Topographic isolation

The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle 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.

Isolation table

The following sortable table lists the Earth's 40 most topographically isolated summits.

The 40 most topographically isolated summits on Earth
Rank	Summit	Landmass	Country	Elevation	Prominence	Isolation
1	Mount Everest	Eurasia	China Nepal	8848 m 29,029 ft	8848 m 29,029 ft	n/a
2	Aconcagua	South America	Argentina	6962 m 22,841 ft	6962 m 22,841 ft	16,518 km 10,264 mi
3	Denali	North America	United States (Alaska)	6194 m 20,320 ft	6149 m 20,174 ft	7,450 km 4,629 mi
4	Kilimanjaro	Africa	Tanzania	5895 m 19,341 ft	5885 m 19,308 ft	5,510 km 3,424 mi
5	Puncak Jaya	New Guinea	Indonesia	4884 m 16,024 ft	4884 m 16,024 ft	5,262 km 3,269 mi
6	Vinson Massif	Antarctica	Antarctica	4892 m 16,050 ft	4892 m 16,050 ft	4,911 km 3,052 mi
7	Mont Orohena	Tahiti	French Polynesia	2241 m 7,352 ft	2241 m 7,352 ft	4,128 km 2,565 mi
8	Mauna Kea	Hawai'i	United States (Hawai'i)	4205 m 13,796 ft	4205 m 13,796 ft	3,947 km 2,453 mi
9	Gunnbjørn Fjeld	Greenland	Greenland	3694 m 12,119 ft	3694 m 12,119 ft	3,254 km 2,022 mi
10	Aoraki/Mount Cook	South Island	New Zealand	3754 m 12,316 ft	3754 m 12,316 ft	3,140 km 1,951 mi
11	Thabana Ntlenyana	Africa	Lesotho	3482 m 11,424 ft	2390 m 7,841 ft	3,003 km 1,866 mi
12	Maunga Terevaka	Rapa Nui	Chile	506 m 1,660 ft	506 m 1,660 ft	2,836 km 1,762 mi
13	Mont Blanc	Eurasia	France Italy	4810 m 15,781 ft	4697 m 15,410 ft	2,812 km 1,747 mi
14	Piton des Neiges	Réunion	France	3071 m 10,075 ft	3071 m 10,075 ft	2,767 km 1,720 mi
15	Klyuchevskaya Sopka	Eurasia	Russia (Kamchatka)	4750 m 15,584 ft	4649 m 15,253 ft	2,748 km 1,708 mi
16	Pico de Orizaba	North America	Mexico	5636 m 18,491 ft	4922 m 16,148 ft	2,690 km 1,672 mi
17	Queen Mary's Peak	Tristan da Cunha	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	2060 m 6,759 ft	2060 m 6,759 ft	2,665 km 1,656 mi
18	Mount Whitney	North America	United States (California)	4421 m 14,505 ft	3072 m 10,080 ft	2,649 km 1,646 mi
19	Gunung Kinabalu	Borneo	Malaysia	4095 m 13,435 ft	4095 m 13,435 ft	2,538 km 1,577 mi
20	Mount Elbrus	Eurasia	Russia	5642 m 18,510 ft	4741 m 15,554 ft	2,473 km 1,536 mi
21	Pico da Bandeira	South America	Brazil	2897 m 9,505 ft	2647 m 8,684 ft	2,393 km 1,487 mi
22	Mont Cameroun	Africa	Cameroon	4040 m 13,255 ft	3901 m 12,799 ft	2,338 km 1,453 mi
23	Mount Paget	South Georgia	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	2915 m 9,564 ft	2915 m 9,564 ft	2,269 km 1,410 mi
24	Mauga Silisili	Savai'i	Samoa	1858 m 6,096 ft	1858 m 6,096 ft	2,245 km 1,395 mi
25	Nevado Huascarán	South America	Peru	6746 m 22,133 ft	2776 m 9,108 ft	2,196 km 1,365 mi
26	Anai Mudi	Eurasia	India	2695 m 8,842 ft	2480 m 8,136 ft	2,115 km 1,314 mi
27	Jebel Toubkal	Africa	Morocco	4167 m 13,671 ft	3755 m 12,320 ft	2,078 km 1,291 mi
28	Mount Fuji	Honshu	Japan	3776 m 12,388 ft	3776 m 12,388 ft	2,077 km 1,291 mi
29	Emi Koussi	Africa	Chad	3445 m 11,302 ft	2934 m 9,626 ft	2,001 km 1,243 mi
30	Mawson Peak	Heard Island	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	2745 m 9,006 ft	2745 m 9,006 ft	1,922 km 1,194 mi
31	Mount Mitchell	North America	United States (North Carolina)	2037 m 6,684 ft	1857 m 6,091 ft	1,913 km 1,189 mi
32	Gunung Kerinci	Sumatra	Indonesia	3805 m 12,484 ft	3805 m 12,484 ft	1,905 km 1,184 mi
33	Agrihan High Point	Agrihan	Northern Mariana Islands	965 m 3,166 ft	965 m 3,166 ft	1,902 km 1,182 mi
34	Mount Kosciuszko	Australia	Australia	2228 m 7,310 ft	2228 m 7,310 ft	1,895 km 1,177 mi
35	Olavtoppen	Bouvet Island	Bouvet Island	780 m 2,559 ft	780 m 2,559 ft	1,856 km 1,153 mi
36	Jarvis High Point	Jarvis Island	United States Minor Outlying Islands	7 m 23 ft	7 m 23 ft	1,852 km 1,151 mi
37	Mascarin Peak	Marion Island	South Africa	1230 m 4,035 ft	1230 m 4,035 ft	1,848 km 1,148 mi
38	Green Mountain	Ascension Island	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	859 m 2,818 ft	859 m 2,818 ft	1,842 km 1,145 mi
39	Gora Narodnaya	Eurasia	Russia	1895 m 6,217 ft	1772 m 5,814 ft	1,836 km 1,141 mi
40	Yushan	Taiwan	Taiwan	3952 m 12,966 ft	3952 m 12,966 ft	1,815 km 1,128 mi

Examples

The nearest peak to Germany's highest mountain, the 2,962-metre-high Zugspitze, that has a 2962-metre-contour is the Zwölferkogel (2,988 m) in Austria's Stubai Alps. The distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is, as the crow flies, 25.8 km; the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km.
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 the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no higher land for 16,534 kilometres when 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. The Kukurtlu (4,912 m), which rises near the Elbrus (5,633 m), is the reference peak for Mont Blanc.