In Memoriam
This past week marked the deaths of several high-profile celebrities. The entertainment world lost Maggie Smith—whose award-winning acting career included parts in Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter films—as well as American singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson, and actor James Amos. Meanwhile, the sports world mourns the deaths of beloved basketball legend Dikembe Mutombo and polarizing baseball player Pete Rose.
NBA Legend Dikembe Mutombo
Al Messerschmidt Archive/AP Images
Star of Stage and Screen Maggie Smith
© 2010 Carnival Film & Television/MASTERPIECE
Kris Kristofferson, Singer-Songwriter and Actor
© Aija Lehtonen/Shutterstock.com
Ever-Growing Everest
At 29,032 feet (8,849 meters), Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. But you may be surprised to learn that it keeps growing, a dynamic detailed in a study published earlier this week.
How much?
Mount Everest is located on the crest of the Great Himalayas of southern Asia that lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Information from global positioning instruments in place on Everest since the late 1990s indicates that the mountain continues to move a few inches to the northeast and rise a fraction of an inch each year.
For how long?
The Himalayan ranges were thrust upward by tectonic action as the Indian-Australian Plate was forced under the Eurasian Plate after the plates’ collision about 40 million to 50 million years ago. The Himalayas started rising about 25 million to 30 million years ago, and the Great Himalayas began to take their present form during the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).
Why?
The growth is largely due to the continued pressing of the Indian-Australian Plate up against the Eurasian Plate. Because the collision occurs between two areas of continental crust, the rocks have nowhere to go but up. The study notes that erosion caused by the nearby Arun River and its basin have worn away rock material at the surface, which reduces the overall mass of the layers of rock in that area. This allows the land to push upward faster than it normally would. While the tectonic action of the two plates does most of the work, the river is a contributing factor.
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