October 16, 2008

Orogeny Case Study: The Himalayas

Origin
 Formation started seventy million years ago (Upper Cretaceous period)
Classification of rock
 Sedimentary
 Metamorphic rocks (metasedimentary)
 Intrusion of granite
 Metamorphic (greenschist)
Plates involved
 Divergent, collision boundary
 Eurasian and Indian Plates
 Earthquakes common
Method of uplift:
 Fold mountain range (series of parallel ridges or folds)
 Still growing
Major landforms
 From south to north, there are 4 parallel longitudinal belts
o Shivaliks (the Outer Himalayas or the Sub-Himalayas)
o Himachal (the Lesser Himalayas or the Lower Himalayas)
o Himadri (the Great Himalayas or the Higher Himalayas)
o the Trans-Himalayas (Tibetan Himalayas)
 Mount Everest
Location
 Between Bhutan, Tibet (China), India, Nepal, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan
Who lives there
 More conservative, less technologically advanced people
 Tribal villages
How did they adapt to living there
 Prepare for winter by gathering wood in advance
 Know about wilderness, what plants to eat
Other
 Supplies water to much of Asia
 Earthquakes common

Source:
ThinkQuest. (1997). Himalayas: Where Earth meets sky. Retrieved October 12, 2008,
from the ThinkQuest. Website: http://library.thinkquest.org/10131/index.html