Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau is a large, elevated region in Central Asia, covering much of Tibet. It occupies an area of around 1000 by 2500 kilometers, and has an average elevation of over 5000 meters. Called "the roof of the world," it contains the world's tallest mountain range, the Himalaya, as well as Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. The plateau was formed by the collision of the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates in the Cenozoic period (approximately 55 million years ago), although the process is still ongoing.
The uplift of the plateau is thought to have had a significant effect on climate change, and it is believed to affect the Asian monsoon.
The quasi-uninhabited region Kekexili is located in the northwestern part of the Plateau.
Several of the world's longest rivers have their sources on the Tibetan Plateau:
- Yangtze River (or Chang Jiang)
- Huang He (or Yellow River)
- Indus River
- Ganges River
- Brahmaputra
- Mekong
- Irrawaddy
Between them, these rivers carry 25% of the world's mud.