There's Nothing "Ho-Hum" About the Himalayas

The Himalayan mountain range is in southern Asia. It is the tallest mountain range in the world. Many of its mammoth peaks are more than 25,000 feet tall. Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, can be found there. It is 29,035 feet tall!


Believe it or not, these massive mountains have not always been there. Rather, they were created by a big bump! Fifty-five million years ago, plate tectonics caused the Earth to change. Long ago India and Africa were connected. Then, over five million years, the land now known as India slowly broke off and floated away. At last, it bumped into Asia. The uplift caused by this bump created these majestic mountains. Land from the floor of the ocean and the earth's crust combined to become the Himalayan Mountains.


These mountains are very tall. But they are still growing taller! The land that formed the Himalayas is still moving, albeit slowly. India is still pushing against Asia. This causes the land to move one centimeter every six months. While subtle, this small movement still causes the Himalayas to grow taller year after year.


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