mountain range in Asia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Himalayas are a mountain range in South Asia.
The west end of the mountain range is in Pakistan. They run through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh states in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. The east end is in the south of Tibet. They are divided into 3 parts: Himadri, Himachal and Shiwaliks.
The 15 highest mountains in the world are in the Himalayas. The main ones are Mount Everest, Annapurna, and Nanga Parbat. Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, at 8,849 meters. Mount Kanchenjunga 8,586 m (28,169 ft), the third highest mountain in the world also lies in Himalaya Range. [1]Of the fifteen highest mountain peaks in the World, nine are in the Nepali Himalayas.
The word "Himalaya" means House of Snow in Sanskrit, an old south asian language. North of the Himalayas is the Tibetan Plateau. It is called "the roof of the world". However, the Tibetan Plateau is very dry both because of its high elevation and the mountains acting to make a gigantic rain shadow. The rain, coming from the south, falls on the south side of the mountains. This has greatly influenced the climate of the Indian subcontinent. Not only do the mountains block the extremely cold winter winds blowing from Central Asia from entering the Subcontinent, they also forces the Bay of Bengal Monsoon branch to shed its moisture along NE and Northern Indian States, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Geologically, the origin of the Himalayas is the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate. The Indian plate travels northward at 15 cm per year, and joined the Eurasian continent about 40-50 million years ago. The formation of the Himalayas resulted in the lighter rock of the seabeds of that time being lifted up into mountains. An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone.[2][3]
The Indian plate is still moving north at 67 mm per year. 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 Eurasian plate also leads to earthquakes from time to time.
The Himalayas are very popular for tourists because it has a lot of wildlife. The types of plants and trees, which are common in the place, are Oak, Pine, Fir, Rhododendron, Birch, Juniper, and Deodar. Common animals, which are seen mostly in the different parts of the Himalayas, are snow leopards, blue sheep, musk deer, tigers, elephants, wild boar, and crocodiles. Even endangered species of animals and plants are also found there. In the north part of the Himalayas where the temperature falls below freezing point, animals cannot survive well. However, those who adapted can survive. During the cold winters most of the animals migrate to the lower regions of the Himalayas while others like the brown bear hibernate instead. The Yak is mostly seen in the cold desert.[3] They are like wild ox and they are the largest animals in this region. In regions of Ladakh animals like Nyan, the wild and the most largest sheep are found.[4]
Some of the major places for wildlife attractions in the Himalayas are:
The five main rivers of the Himalayas are the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj. The rivers are the main source of human and animal life in those areas.[4]
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