Katherine Irving is a freelance science journalist specializing in wildlife and the geosciences. After graduating from Macalester College, where she wrote screenplays, excavated dinosaur bones and vaccinated wolves, Katherine dove straight into internships with Science Magazine and The Scientist.
Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain as measured from sea level. But will it hold that title forever?
"Think of the crust not as a solid, but as a viscous liquid, like maple syrup," Butler told Live Science. Like cold maple syrup, cold crust is more viscous and, therefore, firmer. So thicker, colder crust can form taller mountains than thinner, warmer crust can. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.So the more material that is transported away from a mountain — whether via a river, a glacier or heavy rains and landslides — the more the mountains around it can rise. In fact, a 2024 study found that the rapid erosion of a river network more than 45 miles from Mount Everest helped the peak grow between 49 and 164 feet in the past 89,000 years.
However, Butler doesn't discount the possibility that another Himalayan mountain may take the throne someday. Weather factors could change over time, he said, causing shifts in the peaks' growth rates." is going to continue for another 10 million years," Butler said."There's plenty of time to juggle these variables around a bit."
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