Monday, June 11, 2012

Mount Everest

           The nature has always amazed us with its mysterious outlooks and designs which are neither made by human or any other automatic machines.However, they seem as if they are made in time of leisure with lots of architectural procedures. They are natural wonders of the world. The world's highest peak Mount Everest is one of the natural wonders of the world. It represents the highest spot on the earth's surface.
          Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world with the summit reaching the peak of 8848 meter (29029feet) above the sea level. It is situated in Mahalangur section of the Himalayas of Nepal in Solukhumbu district of Sagarmatha zone at tyhhe latitude 27 59 N.... longitude 86 56  E. It makes the international border between Nepal and China.
         Mount Everest has got many names the highest peak of the world. The official Tibetan name for the Mount Everest is Qomolangma often spelled as Chomoluangma meaning " The holy Mother". The official Chinese name is Zhumulangma which also has the same meaning,"The Holy Mother". In 1856, when the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India first published the height of Mount Everest, then it was known as Peak XV. In 1865, Andrew Waugh, the British Survey or  General of India gave it an English name Mount Everest after his predecessor , Colonel Sir George Everest. However, the country where it is located has named it Sagarmatha "goddess of the sky".It was Sir George Everest who discovered the highest peak of the world. He was Surveyor-General in India. During the survey in the northern of India, they noticed this peak. They measured it with "trigonometry" and didscovered that it was the highest known mountain. Name of the mountain is therefore in honourr of George Everest . More accurate measurement made later has shown it is 8,848 m high. In 1987 a USexpendition obtained measurements of k2 (second highest mountain in Karakoram range, Kashmir, N India, 8,611m/28, 261 ft). This disputed Everest's "highest mountain" status, but recent satellite measurements have established Mountain Everest as the highest.
          In its geological study, it is found from the study that the rocks comprising Mount Everest has been subdivided into three units called "formations" each separated from the other by detachments. The units are:
Q o m o l a n g m a Formation: From its summit to the top of the Yellow Band, about 8600m above the sea level consists of the Qomolangma F o r m a t i o n. It consists of grayish to dark gray or whiteparallel laminated and bedded with a kind of limestone. The Qomolangma Formation is broken up by several high-angle faults that terminate at the low angle thrust faults, the Qomolangma D e t a c h m e n t.  This d e t a c h m e n t separates it from the underlying Yellow Band. The lower five metres of the Qomolangma Formation overlying this detachments are very highly deformed. North Col formation: The bulk of Everest between7000 and 8600m consists of the North Col formation, of which the Yellow Band forms its upper part between 8200 to 8600m. The part of North Col Formation exposed between 7000 to 8200m consists of inter-layered and deformed schist, Phyllite and minor marble. The base of the North Col Formation is a regional thrust fault called the "Lhotse detachment".
Rongbuk Formation: Below 7000m, the Rongbuk Formation underlies the North Col Formation and makes the base of Mount Everest. It consists of sillimanite-K-feldspar grade schist and gneiss.
            Mount Everest has become the best mountain for the climbers to achieve their desire of climbing. The first ascent to Mount Everest was made by Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal through the South col Route in May 29, 1953. The first ascent by a woman was Junko Tabei from Japan on May 16, 1975. The first ascent by Nepali woman to Mount Everest was Pasan Lhamu Sherpa. Not all the climbers have safely climbed down the Everest. The highest cause of death in here is due to Avalanches. The most dangerous area on mountain is Khumbu Ice Fall where 19 deaths have occurred till date.
           Though dangerous, Mount Everest is a beautiful piece of art created by the nature. No, doubt, it is a wonder.



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