Map of Nepal

Geology

Geologists have subdivided the rocks comprising Mount Everest into three units called formations. Each formation is separated from the other by low-angle faults, called detachments, along which they have been thrust southward over each other. From the summit of Mount Everest to its base these rock units are the Qomolangma Formation, the North Col Formation, and the Rongbuk Formation.

The Qomolangma Formation, also known as the Jolmo Lungama Formation, runs from the summit to the top of the Yellow Band, about 8,600 m (28,200 ft) above sea level. It consists of greyish to dark grey or white, parallel laminated and bedded, Ordovician limestone interlayered with subordinate beds of recrystallised dolomite with argillaceous laminae and siltstone.

Climate

Mount Everest has an ice cap climate (Köppen EF) with all months averaging well below freezing.

The base camp for Everest expeditions based out of Nepal is located by Khumbu Glacier, which is rapidly thinning and destabilizing due to climate change, making it unsafe for climbers. As recommended by the committee formed by Nepal's government to facilitate and monitor mountaineering in the Everest region, Taranath Adhikari—the director general of Nepal's tourism department—said they have plans to move the base camp to a lower altitude. This would mean a longer distance for climbers between the base camp and Camp 1.

Geography

The Kangchenjunga Himal section of the Himalayas lies both in Nepal and India and encompasses 16 peaks over 7,000 m (23,000 ft). In the north, it is limited by the Lhonak Chu, Goma Chu and Jongsang La, and in the east by the Teesta River. The western limit runs from the Jongsang La down the Gingsang and Kangchenjunga glaciers and the rivers of Ghunsa and Tamur. It lies in the border region between Koshi Province of Nepal and Sikkim state of India, with the peaks West and Kangbachen in Nepal's Taplejung District, and three of the five peaks, namely Main, Central and South, directly on the border.

Kanchenjunga rises about 20 km (12 mi) south of the general alignment of the Great Himalayan range, about 125 km (78 mi) east-southeast of Mount Everest in a straight line.

Climbing history

Between April 1848 and February 1849, Joseph Dalton Hooker explored parts of northern Sikkim and eastern Nepal, mainly to collect plants and study the distribution of Himalayan flora. He was based in Darjeeling, and made repeated excursions in the river valleys and into the foothills of Kangchenjunga up to an elevation of 4,760 m (15,620 ft).

In spring 1855, the German explorer Hermann von Schlagintweit travelled to Darjeeling but was not allowed to proceed further north due to the Third Nepal–Tibet War. In May, he explored the Singalila Ridge up to the peak of Tonglo for a meteorological survey.

In 1879, Sarat Chandra Das and Lama Ugyen-gyatso crossed into Tibet west of "Kanchanjinga" via eastern Nepal and the Tashilhunpo Monastery en route to Lhasa.

Geography

Looking north from the plains of India, most 8,000-metre peaks are obscured by nearer mountains, but in clear weather, Dhaulagiri is conspicuous from northern Bihar and as far south as Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. In 1808, survey computations showed it to be the highest mountain yet surveyed. This lasted until 1838 when Kangchenjunga took its place, followed by Mount Everest in 1858.

Dhaulagiri I stands to the east of the range which bears its name. Its sudden rise from lower terrain is almost unequaled—it rises 7,000 m (22,970 ft) from the Kali Gandaki River 30 km to the southeast, while the South and West faces rise precipitously over 4,000 m (13,120 ft).

History

Dhaulagiri was the penultimate eight-thousander to be summitted, and the final in Nepal. As its other routes are disproportionately dangerous, most ascents have followed the Northeast Ridge route of the first ascent, but climbs have been made from most directions. As of 2024, the two aspects which have repelled all attempts along their full length are the Northwest Ridge (though it has been climbed to the summit via the so-called "Pear" buttress) and the South Face. The latter is often regarded as one of the greatest remaining challenges in alpinism.

As of 2007, there had been 358 successful ascents and 58 fatalities, which is a summit to a fatality rate of 16.2%. Between 1950 and 2006, 2.88% of 2,016 expedition members and staff going above base camp on Dhaulagiri I died.

Geology and geological history

The geological history of the Tibetan Plateau is closely related to that of the Himalayas. The Himalayas belong to the Alpine orogeny and are among the younger mountain ranges on the planet, consisting mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate.

