The Himalayas formed around 50 million years ago due to a collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. This collision pushed up the land between the plates, creating the highest mountain range in the world with peaks over 29,000 feet tall, including Mount Everest. In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest. The Himalayan range encompasses over 15,000 glaciers and includes three of the highest peaks on Earth.

2. The Himalayas are the greatest mountain range on Earth, forming a
barrier between Tibet to the north and the Indian subcontinent to the
south. They include some of the highest mountains in the world, with
more than 110 peaks rising to elevations of 24,000 feet or more above sea
level, including Mount Everest (more than 29,000 feet). In May 1953, New
Zealand explorer Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide,
became the first people to successfully scale Everest, the world's highest
peak.

3. A collision between two plates of the earth’s crust resulted in the creation of the
earth’s highest mountain Himalayas. The magnificent range of the Himalayas
harbors breathtakingly beautiful scenery and dramatic environment. The high
Himalayas constituting a spectacular mountain scope are being able to attract the
heart of any new comer who is in search of challenge and grandeur.
Forty million years ago

5. The Himalayan system, about 2,400 kilometers in length and varying in
width from 240 to 330 kilometers, is made up of three parallel ranges--
the Greater Himalayas, the Lesser Himalayas, and the Outer Himalayas--
sometimes collectively called theGreat Himalayan Range.

6. During the Upper Cretaceous, about 70 million years
ago, the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate was moving at
about 15 cm per year. About 50 million years ago, this fast
moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed
the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been
determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean
floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since both
plates were composed of low density continental
crust, they were thrust faulted and folded into mountain
ranges rather than subducting into the mantle along
an oceanic trench.[4] An often-cited fact used to illustrate
this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of
marine limestone from this ancient ocean.[9]
Today, the Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven
horizontally below the Tibetan plateau, which forces the
plateau to continue to move upwards. The Indo-Australian
plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10
million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia. About
20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed
by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads
to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making
them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate
into the Asian plate also makes this
regionseismically active, leading to earthquakes from time
to time.

7. The Himalayan range encompasses about
15,000 glaciers, which store about
12,000 km3 (3000 cubic miles) of fresh
water. Its glaciers include
the Gangotri andYamunotri (Uttarakhand)
and Khumbu glaciers (Mount
Everest region), and Zemu (Sikkim).
The Greater Himalayas, or northern
range, average approximately 6,000
meters in height and contain the three
highest mountains on earth: Mount
Everest (8,796 meters) on the China-
Nepal border; K2 (8,611 meters, also
known as Mount Godwin-Austen, and in
China as Qogir Feng) in an area claimed
by India, Pakistan, and China; and
Kanchenjunga (8,598 meters) on the

8. The Himalayan region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Most
lakes are found at altitudes of less than 5,000 m, with the
size of the lakes diminishing with altitude. Tilicho lake in
Nepal in the Annapurna massif is one of the highest lakes in
the world. Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border
between India and China, and Yamdrok Tso, located in
central Tibet, are amongst the largest with surface areas of
700 km², and 638 km², respectively. Other notable lakes
include Gurudogmar lake, in North Sikkim, and Tsongmo lake,
near the Indo-China border in Sikkim.
The mountain lakes are known to geographers as tarns if
they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in
the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above 5,500 metres.

9. Many major mountains are located entirely within India, such
as Nanda Devi (7,817 meters) in the state of Uttaranchal. The snow
line averages 4,500 to 6,000 meters on the southern side of the
Greater Himalayas and 5,500 to 6,000 on the northern side. Because
of climatic conditions, Athe snow line in the eastern Himalayas
averages 4,300 meters, while in the western Himalayas it averages
5,800 meters.
The Lesser Himalayas, located in northwestern India in the states
of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, in north-central India in the
state of Sikkim, and in northeastern India in the state of Arunachal
Pradesh, range from 1,500 to 5,000 meters in height. Located in the
Lesser Himalayas are the hill stations of Shimla and Darjiling .

10. During the colonial period, these and other hill stations were used by
the British as summer retreats to escape the intense heat of the
plains. It is in this transitional vegetation zone that the contrasts
between the bare southern slopes and the forested northern slopes
become most noticeable.
The Outer or Southern Himalayas, averaging 900 to 1,200 meters in
elevation, lie between the Lesser Himalayas and the Indo-Gangetic
Plain. In Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, this southernmost range
is often referred to as the Siwalik Hills. It is possible to identify a
fourth, and northernmost range, known as the Trans-Himalaya.

11. The beauty, mystery and majesty of these mountains are due to the thick layers of ice
and snow that perpetually cover them up. Since time immemorial, the Himalayas has
captured the dream, desires and Imagination of human beings. Even the
earlyAryans looked upon these mountains as the abode of gods and goddess and the
extra ordinary objects of beauty, scenic grandeur, peace and tranquility.These towering
mountains have aptly been called the “Top of the World” and “TheThird Pole” on the
basis of the fact that they constitute the latitudinal extremity.

12. Nepal, renowned all over the world for its scenic and panoramic
peaks, is the land of supernatural virgin beauty and a real
paradise for nature lovers. In 1852 the highest mountain in the
world was determined by and later named after Sir George
Everest. After determination of Mt. Everest, no climber had been a
scaled mountain of Nepal till 1949. But, it is fact that the history
of trekking in Nepal is started after climbing and expedition of
many majestic peaks.

14. The highest Peak Mt. Everest of the world and other numerous peaks have been
climbed many times now. Tenzing Norge Sherpa and Edmund Hillary reached at
top of the world Mt. Everest in 1953. Sir. Edmond Hillary stated “Nepal is the only
country in the world which is also one of the world’s great trekking paradises and
one of the nicest countries in the world for trekking.”

15. In 1949 the Swiss who had been earlier refused permission to
attempt Dhaulagiri, entered-east Nepal by way of Darjeeling. The team who
led by Sutter – Lohner and they explored Ramtang Glacier, Kang Bachen
peak (7902m) and the triangle of Drohmo (7008m) Jongsang peak (7473m)
and Nupchu (7028) on the Nepal – Tibet – Sikkim border. They also climb
Tang Kangma (6249m) on outlays of Drohmo as well as Dzange peak
(6709m) before they returned to Darjeeling on the nineteenth day of their
expedition.
In 1949 Nepal opened its frontiers to the outside world and within eight
years ten of the fourteen 8000m peaks had been climbed, Annapurna
(8091m) was the first to be climbed in 1950, this was followed in 1953 by
Everest (8848m) and Nanga Parbat (8125m). From then on the number of
expeditions coming from many different countries of the world multiplied
and by 1964 all these Himalayan giants had been climbed, one being Shisa
Pangma (8046m) scaled by the Chinese in 1964.

16. MADE BY: AMIT KUMAR
CLASS: 10TH