Scientists find Lost ‘Supermountains’ Four Times Longer than Himalayas

Mount Everest, at its towering height of 8,848 meters, is the tallest in the Himalayan range, but there were ranges that stretched across the continent. Longer than the Himalayas, these mountain ranges helped in the evolution of the planet. Researchers have tracked the formation of these super mountains throughout Earth’s history. Stretching up to 8,000 kilometres across, they were nearly four times the length of the present-day Himalayan ranges (2,300 kilometres) and formed twice in Earth’s history — the first between 2,000 and 1,800 million years ago and the second between 650 and 500 million years ago. Researchers believe that there are links between these two instances of super mountains and the two most important periods of evolution in Earth’s history.