Tibet plateau also before the Himalayas

2014/05/19 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

Even before the formation of the Himalayas there was a plateau of 4,500 meters high in the environment of Tibet, to which geologists from the Institute of Research of the Beijing Tibetan Plateau, based on the isotopes of oxygen of the rocks, have arrived.

The Himalayas rose about fifty million years ago after the collision between Eurasia and India. The researchers try to find out what was before and look for interpretable tracks in the rocks of the time. The oxygen retained in the rocks, for example, reveals the composition of the atmosphere of the time, which varies depending on the height. Light isotopes of oxygen are proportionally more abundant as they rise in height. And analyzing some rocks of southern Tibet, it is observed that the proportion of a light stable isotope of oxygen 16 corresponds to an approximate height of 4,500 meters compared to the stable isotope heavy oxygen-18.