What’s the highest a mountain can grow on Earth?

Published

2 years ago

April 9, 2023

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Could a mountain grow to greater heights than Everest? (Image credit: sansubba)

Sixty million years ago, when the Eurasian plate slammed into the Indian plate, a mountain range was born. Because these plates were of similar density, neither could sink below the other. The rocks had nowhere to go but up.

Now, the Himalayas host Earth’s tallest mountains. Mount Everest is the tallest, towering 5.4 miles (8.8 kilometers) above sea level. After Everest, the tallest is K2, which rises 5.3 miles (8.6 km) above Earth’s surface.

Could these mountains be any higher? For that matter, how high could any mountain grow on Earth?

Theoretically, a mountain could be “quite a bit taller than Everest,” Gene Humphreys (opens in new tab) , a geophysicist at the University of Oregon, told Live Science. But first it would have to overcome a few challenges that many mountains face as they grow.

For instance, because of Earth’s gravitational pull, any pile of rock that grows into a mountain will start to slouch, “much like a wad of bread dough will slowly flatten when placed on a table,” Humphreys said.

Related: Is Mount Everest really the tallest mountain on Earth?

Active processes, like erosion, also help keep mountains from growing too tall. Glaciers, vast blocks of slowly moving ice, are especially good at carving up mountains.

The peak of Mount Everest sites above the clouds of Tibet. (Image credit: Nicole Kucera)

Earth scientists refer to glacial erosion as “the glacial buzzsaw because they are so effective at taking the sides off of mountains,” Humphreys said. “[Glacial erosion] creates a steep-sided mountain that is then prone to landsliding.”

The effects of erosion and gravity mean that “the bigger the mountain, the greater the stresses created by gravity and the stronger the tendency to collapse,” Humphreys said. And although Mount Everest “could conceivably get elevated yet higher, its steep south side seems unstable,” which might lead to landslides.

However, there are ways a mountain could grow taller than Everest, Humphreys continued. Possibly even 1 mile (1.6 km) taller — but only if the conditions were just right. First, it’d have to be formed from volcanic processes rather than from continental collision. Volcanic mountains, like the Hawaiian Islands, grow as they erupt. Lava flowing out of the volcanoes cools in layers, building the volcanoes higher and higher. And finally, for the mountain to keep growing, it would need a continuing source of magma pumped higher and higher, allowing it to erupt, flow down the mountain’s sides, and cool.

This volcanic process is exactly how the solar system’s tallest mountain, Mars’ Olympus Mons, formed. Towering 16 miles (25 km), Olympus Mons is so tall that it actually pokes through the top of the Red Planet’s atmosphere, Briony Horgan (opens in new tab) , a planetary scientist at Purdue University in Indiana, told Live Science.Related Mysteries—Which country has the most islands?

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Olympus Mons could get so tall because Mars lacks plate tectonics, the large rafts of crust that dominate Earth’s geological processes. Olympus Mons formed over a hotspot — a deep well of rising magma — that repeatedly erupted. Just like the Hawaiian Islands, that erupted lava would flow down the sides of the mountain and cool into a new layer of rock.

However, even though the Hawaiian Islands also formed over a hotspot, the Pacific plate keeps moving, so the islands won’t stay over the hotspot long enough for their volcanoes to become as large as a mountain like Olympus Mons.

“On Mars if you just have that same hotspot but the plate isn’t moving, you can make enormous, enormous volcanoes over the course of hundreds of millions or billions of years of activity,” Horgan said.

But even giants like Olympus Mons have a limit. According to Horgan, if the volcano is still active (so far, we haven’t observed any current activity), it’s likely nearing the end of its growth. This is because the pressure required to continue to pump magma to the top of the mountain might soon be unable to overcome the forces working against it — the height of the mountain and Mars’ own gravitational pull.

“You can think of a volcano basically as a pipe that you’re trying to pump lava through, and on some level, if it’s too big, too high, you don’t have enough power to get the lava through,” Horgan said.

Technology

European SpaceX rival raises $160 million for reusable capsule to carry astronauts, cargo to space

Published

1 hour ago

November 17, 2024

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European SpaceX rival raises 0 million for reusable capsule to carry astronauts, cargo to space

The Space Exploration develops a product called Nyx, a reusable capsule that can be launched from rockets into space carrying passengers and cargo.

The Exploration Company (TEC) announced Monday it has raised $160 million to fuel development of its capsule that is designed to take astronauts and cargo to space stations.

Venture capital firms Balderton Capital and Plural were the lead investors in the round which also included French government-backed investment vehicle French Tech Souveraineté and German government-backed fund DeepTech & Climate Fonds.

TEC’s core product is Nyx, a capsule that can be launched from rockets into space carrying passengers and cargo. Nyx is reusable so once it has dropped its payload, it can re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and be used for the next mission.

