The height of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, is not a static value. It constantly changes under the influence of complex and sometimes contradictory geological processes. The mountain grows upwards under the action of some forces and is destroyed under the action of others.
The change in the height of Mount Everest is the result of the struggle between two main forces: tectonic uplift and erosion. However, recent discoveries have revealed another amazing factor — rivers that can contribute to the growth of the mountain.
The main reason for the existence of the Himalayas in general is the ongoing collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which began about 40-50 million years ago. The Indian plate continues to move northward, \"sneaking\" under the Eurasian plate. This compression of the earth's crust leads to its thickening and uplift, which is the main driving force behind the growth of the Himalayas and Mount Everest.
Review: geotectonist Andrey Petrov
\"Working on projects in the Himalayas, I am always amazed by the power of tectonic processes. The collision of plates, which began millions of years ago, continues to this day. It is this process that laid the foundation for the height of Mount Everest, and without this fundamental process, the mountain would have been significantly lower. It's like an eternal engine that feeds the growth of the mountain system.\"
In 2024, an international group of scientists from University College London and the Chinese University of Geosciences published a study in the journal Nature Geoscience that offers a new explanation for the anomalous height of Mount Everest. They associate this with a phenomenon called \"isostatic rebound\".
The essence of the phenomenon is as follows: about 89,000 years ago, the river Arun, flowing to the east of Mount Everest, \"captured\" another river system. This led to a sharp increase in the water flow and, as a result, to a significant intensification of erosion. The river began to carry a huge amount of rock and sedimentary materials, deepening its bed and forming deep ravines.
The loss of this mass created an effect similar to that of a ship becoming lighter after unloading. The earth's crust, losing weight, began to \"float\" in a denser mantle. This uplifting process, called isostatic rebound, led to additional growth not only of Mount Everest but also of neighboring peaks — Lhotse and Makalu.
Review: hydrologist-researcher Ekaterina Morozova
\"We are used to thinking that rivers only destroy mountains. But here it turns out that they can contribute to their growth! The idea that erosion can cause the uplift of mountain rocks is known in geology, but the example of Mount Everest shows this very vividly. It's like a complex dance between water and the earth's crust, where one movement is compensated by another.\"
Review: scientific researcher at the Institute of Geography, Professor Sergey Kuznetsov
\"The results of the UCL study are very interesting. They explain why Mount Everest stands out so prominently above neighboring peaks, including the second highest mountain in the world — K2. It turns out that in addition to tectonic compression, its height was also affected by changes in the river network. This reminds us of how dynamic our planet is, where processes in one point can have consequences tens of kilometers away.\"
According to estimates by scientists, Mount Everest has grown by 15-50 meters over the last 89,000 years due to isostatic rebound, and it continues to grow at a rate of up to 2 millimeters per year.
On the other hand, the height of Mount Everest is also affected by climate change. There is data suggesting that global warming contributes to the melting of glaciers and snow on the summit and its slopes.
Research conducted by Chinese scientists since 1966 has shown that by 1999, the height of Mount Everest had decreased from 8,849.75 meters to 8,848.45 meters. This process is associated with the melting of snow, which leads to the compaction of high-altitude glaciers and, as a result, to a decrease in the overall height of the mountain.
Review: climatologist Maria Vetrova, independent expert
\"The question of the impact of warming on the height of Mount Everest is complex. On the one hand, the melting of glaciers does indeed reduce the physical height of the rock peak. On the other hand, data on the reduction in height are not always unambiguous and depend on the method of measurement. However, the fact that climate change affects even such remote and high points on the planet is an important signal of large-scale changes.\"
Accurately measuring the height of Mount Everest is a complex task. Modern technologies such as GPS navigation allow for changes to be recorded with high precision, showing that the mountain can rise or fall by millimeters each year. Thus, in 2020, China and Nepal jointly announced a new official height — 8,848.86 meters.
The height of Mount Everest is not just a number on a map. It is the result of a dynamic balance between giant tectonic forces that lift the mountain upwards, the amazing process of isostatic rebound that accelerates this growth, erosion, and also climate change that \"slices\" its summit. Mount Everest is alive and changing, and its history is being written right now.
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