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Mount Everest's Height Increases Due to Geologic Activity

Mount Everest's Height Increases Due to Geologic Activity

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The formation of the Himalayas is attributed to the collision of the Indian subcontinent with the Eurasian tectonic plate approximately 50 million years ago. This process continues to this day, causing the mountain range to rise, albeit at a rate of 1-2mm per year. However, landslides and erosion also contribute to the loss of rock and soil, resulting in a net gain in height for some peaks, including Mount Everest. Specifically, the Arun river basin, located 75km away, is eroding rock and soil, causing Everest to rise by up to 2mm per year. This phenomenon is not unique to Everest, as the surrounding landscape's shifting contours also contribute to the mountain's growth.

Sara Polanco
University of Sydney
1. The Earth then 'bounces back' and creates more uplift.
Jingen Dai
1. The upstream Arun River flows east at high altitude with a flat valley. It then abruptly turns south as the Koshi River, dropping in elevation and becoming steeper.
2. Our study demonstrates that even the world's highest peak is subject to ongoing geological processes that can measurably affect its height over relatively short geological timescales.
3. Before the river capture event, the upper Arun River might have been part of a closed basin, possibly even a large lake. If this was the case, the weight of all that water could have been pushing down on the surrounding region. When the river capture drained this hypothetical lake, it would have added another dimension to the uplift we've observed.
4. This raised the question of whether there was an underlying mechanism making Everest's anomalous elevation even higher.
5. This research highlights the complex interplay between different Earth processes.
6. This shows how changes in rivers can affect even the world's highest mountain.
Elizabeth Dingle
1. There are other river captures known to have occurred in the Himalaya.
2. So it would be interesting to know whether similar effects are preserved elsewhere, or in other tectonically active mountain ranges more broadly.
Xu Han
University College London
1. The changing height of Mount Everest really highlights the dynamic nature of the Earth's surface.
Matthew Fox
University College London
1. We can see them growing by about two millimetres a year using GPS instruments and now we have a better understanding of what's driving it.
2. At that time, there would be an enormous amount of additional water flowing through the Arun River, and this would have been able to transport more sediment and erode more bedrock, and cut down into the valley bottom.
3. Mount Everest and its neighbouring peaks are growing because the isostatic rebound is raising them up faster than erosion is wearing them down. We can see them growing by about two millimetres a year using GPS instruments and now we have a better understanding of what's driving it.
Mikaël Attal
University of Edinburgh
1. The process will continue until the river system reaches a new equilibrium state.
2. What is unique in this study is the demonstration that erosion resulting from river capture can lead to such a dramatic response of the Earth's surface, with an area the size of Greater London going up a few tens of metres in tens of thousands of years, which is fast.
Hugh Sinclair
University of Edinburgh
1. However, even accounting for these reservations, the possibility that some of Everest's exceptional elevation is linked to the river, represents an exciting insight.
2. Firstly, predicting river incision of such large catchments in response to drainage capture (one river capturing another river or lake) is challenging.

Mount Everest's Height Increases Due to Geologic Activity

Everest Mountain

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