{{Short description|Elongated line of hills}} [[File:Malvern Hills - England.jpg|thumb|The Malvern Hills, a hill chain rising from the plain in west-central England]] A '''hill chain''', sometimes also '''hill ridge''', is an elongated line of hills that usually includes a succession of more or less prominent hilltops, domed summits or ''kuppen'', hill ridges and saddles and which, together with its associated lateral ridges and branches, may form a complex topographic structure. It may occur within a hill range, within an area of low rolling hill country or on a plain. It may link two or more otherwise distinct hill ranges. The transition from a hill chain to a mountain chain is blurred and depends on regional definitions of a hill or mountain. For example, in the UK and Ireland a mountain must officially be {{convert|600|m|abbr=on}} or higher,<ref>{{bulleted list|{{cite book |last=Nuttall |first=John & Anne |work=The Mountains of England & Wales |volume=2 |title=England |edition=3rd |year=2008 |publisher=Cicerone |location=Milnthorpe, Cumbria |isbn=978-1-85284-037-2 |ref=none}}<br>- {{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/7623904.stm|title=Survey turns hill into a mountain|work=BBC News|accessdate=3 February 2013|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002232825/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/7623904.stm|archivedate=2 October 2013}}|{{cite web|url=http://www.go4awalk.com/uk-mountains-and-hills/a-mountain-is-a-mountain.php|title=A Mountain is a Mountain – isn't it?|website=www.go4awalk.com|accessdate=3 February 2013|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208122551/http://www.go4awalk.com/uk-mountains-and-hills/a-mountain-is-a-mountain.php|archivedate=8 February 2013}}|{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mountain|title=mountain|website=dictionary.reference.com|accessdate=3 February 2013|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205033435/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Mountain|archivedate=5 February 2013}}|{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Peter |year=2001 |title=Listing the Irish hills and mountains |journal=Irish Geography |volume=34 |issue=1 |publisher=University of Ulster |location=Coleraine |page=89 |url=http://www.ucd.ie/gsi/pdf/34-1/hills.pdf |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6HgLY5lsv?url=http://www.ucd.ie/gsi/pdf/34-1/hills.pdf |archivedate=27 June 2013 |doi=10.1080/00750770109555778 |ref=none}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://metricviews.org.uk/2008/09/what-is-a-mountain-mynydd-graig-goch-and-all-that/ |title=What is a "Mountain"? Mynydd Graig Goch and all that... |website=Metric Views |accessdate=3 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330062754/https://metricviews.org.uk/2008/09/what-is-a-mountain-mynydd-graig-goch-and-all-that/ |archivedate=30 March 2013 }}</ref> whereas in North America mountains are often (unofficially) taken as being {{convert|1000|ft|abbr=on}} high or more.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gallery.usgs.gov/audios/127|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509082833/http://gallery.usgs.gov/audios/127|archivedate=9 May 2013|url-status=dead|title=What is the difference between lake and pond; mountain and hill; or river and creek?|publisher=USGS|accessdate=11 February 2013}}</ref>
The chain-like arrangement of hills in a chain is a consequence of their collective formation by mountain building forces or ice age earth movements. Hill chains generally have a uniform geological age, but may comprise several types of rock or sediment.
Hill chains normally form a watershed. They are crossed by roads that often use a natural saddle in the terrain.
== Examples == * the Argonne hill chain, in France.{{sfn|Leggiere|2007|p=122}} * the Fläming south of Berlin in Germany.{{sfn|Bünz|2008|p=131}} * the Malvern Hills in central England.{{sfn|Stebbing|1940|p=61}} * the ridge between the Taunus and Vogelsberg, which lies south of Giessen and forms the watershed between the Lahn valley and the Wetterau in Germany.
== See also == * Mountain chain
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Literature == * {{cite journal |date=1940 |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |volume=51 |issue=2 |title=Some early references to geology from the sixteenth century onwards |first=W.P.D. |last=Stebbing |pages=49–63}} * {{cite book |last=Bünz |first=Enno |date=2008 |title=Ostsiedlung und Landesausbau in Sachsen |location=Leipzig |publisher=Leipziger Universitätsverlag}} * {{cite book |last=Leggiere |first=Michael V. |date=2007 |title=The Fall of Napoleon |volume=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
== External links == {{Wiktionary}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Landforms