On Earth and from sea level, Everest is the tallest mountain in the entire world. In the viewfinder of the most experienced mountaineers, this legendary summit known to all nevertheless hides a secret. This is what highlights a study published on September 30, 2024 in the journal Nature geoscience.
Everest, the mountain that dominates the Himalayas and therefore the world
On Earth, there is no mountain range with peaks higher than the Himalayas. Of course, if Everest is the best known and flies over this natural border between several Asian countries with its 8849 meters, there are other monsters.
In the Sino-Pakistani region, another peak rivals Everest, not in terms of height, but in terms of fame: K2. Culminating at 8,611 meters, it arouses the curiosity of mountaineers, but is renowned as being much more dangerous than its illustrious colleague. The latter is located in the Karakoram range which is a chain neighboring the Himalayas.
But in the Himalayas, Everest towers head and shoulders over peaks that exceed 8 km in height. Indeed, if K2, the second highest peak in the world, is located in the same region, but not in the same range, the Himalayas simply hold the other nine highest peaks on Earth.
Here is the rest of the ranking:
- Kangchenjunga: 8586 meters
- Lhotse : 8516 meters
- Makalu I: 8481 meters
- Cho Oyu: 8188 meters
- Dhaulagiri: 8167 meters
- Elevation: 8156 meters
- Nanga Parbat : 8126 meters
- Annapurna : 8091 meters
And looking at this ranking, something should jump out at you. Except for the significant difference between Makalu I and Cho Oyu (293 meters), the difference in size between two consecutive peaks does not exceed 100 meters. However, Everest, which dominates this ranking, is 263 meters higher than the second highest peak in the Himalayas. For what ?
The well-kept secret of the highest peak in the world
The study co-written in particular by Adam GG Smith, a specialist in tectonic geomorphology from University College London, demonstrated that if Everest became so large, it is thanks to a river, more precisely to a “ geological act of piracy due to a river.
It is difficult to see the link between a summit culminating at 8849 meters and a river flowing much lower. And yet, it exists. Wondering why Everest was much larger than its neighbors, scientists became interested in the Arun River, which flows through the heart of the Himalayas by carving a gorge.
Yet even though water is one of nature’s most impressive forces, it requires a certain amount of power to carve out a mountain. That’s when scientists decided to go back in time 89,000 years.
According to their model, the Arun River at this time would have simply captured water from its mother river, Kosi, and therefore may have benefited from significant power to excavate the rock. But how did this make Everest grow?
The answer lies, roughly, in the principle of action-reaction. According to the study published in Nature geoscienceerosion caused by the Arun River caused chunks of the mountain to fall. This would therefore have led to a “rebound” phenomenon in the earth’s crust. With this “rebound”, the earth’s crust would therefore have led to the higher elevation of the surrounding mountain peaks including Everest.
So, this is why scientists speak of an “act of piracy” regarding the abnormally high elevation of Everest in the Himalayas.
A mountain that continues to grow
With each passing year, Everest gets bigger. The difference is not felt since we are talking about an additional annual rise of 0.53 mm according to the researchers.
But that’s not all, this continuous elevation from year to year is due, according to their study, to the formation of the Arun River gorge 89,000 years ago. Perhaps one day Everest will overtake Olympus Mons, the highest peak in the Solar System.
Well, we will surely no longer be there to witness it given that the highest peak in the world must catch up with a colossal mountain which rises to more than 21,000 meters. By then, perhaps humanity will have already colonized Mars and the new challenge for climbers will be this incredible summit.
Source : ScienceAlert / LiveScience