India began drifting northward from Gondwana in the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago (Mya), moving at about 15 cm (6 in) per year; its collision with the Eurasian plate is most commonly dated to around 55–50 Mya, near the Paleocene–Eocene boundary, though the exact timing remains debated.

Human history

Archaic Denisovans lived on the plateau from around 200,000 to 40,000 years ago, according to a study published in Nature. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest human occupation of the plateau occurred between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Since the plateau's earliest settlement, Tibetan culture has adapted and flourished in the western, southern, and eastern regions. The Changtang is generally too high and cold to support permanent population. The Tibetan Empire existed from the 7th century to the 9th century AD. Nomadic pastoralism, once practiced widely across Asia and Africa, has persisted among these communities on the plateau. Pastoral nomads constitute about 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population.

Description

The Tibetan Plateau is surrounded by the massive mountain ranges of high-mountain Asia. The plateau is bordered to the south by the inner Himalayan range, to the north by the Kunlun Mountains which separate it from the Tarim Basin, and to the northeast by the Qilian Mountains, which separate it from the Hexi Corridor and Gobi Desert. To the east and southeast are the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers in northwest Yunnan, western Sichuan, and southwest Qinghai. In the west, the rugged Karakoram range of northern Kashmir curves around the plateau's edge. The Indus River originates in the western Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar.

Geography

The Sivalik Hills are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about 2,400 km (1,500 mi) from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River; they are 10–50 km (6.2–31.1 mi) wide with an average elevation of 1,500–2,000 m (4,900–6,600 ft). Between the Teesta and Raidāk Rivers is a gap of about 90 km (56 mi).

Geology

Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the Tertiary deposits of the outer Himalayas. They are chiefly composed of sandstone and conglomerate rock formations, which are the solidified detritus of the Himalayas to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The sedimentary rocks comprising the hills are believed to be 16–5.2 million years old.

They are bounded on the south by a fault system called the Main Frontal Thrust, with steeper slopes on that side. Below this, the coarse alluvial Bhabar zone makes the transition to the nearly level plains. Rainfall, especially during the summer monsoon, percolates into the Bhabar, then is forced to the surface by finer alluvial layers below it in a zone of springs and marshes along the northern edge of the Terai or plains.

Geography and key features

The Himalayas consists of four parallel mountain ranges from south to north: the Sivalik Hills on the south; the Lower Himalayan Range; the Great Himalayas, which is the highest and central range; and the Tibetan Himalayas on the north. The Karakoram are generally considered separate from the Himalayas.

In the middle of the great curve of the Himalayan mountains lie the 8,000 m (26,000-foot) peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in Nepal, separated by the Kali Gandaki Gorge. The gorge splits the Himalayas into Western and Eastern sections, both ecologically and orographically – the pass at the head of the Kali Gandaki, the Kora La, is the lowest point on the ridgeline between Everest and K2 (the highest peak of the Karakoram range).

Geology

Tectonics, the recurring physical changes that affect the arrangement of the Earth's crust, and plate tectonics, the movement of large regions of the Earth's crust in the manner of planar rigid bodies, are key to understanding the formation of the Himalayas. The Earth's crust rests directly on its mantle. Tectonic plates, comprising the crust and the upper portions of their underlying mantle, are moved around by convection in the asthenosphere. The oceanic crust, found beneath oceans, is, on average, seven kilometres (4.3 mi) thick. It is created from upwelling magma at mid-ocean ridges and predominantly consists of basalt, the principal igneous rock on Earth.

Climate

The physical factors determining the climate in any location in the Himalayas include latitude, altitude, and the relative motion of the Southwest monsoon. From north to south, the mountains cover more than eight degrees of latitude, spanning temperate to subtropical zones. The colder air of Central Asia is prevented from blowing down into South Asia by the physical configuration of the Himalayas. This causes the tropical zone to extend farther north in South Asia than anywhere else in the world. The evidence is unmistakable in the Brahmaputra valley as the warm air from the Bay of Bengal bottlenecks and rushes up past Namcha Barwa, the eastern anchor of the Himalayas, and into southeastern Tibet.

Ecology

The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall, and soil conditions, combined with the very high snow line, supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. The extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure), combined with extreme cold, favor extremophile organisms.

At high altitudes, the elusive and previously endangered snow leopard is the main predator.