, Musala is also the sixth-highest peak by topographic prominence in mainland Europe.