Evidence Of Massive Landslide In Himalayas During Medieval Era Found

Evidence of massive rockslide in one of the Himalaya's highest mountains in Medieval era has been discovered by a group of geologists.

In their study published in the journal Nature, Jerome Lave from the Universite de Lorraine, France, and his colleagues analyzed the features of the Sabche Cirque, a Himalayan basin.

Mountains lost half kilometers in height

The Annapurna, a mountain range located in Nepal, is home to some of the highest peaks in the world.

Between the summits are valleys, plateaus and basins that are identical to one another. However, this is not the case with Sabche Cirque which is mostly covered in rocks instead of fertile soil.

Scientists have suspected that the rocks might be remnants of a centuries-old slide, Phys.Org reported.

The rocks are found to be a breccia, a smaller rocks embedded in larger rocks. By excavating, it was discovered that the size of the imbedded rocks increased with depth. When some of rocks are cracked open, it reveals imbedded carbon-dated plant materials, which s believed to be all dated around 1200 CE.

Experts also discovered that one of the peaks next to Sabche Cirque had experienced shearing along one of its slopes, indicating that the material fall from it into the valley.

Evidence strongly said that a large rock slide filled the valley below with material up to a kilometer deep occurred sometime around 1200 CE.

According to the researchers, the peak from which the rock avalanche had occurred was probably over 8,000 meters high before it happened, meaning it had lost around half a kilometer in height.

Evolution of high Himalayan peaks

The recent study provided more insights into mode of evolution of high Himalayan peaks, which involved abrupt erosion of massive rockslides.

Despite number of studies conducted on the Himalayan erosion, the geologist acknowledged that little is know about the peaks of the Earth's tallest and one of the most active mountain ranges.

The mountains peak height and shape are continually changing as a result of erosion and tectonic plate movements,

Future research was encouraged by the experts to further evaluate the erosive impact of massive rockslides on the mountain ranges' long-term topographic evolution.

An entry on PBS described the Himalayas as stretching across the northeastern portion of India.

They cover approximately 1,500 mi or 2,400 km and pass through the countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Bhutan and Nepal.

The Himalayan range is made up of three parallel ranges often referred to as the Greater Himalayas, the Lesser Himalayas, and the Outer Himalayas.

Earlier reports said the glaciers in Asia's Hindu Kush Himalayas are already melting at unprecedented rates and could lose up to 75 percent of their volume by the end of the century.

Citing experts, an Aljazeera report said this could bring dangerous flooding and water shortages for the almost two billion people who live downstream of the rivers that originate in the mountainous region.