Week 5- Kaleen Harrigan- Mount Everest

Week 5- Kaleen Harrigan- Mount Everest 

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Mount Everest is part of the Great Himalaya mountain range. It is the highest mountain both in the Himalayas and in the world. It is on the boarder of Tibet and Nepal in the southern part of Asia. It is 29,029 feet above sea level and takes the few hikers that have done it two months to climb up and back down. Only forty people have successfully done this, 200 people died attempting it. 

This mountain was formed from many factors which included continental shuffling, mountain formation mechanics and natural forces. It all began 250 million years ago, when the world was not separate continents, but one land mass called Pangea. As the next few million years passed Pangea began to break apart and look more similar to what we know the world to look like today. During this time, the edges of the formally known Pangea turning inside to create continent collision zones. 

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About 70 million years ago the Indo-Australian Plate was very fast moving towards the Eurasian Plate. The force caused the Indian Plate to get pushed under the Eurasian Plate. Indian Plate went under due to the more dense soil. Today the Indian Plate continues to move towards the now called Tibetan Plateau every year, causing the mountain to grow about 4 mm/yr. Mount Everest formed from compressive stress, this means the rocks were forced into each other. This caused the vertical upbringing of the mountain, and caused the rocks to fold. The collision of these rocks show a reverse fault. 

The mountain is made of sedimentary layers. This type of rock is some such as limestone, marble  and shale. Farther below this rock lays the metamorphic rock which is granite and gneiss. The light rock like limestone is pushed upwards to the top of the mountain and the heavier rock is being pushed down towards the earth's mantle. There are three main rock formations on this mountain. Each of this formations are separated by low angle faults, meaning one goes over the other, making a zigzag like pattern.