“It’s a big market, and it’s growing about a bit more than 10% per year because more nations want to fly their astronauts and more nations want to go to the moon,” Hélène Huby, founder and CEO of TEC, told CNBC in an interview.

“So there is an increased demand for sending people to stations, sending cargo to stations,” she said.

This part of the market has very few players. Some of the biggest are SpaceX which has a capsule called Dragon. There are also rivals from China and Russia.

“We said, ‘okay, let’s build this capacity in Europe so that Europe can have its own capsule and also the world needs an alternative solution. [We] cannot only bet on SpaceX,” Huby said.

TEC is currently developing the second version of Nyx which it expects to launch next year, followed by a final version in 2028. This model will be partly financed by the European Space Agency.

Huby said the company has signed $800 million in contracts to use its capsule. These include mission contracts with companies including Starlab, which is designing a new space station, and Axiom Space.

There is increasing activity in space among nations including China, the U.S. and India. One of the most ambitious projects is the NASA-led Gateway, which will be the first space station to orbit the moon.

“If you have more people, you also have a need for more cargo. So this is what is happening around the Earth and around the moon,” Huby said.

Huby sees TEC being a key player when it comes to developing the technology that is needed to return cargo to Earth once it has been in space.

“This is also where we where we believe our vehicle is going to play an important role,” Huby said.

UK

Harshita Brella: International manhunt under way for husband after woman’s body found in car boot

Published

1 hour ago

November 17, 2024

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Harshita Brella: International manhunt under way for husband after woman's body found in car boot

An international manhunt is under way for the husband of a murdered woman, whose body was found in the boot of a car.

The body of Harshita Brella was found in east London on Thursday, tens of miles away from her home in Corby.

On Sunday, Northamptonshire Police said they were looking for Pankaj Lamba – who they believe has left the country.

Sky News understands she had been under the protection of a court order designed for victims of domestic abuse.

“Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba,” said chief inspector Paul Cash.

“We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car.”

“Fast track” enquires were made after the force was contacted on Wednesday by someone concerned about Ms Brella’s welfare. After she failed to answer the door at her home in Skegness Walk, Corby, a missing person investigation was launched.

Her body was found inside the boot of a vehicle on Brisbane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

A post mortem – conducted at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday – established she had been murdered.

More than 60 detectives are working on the case, with lines of enquiry including going house to house and property searches, as well as looking at CCTV and ANPR.

“We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita,” said chief inspector Cash.

“I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us. We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.”

Force referred to police watchdog

On Saturday, Northamptonshire Police said it had made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct due to previous contact between the force and the victim.

Northamptonshire Police previously said officers had been conducting investigations at three locations: Skegness Walk and Sturton Walk in Corby and Brisbane Road, Ilford, where Ms Brella’s body was found.

East Midlands Special Operations Major Crime Unit (EMSOU) and Northamptonshire Police said they were working “around the clock to establish the circumstances behind her death, including the exact location and timeframe in which it took place”.

UK

King Richard III given Yorkshire accent using state-of-the-art technology

Published

1 hour ago

November 17, 2024

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King Richard III given Yorkshire accent using state-of-the-art technology

State-of-the-art technology has been used to create a voice for King Richard III – giving him a Yorkshire accent.

A digital avatar of the medieval king’s head went on display in front of excited history fans at York Theatre Royal.

Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32.

His remains were found in a car park in Leicester in 2012 by historian Philippa Langley.

Speaking about the recreation, she said: “We’ve got leading experts in their fields who have been working on this for 10 years and so everything has been meticulously researched, meticulously evidenced, so you are seeing the most accurate portrayal of Richard III”.

A team based at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University created the avatar based on the reconstruction of Richard III’s head with the help of a craniofacial expert.

Experts from various fields helped put the pieces of the puzzle together, including speech and language therapy, dentistry, forensic psychology and archaeology.

His voice has been created by Professor David Crystal, a leading linguist in 15th-century pronunciation. He admitted that it’s impossible to know exactly how he spoke, but this is as close as they will get.

The king was born in Northampton but spent a lot of his life in Yorkshire. His parents were also from the north of England.

Vocal coach Yvonne Morley-Chisholm spent a decade researching how the monarch would have sounded. She worked with the actor Thomas Dennis who was chosen as his body and face were such a good physical match.

Speaking to Sky News, she said people will be shocked at how different he sounded compared with traditional portrayals of the king on stage and screen.

The coach and actor also examined the king’s letters and diary so that “as you pronounced a word that’s how you would write it”.

The voice shows the change in pronunciation over the centuries – from regional variations to the Queen’s English.

History fans at the unveiling were delighted with the accent, with one telling Sky News: “Northerners are known to be happy, positive, all those lovely qualities.”

Born in Northampton but a northerner through and through, technology has brought the king’s speech back to life