Everest: The reason why the world's tallest mountain grows by 2 mm per year

The pressure resulting from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates between 40 and 50 million years ago formed the Himalayas, and plate tectonics remains the main reason for their continued rise.

but The Arun River network is also a factor that contributes to the height of the mountainsAccording to the UCL team.

When the Arun River flows through the Himalayas, it removes material from the river bed, and thus from the Earth's crust. This reduces pressure on the mantle (the layer below the crust), causing the thin crust to fold and float upward.

This effect is called balanced rebound. Research published in the magazine Natural Earth SciencesThis upward force is also causing the rise of Everest and other nearby peaks, including Lhotse and Makalu, the fourth and fifth highest mountains in the world, he adds.

Matthew Fox, co-author of the study, told the BBC: “Mt. Everest and its neighboring peaks are growing because isostatic rebound lifts them faster than erosion erodes them.”

“We can see it growing at a rate of 2 mm per year using GPS tools, and now we understand better why this happens.”

Some geologists who were not involved in the study said the theory is plausible, but many aspects of the research remain uncertain.

Mount Everest is located on the border between China and Nepal, and its northern part is on the Chinese side. The Arun River descends from Tibet to Nepal, and then joins two other rivers to form the Kosi River, which then enters northern India to meet the Ganges.

It transports a large amount of sediment due to the steep steepness of the mountains through which it flows and the force with which it does so, allowing it to erode large amounts of rock and soil in its path.

However, University College London researchers say it may have gained its real power when it “took over” another river or body of water in Tibet 89,000 years ago, a geologically recent event.

Chinese academic Xu Han, from the China University of Geosciences, was the lead author of the study during a fellowship at UCLA.

“The changing elevation of Mount Everest really highlights the dynamic nature of the Earth's surface.”Comment.

“The interaction between the erosion of the Arun River and the upward pressure of the Earth's mantle gives a boost to Mount Everest,” giving it additional height.

Professor Hugh Sinclair, from the University of Edinburgh's School of Earth Sciences in Scotland, who was not involved in the study, said the basic process identified by the UCL team is plausible.

However, he added, the exact amounts and times of river incision (or how a river descends to its bed and deepens its channel) and the resulting surface uplift of surrounding peaks involve a great deal of uncertainty.

“First, predicting river incision in such large basins in response to drainage impoundment (a river capturing another river or lake) is difficult,” he said.

This uncertainty is something the authors acknowledge in the study.

Secondly, Sinclair said, It is very difficult to predict the distance at which mountains rise from the point of local intense erosion..

“However, even given these reserves, the possibility that some of Mount Everest's extraordinary rise is linked to the river is an exciting possibility.”

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