Mount Everest (cool photo/Moment/Getty Images)
The height of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, is increasing. This may seem very strange to you to hear, but it is completely true. The most important thing is that the reason for its increase in height is a river.
The current height of Mount Everest is about 8849 meters, while when it was measured in 2005, it was 8844 meters. Research from University College London has revealed an important factor behind their increased height.
The height of Mount Everest increases every year!
According to this research, because the Arun River flows 75 kilometers from Mount Everest, its height has increased by between 15 and 50 meters in approximately 89,000 years. Due to changes in the river’s ground level, Everest’s height increases by 2 millimeters every year. This change can be clearly seen with the help of GPS devices.
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Is the river increasing the height of Mount Everest?
In fact, the Himalayas were formed millions of years ago due to the collision (earthquake) of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Until now, the friction of tectonic plates was considered to be the main reason for the increase in their height.
But research by University College London has revealed a unique aspect. According to research, when the Arun River flows downstream from the Himalayas, it brings a lot of debris. These debris forms a layer on the upper surface of the earth, thereby reducing the pressure on the lower layer of the earth. Due to this, this thin layer is torn off and starts flowing with the Arun River.
Adam Smit, who participated in this research, says that this process is such that if you start pulling goods from a ship, it becomes lighter. And because of this the boat begins to float a little higher in the water. Similarly, when a river flowing underground carries debris, the Earth’s crust rises.
This process is called “isostatic rebound.” According to researchers, this is the reason why the height of Mount Everest is increasing.
Questions that arise about the results of the research.
Professor Hugh Sinclair from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences says the reasons highlighted in this research seem reasonable, but there are some questions about it. He said it seems a bit uncertain to consider the mere process of erosion in the riverbed as the reason for Mount Everest’s height.
Hugh says it is difficult to predict river erosion over such a large area, although researchers at University College London also accept this and say it is very difficult to say that mountains are rising just because of river bed erosion. This uncertainty, this fact revealed in the research is quite interesting.
Who measures the height of Mount Everest?
Mount Everest is the largest mountain peak in the world. Its peak falls in the region of Nepal and is known here as Sagarmatha. In 2017, Nepal began measuring the height of the world’s highest peak. Because it was believed that after the 2015 earthquake, it had also affected Mount Everest. After this China also joined this work, after about 2 years this work was completed and when its results were published it was very shocking.
In 2020, China and Nepal jointly measured their height and shared the data. According to this data, the height of Mount Everest had increased to 8,849 meters, while when China measured it in 2005, its height was said to be 8,844.43 meters.
