What is the highest point on earth?
Mount Everest is known as the highest point on the Earth. It is about 8,848 meters high which is 29,029 feet above the sea level. The latitude and longitude of Mount Everest is 27°59´17.16´´ North and 86°55´33.09´´ East.
Location of Mount Everest
Mount Everest is located on the Tibet and Nepal borders of the Himalayas in Asia. It is situated in the Mahalangur range in the Tibetan plateau, known as Qing Zang Gaoyuan.
What is the age of Mount Everest?
Mount Everest is a part of the Himalayas and is the youngest-formed mountain in history. Geologists estimate that Everest is 50- 60 million years old. Everest was formed by the upward force generated when the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided, pushing up the rocks that formed the highest Mountain on Earth.
How Mount Everest is formed?
Everest was formed some 60 million years ago before that there were no Himalayas or Mount Everest. Mountains were created on earth as a result of the underground movement. Soil layers of our earth’s crust remain in the form of plates. These plates are made up of several sub-continent areas. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, it was the co-function of the continental shuffle, mountain formation mechanics, and other natural forces. Description as follows
What is a continental shuffle and how it helps in the formation of Mount Everest?
About 250 million years ago, all the continents of the earth were not separated and were as Pangea a single huge continent. This single giant continent collapsed and started drifting apart. This shifting of plates results in information on many continents.
Over 70 million years ago, the Indo-Australian plate moved north toward the Eurasian plate at a rate of 15 cm per year. There was an ocean called Tethys between those two plates. As a result of the fast-moving Indo-Australian plate, the Tethys Ocean completely closed around 60 million years ago. Today, the Indian plate is proven to be still moving towards the Tibetan plateau at a speed of 67 mm per year. This makes the Tibet plateau is forced to move upwards still and the height of Mount Everest is growing every year.
The Mounting mechanism
The Mounting mechanics of Mount Everest show the collision between India and Asia that lies beneath the surface of the earth. These continents are on the tectonic plate of the soil. Now there are 7 giant plates on Earth that are sliding across the surface of the Earth. These plates collide, and slide on advance from each other at a rate of 1 to 20 cm per year. This movement of the plates is driven by the deep internal energy in the earth.
The collision of continental plates
For at least 80 million years, the Indian plate of the ocean has clashed in South Asia, including the chain of Tibet. The north edge of the ocean Indian plate is plunging rapidly into the earth’s mantle, and dragging the whole Indian continent along with the movement northward, just toward China’s Tibet.
The collision of the plates, the ocean floor, which sank due to the collision of the two plates, created volcanoes along the southern border of Tibet because the top rock on the Indian plate melted due to huge pressure and frictional collision.
About 25 million years ago, the first movement of the Indian continent, the sea was completely closed. The sediment on the ocean floor had been squeezed, and because the sediments were light they did not sink with the place but crumpled into today’s big Mountain range the Himalayas. About 10 million years ago, the Indian continent and the Asian continent began in a direct collision. Because there was an enormous quantity of light quartz-rich rocks, the Indian continent could not descend and the anchor chain of the plate must have broken, and the Indian continent caused descending anymore. It is clear that Tibet on the south of the Asian continent was pushing upward because the Indian continent began to drive Tibet like a wedge horizontally. Among all the peaks of the Himalayas, Mount Everest is the highest one.
History of Mount Everest
In 1908, the British launched an expedition to discover the world’s highest mountain. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first persons who reached the summit of Everest in the year 1953. Junko Tabei was the first woman from Japan to reach the summit of Everest in 1975.
The naming of Mount Everest
Mount Everest is located on the border between the People’s Republic of China and Nepal. Mount Everest was called Sagar-Matha by the Nepal people and called Qomolangma or Chomolangma by the People’s Republic of China. In 1841, Sir George Everest was first recorded as the location of Everest. In 1865, it was renamed Mount Everest to honor Sir George Everest.
The route to climb Everest
As it is the highest point on the earth therefore climbing is a difficult task. There are many routes to climb Everest. The main two ridges are the northeast ridge and the southeast ridge. The south-east ridge is located in Nepal and the north-east ridge is in Tibet. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary first reached Mount Everest with this southeast ridge.
Rocks belt of Mount Everest
Poly rocks layers found on Everest include limestone, marble, shale, and pelite, beneath them are old rocks with granite, pegmatite infiltration, and gneiss, a figurative rock.
Climate
The temperature on the Mount Everest is below freezing point all the year
The monthly average temperature on Mount Everest (°C) is the lowest temperature is -36 degrees during Jan and the highest temperature is -18 degrees during July and August.
Humidity
During the summer, it is almost snowfall or rainfall every day. However, with the exception of the monsoon season at the peak of Everest, the rainfall is less likely.
The dead zone of Everest
Dead zone means death knell. The Himalayas are as ruthless as their paths, as far from as beautiful as they can be seen from a distance. There is a place in Everest where no human has ever been able to enter that place. Moreover, the real death zone starts from 8000 meters above. Because of the height of the 8000 meters, the environment is very difficult. Khumbu Icefall is the most terrible place in Everest. This section is 6065 meters above the base camp on the southeast route of Mount Everest.
Flora
Birch, juniper, blue pines, firs, bamboo, and rhododendrons grow in the lower region of Mount Everest. As it is the highest point on the earth there is no flora in that area. The tree line at Mount Everest is approximately 5750 meters from the base of the mountain. Climbing up the hill in the next zone is the alpine scrub zone, which can maintain limited vegetation. Next up on the hill is the Arctic region that cannot sustain the life of any tree. The plants are well adapted to the weather there like they are short due to the high oxygen near the ground or sea surface.
Fauna
Not many animals can be found near the summit of Mount Everest because of its very low temperature and low oxygen. There is a forest of pine and hemlock trees beneath Everest. Many animals like musk deer, pikes, and snow leopards are found in this forest.
Interesting facts about Mount Everest
- According to the plate tectonic theory, the height of Mount Everest is still increasing by 0.25 inches per year. So it will remain as the highest point on the Earth like forever.
- Everest is known as the roof of the world as it is the height point from sea level.
- Temba Sheri is the youngest mountaineer who climbed Everest at the age of 16 in the year 2001.
