#2. HIMALAYAS - The Beauty and Majesty: Facts

1.  In Sanskrit HIMA = Snow and ALAYA = Abode; hence HIMALAYA = ‘the abode of snow’.
2.  Though it is unusual to have such an amount of snow/ice accumulation in low latitude, the mountain are so high that the cold and rarefied air always adores their peaks so that the snow/ice respects and keeps on covering constantly.
3.  Himalayas – the world’s tallest mountains – are the mountains in between Indus River on the west to the Barhmaputra River on the east, measuring approximately 2400 kilometers, with width variation from 160 – 240 kilometers.
4. Himalayas cover about 0.4% of the Earth’s Space i.e. an area of 612021 square KM.
5.  Himalayas, also called “the water towers”, are the origin of some major river systems like the Indus, the Sutlej, the Ganges, the Mahakali, the Karnali, the Gandaki, the Sapta Koshi, and the Burhmaputra – the source of fresh water for about 1/3^rd of the world populations.
6. Erosion is crucial in case of the Himalayas, not only in creation of antecedent rivers, but in the general formation of Himalayas.
7. According to Bob Stoddard, if there wouldn’t be the wearing down of this gigantic earth wrinkle, the Himalayas would be much higher and growing at the rate of 8 – 10 centimeters annually.
8.  He furthers argues that, the present rate of erosion is such that it takes a century for the mountains to increase in height even a few centimeters.
9.  Erosion affects not only the height but also carves into steep peaks, narrow gorges, and the generally rugged topography that characterizes these young mountains.
10. Himalayas are one of the most vulnerable areas of world due to climate change. Various studies suggest that warming in the Himalayas has been much greater than the global average of 0.74°C over the last 100 years.
11. The Himalayas are characterized by high altitude, rich biodiversity and high endemism despite being environmentally severe.
12. It is accepted that abiotic stresses increase with increased altitude in the Himalayas.
13.  Many of the World's most sensitive ecosystems are in Mountain regions.
14. Mountain ecosystems support 1/2 of the world's biological diversity and nearly half of the world's biodiversity Hotspots (Hassan et.al. 2005).
15. Globalization, economic policies, increasing pressure on land and resources due to economic growth, land-use change, and change in population structure and lifestyle are some of the drivers of change that impact the mountain ecosystem and people.
16. Global climate change acts an additional stressor to exacerbate the impact of other drivers of change (ICIMOD 2010).
17. There are about 204 critical glacial lakes in Hindu-Kush Himalayan region that have a potential for bursting.

A Thrilling Journey into the Himalayas

Before jumping into my journeys and experiences in the Himalayas, although it may not be new for you, I am going to present a brief introduction of the Himalayas; especially the origin and evolution!

A View of Himalayas as seen from Phyuk Ri, Nuwakot

A quote, my favorite one, about the Himalayas by a famous Nepalese Geographer which, I always appreciate and adore:

“IT WOULD BE MORE REALISTIC TO CONSIDER MOUNTAINS AS DYNAMIC, CERTAINLY NOT FRAGILE”

– Dr. Harka Gurung (2004).

#1. Himalayas: The Youngest Mountains in the World

Mt. Dhaulagiri Range as seen from just above Ghorepani, Myagdi

According to Bob Stoddard, Professor of Geography at the University of Nebraska-Linkon, US; the origin of the Himalayas dates backs some fifty million years ago when the two continental plates that form the cores of peninsular India (Gondwana land) and central Asia (Laurasia) began squeezing together. Previously these huge sections of earth surface were separated by shallow sea, which was receiving the eroded sands and muds that were being dumped into it by rivers emitting from the land masses. As the two continents moved together, they squeezed and buckled these relatively soft earth materials into gigantic folds. As these earth materials became pushed higher, they formed the ranges of mountains – now called the Himalayas. Actually this mountain-building process is still occurring as the mountains continue to rise each year.

Gauri Shanker Himalayan range with (Abeis tree on foreground) as seen in the evening from Kalinchowk temple, Dolakha; 28 October, 2010

The evidences are: one is the limestone beds that compose part of the highest mountains, such as Mt. Everest (Sagarmatha) because the origin of limestone was the former shallow sea. And these days those sedimentary rocks are way far from the sea level standing as a water tower. Next evidence: the fossils found on the slopes of the mountains (e.g. the Ammonites i.e. Saligram Sila found in Kaligandaki valley, Mustang, Nepal) indicate life that once existed in seas before the mountains arose.