A rare scientific discovery on the world’s highest mountain has shed light on the planet’s ancient history. Researchers have found fossils of marine organisms some 450 million years old near the summit of Everest, indicating that the area was once the bottom of a tropical ocean.
The fossils were discovered in a type of sedimentary rock known as the Qomolangma limestone. These rocks, which today stand at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, were originally formed in marine environments. Within them, scientists have identified the remains of ancient marine organisms, such as crinoids, trilobites, cephalopods and brachiopods, species that lived in warm, shallow seas millions of years ago.
These creatures lived in the ancient Tethys Ocean, which once covered much of the region where the Himalayan mountain range now stands. Over time, the sediments where their remains were buried turned into the rocks that now form part of Mount Everest.
The geological process continues today. According to scientists, the Himalayas continue to rise by about one centimeter every year due to the constant pressure between these two tectonic plates. The presence of marine fossils at the summit of Everest also constitutes important evidence for the theory of continental drift proposed by German scientist Alfred Wegener in 1915.
