Question: Is it true that the Himalayan mountains had absorbed a high quantity of carbon dioxide when they formed?

Asked by rafael101 to Alice, Andi, Bas, Daniel, Rhian on 9 Mar 2015.

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  1. Photo: Rhian MearaRhian Meara
    answered on 9 Mar 2015:

    This is a good question!

    You’re right! As the Himalayas have formed they have gotten bigger and bigger. But as the mountains get bigger, they start to get eroded by rivers and glaciers and the material which is eroded is taken away down the hill by rivers and glaciers and is deposited in the sea. As this material is deposited in the sea and starts turning to stone it will take in carbon dioxide. So the higher the mountains get, the more material they erode and the more carbon dioxide they take in!

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  2. Photo: Bas van den BergBas van den Berg
    answered on 9 Mar 2015:

    I also really like your question Rafael! And I would like to add something to the answer Rhian already gave you. She is absolutely right stating that the Himalaya absorbed a high quantity of oxygen, and it still does, actually every mountain does! Maybe you have heard that during the time of the dinosaurs the earth was a lot warmer. almost everywhere it was at least nice and subtropical (not bad huh!), in fact they have found evidence that there were palm trees growing on the south pole! We think that one of the reasons that the earth got a lot colder since then, until there were big icecaps all over Canada, Scandinavia and Russia, was the forming of all these mountain belts like the Himalaya, the Andes and the Alps. After mountain chains are formed they are physically eroded by glaciers and rivers like Rhian described, but there is also chemical weathering and erosion where rocks take the CO2 from the air to form new kinds of minerals, these minerals are then transported down the slope into the ocean and stored there. Where this happens most is the Himalaya because the Himalaya has the biggest surface (as in the biggest area, but also the biggest heights) so there are more rocks in contact with the air and therefore more possibility of this chemical weathering and erosion. Maybe it gets a bit complicated now (your question is a complicated one), so if there is anything unclear please let us know.

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