Keris
23-09-08, 10:49 PM
The geography of Tibet consists of the high mountains,
lakes and rivers of central-south Asia.
Tibet is often called "the roof of the world",
comprising table-lands averaging over 4,950 metres above the sea
with peaks at 6,000 to 7,500 m, including Mount Everest.
It is bounded on the north and east by China,
on the west by the Kashmir Region of India
and on the south by Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Most of Tibet sits atop a geological structure known as the Tibetan Plateau
which includes the Himalayas and many of the highest mountain peaks in the world.
It includes almost all the world's territory higher than 4000 meters.
Its southern rim, the Himalaya-Karakoram complex,
contains not just Mount Everest and all 13 other peaks higher than 8000 meters,
but hundreds of 7000-meter peaks each higher than anywhere else on Earth.
The Tibetan Plateau is not just the largest, highest area in the world today;
it may be the largest and highest in all of geologic history.
That's because the set of events that formed it appears to be unique:
a full-speed collision of two continental plates.
Raising the Tibetan Plateau
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/Keris01/roof-of-the-world.jpg
Composite satellite image of the Himalayan range.
The top of the picture is directed towards the north northwest.
The Tibetan Plateau is near the centre and the Taklamakan plain is visible as the lighter area near the top.
Nearly 100 million years ago,
India separated from Africa as the super continent Gondwanaland broke up.
From there the Indian plate moved north at speeds of around 150 millimeters per year—much faster than any plate is moving today.
lakes and rivers of central-south Asia.
Tibet is often called "the roof of the world",
comprising table-lands averaging over 4,950 metres above the sea
with peaks at 6,000 to 7,500 m, including Mount Everest.
It is bounded on the north and east by China,
on the west by the Kashmir Region of India
and on the south by Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Most of Tibet sits atop a geological structure known as the Tibetan Plateau
which includes the Himalayas and many of the highest mountain peaks in the world.
It includes almost all the world's territory higher than 4000 meters.
Its southern rim, the Himalaya-Karakoram complex,
contains not just Mount Everest and all 13 other peaks higher than 8000 meters,
but hundreds of 7000-meter peaks each higher than anywhere else on Earth.
The Tibetan Plateau is not just the largest, highest area in the world today;
it may be the largest and highest in all of geologic history.
That's because the set of events that formed it appears to be unique:
a full-speed collision of two continental plates.
Raising the Tibetan Plateau
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/Keris01/roof-of-the-world.jpg
Composite satellite image of the Himalayan range.
The top of the picture is directed towards the north northwest.
The Tibetan Plateau is near the centre and the Taklamakan plain is visible as the lighter area near the top.
Nearly 100 million years ago,
India separated from Africa as the super continent Gondwanaland broke up.
From there the Indian plate moved north at speeds of around 150 millimeters per year—much faster than any plate is moving today.