The Birth of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
2 min readThe Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was elevated as a result of the rise of an ancient ocean, named Tethys by Western scientist Eduard Suess(1831-1914)some 100 years ago. Tethys is a female deity in charge of oceans in Greek mythology.Eduard Suess believed the existence of a giant ocean in ancient times that connected the European and Asian continents, saying, We call the ocean Tethys.
In ancient times, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was the site of an ocean on ree separate occasions Called Ex-Tethys, the ocean lay where the Western Kunlun-Qilian Mountains are now located. The ocean created as a result of the splitting of land, existed 900-400 million years ago, a period when was in its infancy and the waves were all that created noise in the deadly quiet environment .
With the elapse of time, Tethys receded to make way for the separated north and south continental plates to meet. At the same time, the Ancient Tethys rose in an area where the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is located today. During theperiod of the Ancient Tethys, some 350-200 million years ago, life emerged on Earth in the shape of fish and reptiles, and plants proliferated through the spread seeds .
After Ancient Tethys came New Tethys, born on the southern rim of the European and Asian continental plates.This happened some 180 million years ago，a period when dinosaurs roamed and the present Indian Ocean was located in the far south of the Southern Hemisphere.Its southernmost tip was at 40 degrees South Latitude 71 million years ago.This segment of the continent moved northward at an annual rate of 10 cm.
At this point of time，an area with an elevation of some 1，000 meters emerged.Enjoying a humid and hot climate，it was a sweep of forests and grass However，it kept rising in the ensuing 3 million years.Finally，the Qinghai-TibetPlateau，now 4，700 meters above sea level，was born.This rose irregularly.It had grown 1，000 meters 2 million years ago，and another 1，000 meters was added in the ensuing 1 million years.In the 100，000 years since the Pleistocene Era，it went up by 1，500 meters.In the past 10，000 years，however，annual growth has been 7 cm，for a total of 700 meters
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is so young.It rose sharply in two million years Compared with the earths age of 4.6 billion years，such a time span is but a fleeting moment.
