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POPULAR
CITIES
I
PARKS
&
RESERVES
I
RURAL
TOURISM |
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UNESCO
HERITAGE
SITES
I
PILGRIMAGE
SITES |
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 The
Himalaya
Range
or
Himalayas
for
short
meaning
"abode
of
snow",
is a
mountain
range
in
Asia,
separating
the
Indian
subcontinent
from
the
Tibetan
Plateau.
By
extension,
it
is
also
the
name
of a
massive
mountain
system
that
includes
the
Karakoram,
the
Hindu
Kush,
and
other,
lesser,
ranges
that
extend
out
from
the
Pamir
Knot. |
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The
Himalayan
mountain
system
is
the
planet's
highest
and
home
to
the
world's
highest
peaks,
the
Eight-thousanders,
which
include
Mount
Everest
and
K2.
To
comprehend
the
enormous
scale
of
this
mountain
range
consider
that
Aconcagua,
in
the
Andes,
at
6,962
m
(22,841
ft),
is
the
highest
peak
outside
Asia,
whereas
the
Himalayan
system
includes
over
100
mountains
exceeding
7,200
metres
(23,622
ft). |
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The
Himalayan
system,
which
includes
outlying
subranges,
stretches
across
six
countries:
Afghanistan,
Bhutan,
China,
India,
Nepal,
and
Pakistan.
Some
of
the
world's
major
rivers,
the
Indus,
the
Ganges,
the
Brahmaputra,
and
the
Yangtze,
rise
in
the
Himalayas,
and
their
combined
drainage
basin
is
home
to
some
1.3
billion
people.
The
Himalayas
have
profoundly
shaped
the
cultures
of
South
Asia;
many
Himalayan
peaks
are
sacred
in
both
Hinduism
and
Buddhism. |
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The
main
Himalaya
range
runs,
west
to
east,
from
the
Indus
river
valley
to
the
Brahmaputra
river
valley,
forming
an
arc
2,400
km
(1,490
mi)
long,
which
varies
in
width
from
400
km
in
the
western
Kashmir-Xinjiang
region
to
150
km
in
the
eastern
Tibet-Arunachal
Pradesh
region.
The
range
consists
of
three
coextensive
sub-ranges,
with
the
northern-most,
and
highest,
known
as
the
Great
or
Inner
Himalayas. |
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The
Himalayas
are
among
the
youngest
mountain
ranges
on
the
planet
and
consist
mostly
of
uplifted
sedimentary
and
metamorphic
rock.
According
to
the
modern
theory
of
plate
tectonics,
their
formation
is a
result
of a
continental
collision
or
orogeny
along
the
convergent
boundary
between
the
Indo-Australian
Plate
and
the
Eurasian
Plate.
This
is
referred
to
as a
fold
mountain. |
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The
collision
began
in
the
Upper
Cretaceous
period
about
70
million
years
ago,
when
the
north-moving
Indo-Australian
Plate,
moving
at
about
15
cm
per
year,
collided
with
the
Eurasian
Plate.
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
these
sediments
were
light,
they
crumpled
into
mountain
ranges
rather
than
sinking
to
the
floor.
The
Indo-Australian
plate
continues
to
be
driven
horizontally
below
the
Tibetan
plateau,
which
forces
the
plateau
to
move
upwards.
The
Arakan
Yoma
highlands
in
Myanmar
and
the
Andaman
and
Nicobar
Islands
in
the
Bay
of
Bengal
were
also
formed
as a
result
of
this
collision. |
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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
region
seismically
active,
leading
to
earthquakes
from
time
to
time. |
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The
Himalaya
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.
The
largest
lake
is
the
Pangong
Tso,
which
is
spread
across
the
border
between
India
and
Tibet.
It
is
situated
at
an
altitude
of
4,600
m,
and
is 8
km
wide
and
nearly
134
km
long.
A
notable
high
(but
not
the
highest)
lake
is
the
Gurudogmar
in
North
Sikkim
at
an
altitude
of
5,148
m
(16,890
ft)
(altitude
source:
SRTM).
Other
major
lakes
include
the
Tsongmo
lake,
near
the
Indo-Tibet
border
in
Sikkim,
and
Tilicho
lake
in
Nepal
in
the
Annapurna
massif,
a
large
lake
in
an
area
that
was
closed
to
tourists
until
recently.
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. |
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