Mount Everest

Also called: Sagarmatha, Chomolungma · Topic: Structure and Physiography of India: Himalayas, Plains, Peninsula, Coasts and Islands · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 3 "Landforms and Life"; Class 7, Ch 1 "Geographical Diversity of India"

Meaning

Mount Everest is the world's highest peak. It stands 8,848.86 m high (jointly announced by China and Nepal in 2020) on the Nepal–China (Tibet) border, in the Greater Himalaya (Himadri) [2]. Nepal calls it Sagarmatha, and Tibet calls it Chomolungma.

It matters because it is the top point of the Himalaya, a young fold mountain system that is still rising. Exams often test its new height, who announced it, and how it differs from India's own highest peaks.

Explanation

How Everest was formed

• The cause is two plates pushing together.
• The Indian plate pushed north into the Eurasian plate.

• This happened in the Tertiary Himalayan orogeny. An orogeny is a period of mountain building.

• How the mountain rose

• The rock layers between the two land masses were squeezed. They crumpled and rose upward.

• This made a fold mountain: a mountain made of bent and pushed-up rock layers.

• What we see today

• The Himalaya formed as a set of parallel belts, and Everest stands in the highest one, the Greater Himalaya.

• It is still rising and still shaking.

• India keeps pushing north.
• Along the Main Himalayan Thrust (the boundary between the two plates), the rocks slip by about 12–21 mm a year [4].
• Strain builds up in the rocks and is released as earthquakes.

Its place among the Himalayan belts

• From north to south the belts are: Trans-Himalaya → Greater Himalaya (Himadri) → Lesser Himalaya (Himachal) → Shiwalik.
• Everest is in the Greater Himalaya, the highest and most continuous range. Himadri means "abode of snow".
• Features of the belt that Everest shares:
• The average height of the belt is about 6,000 m. Everest rises far above this.
• It has a granite core. Granite is a hard rock that forms when molten rock cools slowly deep underground.
• It is covered by permanent snow and glaciers, which feed perennial rivers (rivers that flow all year).
• It is 50–75 km wide [3].

• Very few people live here because it is too cold and too steep.

• The Main Central Thrust (MCT) separates the Greater Himalaya from the Lesser Himalaya on its south side. The South Tibetan Detachment (STD) separates it from the Indus–Tsangpo Suture Zone on its north side [4]. A suture zone is the line where two plates have joined.

Measuring its height

• The new figure: in 2020, China and Nepal jointly announced a height of 8,848.86 m (29,031.69 ft). This figure is now widely accepted [2].
• Why the exact height is debated [2]:
• Snow depth: the summit is covered in snow and ice. Surveyors must decide whether the height is to the top of the snow or to the rock below it.
• Gravity: gravity is not the same everywhere. This changes where "sea level" sits under the mountain, and sea level is the base for measuring height.

• Bending of light: light bends as it passes through air. Angles measured from far away can therefore be a little wrong.

• First climb: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit for the first time in 1953.

Where it occurs

• Location: on the border between Nepal and China (Tibet), in the Greater Himalaya [2].
• Not in India: Everest is not on Indian land. India's own top peaks are found in other places:
• K2 (8,611 m) is in the Karakoram range (Trans-Himalaya), in Gilgit-Baltistan. India claims this area, but Pakistan holds it.
• Kanchenjunga (8,586 m) is on the Sikkim–Nepal border.

• Nanda Devi (7,816 m) is in Uttarakhand.

• Its place in the range: the Greater Himalaya runs between two "anchors" at its ends. Nanga Parbat (Gilgit-Baltistan) is the western anchor, and Namcha Barwa (Tibet) is the eastern anchor. Everest lies between them.

• The whole system: the Himalaya runs about 2,500 km east to west [3] (NCERT gives about 2,400 km). It is 200–400 km wide from south to north [3].

Don't confuse with

• K2 (Godwin Austen), 8,611 m: the world's 2nd highest peak. It is in the Karakoram (Trans-Himalaya), not the Greater Himalaya. India officially counts K2 as its highest peak. Everest is not India's peak at all.
• Kanchenjunga, 8,586 m: the world's 3rd highest peak, on the Sikkim–Nepal border. It is the highest peak in land that India actually controls.
• Nanda Devi, 7,816 m: the highest peak lying wholly inside India (Uttarakhand). It is not on any border.
• Mount Kailash: a sacred peak in the Kailash range of the Trans-Himalaya in Tibet. It lies near the sources of the Indus, Satluj and Brahmaputra. It is not part of the Greater Himalaya and is far lower than Everest.

Prelims Hooks

• Height: 8,848.86 m (29,031.69 ft), announced jointly by China and Nepal in 2020 [2]. Trap: India did not make this announcement.
• Names: Sagarmatha is the Nepali name and Chomolungma is the Tibetan name.
• Belt: Everest is in the Greater Himalaya (Himadri), which has a granite core and an average height of about 6,000 m. It is not in the Trans-Himalaya or the Lesser Himalaya.
• Ranking: Everest (1st, Nepal–Tibet) → K2 (2nd, 8,611 m, Gilgit-Baltistan) → Kanchenjunga (3rd, 8,586 m, Sikkim–Nepal).
• "Highest peak" trap: the world's highest is Everest. India's officially claimed highest is K2. The highest in land India controls is Kanchenjunga. The highest wholly inside India is Nanda Devi.
• First ascent: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, 1953.

Mains Points

• A mountain that is still growing and shaking (GS-I/GS-III):
• Everest is part of a young fold mountain belt created by the Indian plate pushing into the Eurasian plate.
• The plate boundary still slips about 12–21 mm a year [4]. Strain builds up and is released in great earthquakes.

• The Greater Himalaya also carries glacier and avalanche risk. Hazard planning across the Himalayan countries must take account of this active belt.

• The snowy belt is a water tower (GS-I/GS-III):

• Permanent snow and glaciers of the Greater Himalaya, the belt that Everest crowns, feed perennial rivers.

• These rivers support farming and hydropower across north India. Their health is shared by India and its neighbours.

• Measuring Everest is a lesson in geospatial science:

• The 2020 China–Nepal figure [2] shows that a mountain's "height" depends on method.
• Snow depth, gravity and the bending of light all change the result [2]. Accurate surveying (geodesy) is therefore important for maps, borders and science.

Related concepts

• Greater Himalaya
• Lesser Himalaya
• Shiwalik
• Ladakh and Zaskar ranges
• Kailash range
• Kanchenjunga
• Namcha Barwa
• Pir Panjal range

Read more

• The parallel ranges: Trans-Himalaya, Greater Himalaya, Lesser Himalaya and Shiwalik