We discuss the seismic cycle in the Himalayas and its relation to mountain building on the basis of geodetic, seismological and geological data collected in the Himalaya of Nepal. On average over several seismic cycles, localized slip on a major thrust fault, the Main Himalayan Thrust fault, MHT, accommodates the ∼21 mm·yr^(−1) convergence rate between southern Tibet and India. The geodetic data show that the MHT is presently locked from the sub-Himalayas to beneath the front of the high range where it roots into a sub-horizontal ductile shear zone under southern Tibet. Aseismic slip during th

The Southern Alps (Māori: Kā Tiritiri o te Moana; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern Alps" generally refers to the entire range, although separate names are given to many of the smaller ranges that form part of it. The… The Southern Alps (Māori: Kā Tiritiri o te Moana; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern Alps" generally refers to the entire range, although separate names are given to many of the smaller ranges that form part of it. The range includes the South Island's Main Divide, which separates the water catchments of the more heavily populated eastern side of the island from those on the west coast. Politically, the Main Divide forms the boundary between the Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago regions to the southeast and the Tasman and West Coast regions to the northwest. The Southern Alps run approximately 500 km northeast to southwest. The tallest peak is Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft). The Southern Alps includes sixteen other points that exceed 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in height (see NZ mountains by height). The mountain ranges are bisected by glacial valleys, many of which are infilled with glacial lakes on the eastern side including Lake Coleridge in the north and Lake Wakatipu in Otago in the south. According to an inventory conducted in the late 1970s, the Southern Alps contained over 3,000 glaciers larger than one hectare, the longest of which – the Tasman Glacier – is 23.5 kilometres (14.6 mi) in length, retreated from a recent maximum of 29 kilometres (18 mi) in the 1960s. Settlements include Maruia Springs, a spa near Lewis Pass, the town of Arthur's Pass, and Mount Cook Village. Major crossings of the Southern Alps in the New Zealand road network include Lewis Pass (SH 7), Arthur's Pass (SH 73), Haast Pass (SH 6), and the road to Milford Sound (SH 94). The Southern Alps lie along a geological plate boundary, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, with the Pacific Plate to the southeast pushing westward and colliding with the northward-moving Indo-Australian Plate to the northwest. Over the last 45 million years, the collision has pushed up a 20 km thickness of rocks on the Pacific Plate to form the Alps, although much of this has been eroded away. Uplift has been most rapid during the last 5 million years, and the mountains continue to be raised today by tectonic pressure, causing earthquakes on the Alpine Fault and other nearby faults. Despite the substantial uplift, most of the relative motion along the Alpine Fault is transverse, not vertical. However, significant dip-slip occurs on the plate boundary to the north and east of the North Island, in the Hikurangi Trough and Kermadec Trench. The transfer of motion from strike-slip on the Alpine Fault to dip-slip motion at these subduction zones to the north creates the Marlborough Fault System, which has resulted in significant uplift in the region. In 2017 a large international team of scientists reported they had discovered beneath Whataroa, a small township on the Alpine Fault, "extreme" hydrothermal activity which "could be commercially very significant". The mountains are rich in flora with about 25% of the country's plant species being found above the treeline in alpine plant habitats and grassland with mountain beech forest at lower elevations (of the eastern side but not in Westland). The cold windswept slopes above the treeline are covered with areas of fellfield. To the east, the Alps descend to the Canterbury-Otago tussock grasslands. Plants adapted to the alpine conditions include woody shrubs like Hebe, Dracophyllum, and Coprosma, the conifer snow tōtara (Podocarpus nivalis) and Carex sedge grasses.

