Is Mount Everest A Volcano?

Formed from the clashing of two tectonic plates – the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates, Mount Everest is not a volcano. Mount Everest is a mountain.

Mount Everest – the highest mountain in the world stands 8848 meters (29,030 ft) high. It does not have any characteristics of a volcano like a magma chamber below or inside it. The magma chamber is the pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth that can break the rocks around it and release upwards in the form of a volcano under huge pressure.

“Mount Everest will never erupt!”

Mount Everest consists of sedimentary and metamorphic rock formed from the downward fold of earth crust on Tethys Sea. Later, the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates collided that resulted in the giant Himalayas and this mountain that took hundreds of millions of years.

Enough of this Mount Everest history! Let’s look at the difficulty Mount Everest poses to its climbers. Despite not being a volcano, Mount Everest does not offer itself easy to climbers. It is among the deadliest mountains in the world. There are many threats that mountaineers face in EBC trek and while attempting to summit this tallest mountain in the world. At such a height in the death zone, the temperature is harsh, the oxygen level is low, and the snow-covered terrain is full of risk.

The altitude above 8000 meters is called the death zone. In the death zone, the atmospheric pressure is less than 5.16 psi. The oxygen level in the death zone is insufficient to sustain human life. So, spending a long time in the death zone without supplementary oxygen may deteriorate body functions, reduce your decision-making capability, make you unconscious, and ultimately lead you to death.

“Mount Everest does not have any volcanoes near it.”

Some mountaineers suffer from brain or lung damage at such an extreme climate with lack of enough oxygen. Some mountaineers have died due to brain swelling (HACE) or due to the accumulation of liquid in the lung (HAPE).

But, there are other major causes than this. Avalanches, falling of seracs, exposure, frostbite, terrain difficulty, and fall cause most of the deaths on Mount Everest. Some mountaineers even lose their way and go missing.

To sum up,

If you want to know whether Mount Everest ever erupt? Then, the simple answer is NO!

Mount Everest is more than 60 million years old and it has never erupted like a volcano. And it, most probably, never will!

How was Mount Everest Formed?

As mentioned above, Mount Everest was formed by colliding of Indo-Australian Plate with Eurasian Plate. The rapid movement of the Indo-Australian Plate resulted in the closing of the Tethys Ocean that was once used to be in between these two plates. As a result, the landmass of the Eurasian Plate continued upsurging and formed the Himalayas – the highest region on the earth. Mount Everest is about 60 million years old.

Is Mount Everest in China?

Mount Everest lies at the border of Nepal and Tibet.

No, Mount Everest is not in China. The border of Nepal and China runs across this mountain. So, the northern half of Mount Everest lies in Tibet (the autonomous region of China) and the southern half lies in Nepal.