The Himalayas, or Himalaya, is a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 peaks exceeding elevations of 7,200 metres (23,600 feet) above sea level lie in the Himalayas. The Himalayas span five countries: Nepal, India, China, Bhutan, and Pakis Despite their… The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall, and soil conditions, combined with the very high snow line, supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. The extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure), combined with extreme cold, favor extremophile organisms. At high altitudes, the elusive and previously endangered snow leopard is the main predator. Its prey includes members of the goat family grazing on the alpine pastures and living on the rocky terrain, notably the endemic bharal or Himalayan blue sheep. The Himalayan musk deer is also found at high altitudes. Hunted for its musk, it is now rare and endangered. Other endemic or near-endemic herbivores include the Himalayan tahr, the takin, the Himalayan serow, and the Himalayan goral. The critically endangered Himalayan subspecies of the brown bear is found sporadically across the range, as is the Asian black bear. In the mountainous mixed deciduous and conifer forests of the eastern Himalayas, red pandas feed in the dense understories of bamboo. Lower down, the forests of the foothills are inhabited by several different primates, including the endangered Gee's golden langur and the Kashmir gray langur, with highly restricted ranges in the east and west of the Himalayas, respectively. The unique The Himalayas were uplifted after the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate, specifically, by the folding, or nappe-formation of the uppermost Indian crust, even as a lower layer continued to push on into Tibet and add thickness to its plateau; the still lower crust, along with the mantle, however, subducted under Eurasia. The Himalayan mountain range runs west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of the Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, lies immediately west of the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. The Himalayas form most of the south-west portion of the disputed Indian-administered union territory of Ladakh. The twin peaks of Nun Kun are the only mountains over 7,000 metres (23,000 ft; 4.3 miles) in this part of the Himalayas. Finally, the Himalayas reach their western end in the dramatic The headwaters of the Indus River and the Yarlung Tsangpo (later in its course, the Brahmaputra) flow along this suture zone. These two Eurasian rivers, whose courses were continually diverted by the rising Himalayas, define the western and eastern limits, respectively, of the Himalayan mountain range. During the India-Eurasia collision, two elongated protrusions located on either side of the northern border of the Indian continent generated areas of extreme deformation. A point where mountain ranges with different directions of extension, and thus formed by tectonic forces at varying angles, converge is called a syntaxis (Greek: convergence). As a result, the main ridge of the Himalayas is not clearly defined, and mountain passes are not as significant for traversing the range as with other mountain ranges. Himalayas' rivers drain into two large systems: The western rivers combine into the Indus Basin. The Indus itself forms the northern and western boundaries of the Himalayas. It begins in Tibet, at the confluence of Sengge and Gar rivers, and flows north-west through India into Pakistan before turning south-west to the Arabian Sea. It is fed by several major tributaries draining the southern slopes of the Himalayas, including the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers, the five rivers of the Punjab. This forced lifting of air is called the orographic effect. === Winds === The vast size, huge altitude range, and complex topography of the Himalayas mean they experience a wide range of climates, from humid subtropical in the foothills, to cold and dry desert conditions on the Tibetan side of the range. For much of the Himalayas—in the areas to the south of the high mountains, the monsoon is the most characteristic feature of the climate and causes most of the precipitation, while the western disturbance brings winter precipitation, especially in the west. Heavy rain arrives on the southwest monsoon in June and persists until September. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall, and soil conditions, combined with the very high snow line, supports a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. The extremes of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure), combined with extreme cold, favor extremophile organisms. At high altitudes, the elusive and previously endangered snow leopard is the main predator. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some tree species, especially rhododendron, apple, and box myrtle. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica, located at 4,900 m (16,080 ft) in Southeastern Tibet. == Religions == There are many cultural and mythological aspects associated with the Himalayas. In Jainism, Mount Ashtapada of the Himalayan mountain range is a sacred place where the first Jain tirthankara, Rishabhanatha, attained moksha.

Plate tectonics and satellite-derived gravity data are used to examine crustal deformation under the Tibetan Plateau. A spherical harmonic analysis is given for the global plate boundary system, and the crustal stresses in Tibet are calculated from satellite gravity data. A superimposed stress system is constructed. The stress patterns reveal that the cold downwelling mantle convection flow beneath southern Tibet pulls the Indian plate down but applies a bending moment on the end of the plate to uplift and support the mass of the Himalayas.

Despite much progress, many questions remain regarding the potential dynamic coupling between atmospheric and lithospheric processes in the long-term evolution of mountain belts. As a complement to recent efforts to discover the interrelationships among climate, topography, erosion, and rock deformation under conditions of mass-flux steady state, we explore orogen response to changes in climate and tectonic influx. We derive an analytical model that predicts a powerful climatic control on orogen evolution and distinct, potentially diagnostic, responses to climatic and tectonic perturbations. D

Mountain ranges are the most spectacular manifestation of continental dynamics. The fact that some mountain ranges were able to maintain their topography over tens of millions years, while their erosion was feeding large sedimentary basins, is unambiguous evidence that tectonic forces can cause sustained uplift of subsidence of the continental crust. Geologists noticed quite early on that most mountain ranges are contractional orogens, the result of horizontal contraction of the continental crust, and that they tend to form long belts separating domains with often quite different geologic hist

dioxide; and the upper atmosphere also contains traces of the poisonous gas carbon monoxide and the corrosive … its own axis, and the obliquity of this axis (i.e., the angle between its axis and the plane of its re- … Mediterranean lands (such as the Alps and the Taurus range), of Iran, and the Himalayas. In the east this system

dioxide; and the upper atmosphere also contains traces of the poisonous gas carbon monoxide and the corrosive … its own axis, and the obliquity of this axis (1.e., the angle between its axis and the plane of its re- … Mediterranean lands (such as the Alps and the Taurus range), of Iran, and the Himalayas. In the east this system