Blogs / 80beats

A new study has found that 1.3 percent of the ambitious climbers who test themselves on the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, will die before returning to base camp, a higher rate than that of other peaks. The host of hazards awaiting those who dare to climb the 29,000-foot (8,850 meter) Himalayan mountain include extreme cold, whipping winds, changing weather, treacherous climbs and avalanches. Oxygen content in the air is only a third of that at sea level [Reuters]. But the main cause of death isn’t avalanches, falls, or respiratory problems brought on by the thin atmosphere, researchers found–nor is it monster attacks. “Nobody was attacked by any Yeti or anything else” [Reuters], study coauthor Paul Firth helpfully added.

Instead, the most frequent cause of death is brain swelling brought on by the altitude, which is accompanied by confusion and lack of coordination. Study coauthor Kent Moore explains: “With the low barometric pressure and lack of oxygen, there tends to be a seepage of fluid out of the blood vessels. When this happens in the brain, it causes swelling. It tends to impair cognitive function. That’s probably what causes a lot of the deaths.” Climbers with this problem fall behind, become lethargic, and may become disoriented - none of which has anything to do with their level of physical fitness [Canwest News Service].

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An international team of bundled-up scientists will soon set off for Antarctica’s interior in a quest to learn about the continent’s most massive and mysterious mountain range; although the Gamburtsev mountains are as high and mighty as Europe’s Alps, even the tallest peak is buried beneath 2 miles of ice. Now, during the southern hemisphere’s summer, the researchers will investigate how the Gamburtsevs formed in a place where scientists say no mountains should be.

American researcher Robin Bell, who will be making the trek, explains that there are two “easy” ways to form mountains, and neither makes sense in Antarctica: “One is colliding continents, but after they collide they tend to erode; and the last collision was 500-million-plus years ago…. The other way is a hotspot, [with volcanoes punching through the crust] like in Hawaii; but there’s no good evidence for underneath the ice sheet being that hot. I like to say it’s rather like being an archaeologist and opening up a tomb in a pyramid and finding an astronaut sitting inside. It shouldn’t be there” [BBC News].

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Researchers have proposed a new theory for how oxygen production was kick-started billions of years ago, when only trace amounts of the gas existed in the Earth’s atmosphere. When continents collided they started a chain reaction, researchers say, that eventually produced a hospitable, oxygen-rich atmosphere. They argue that the tectonic collisions that created the Superia/Sclavia, Nuna, Rodinia, Gondwana and Pangaea supercontinents also formed supermountains, which eroded rapidly, washing vast amounts of nutrients into the oceans. This fuelled explosions of oxygen-producing algae and bacteria [New Scientist].

The Australian researchers say that each collision of tectonic plates caused a bump in oxygen levels, and that studies of modern mountain formation bear out their theory. Other scientists have already shown that the formation and erosion of the Himalayas led to increases in atmospheric oxygen, [study coauthor Charlotte] Allen notes. “Scale up the Himalaya to supercontinental proportions and you have a modern analogue for what we think happened seven major times in earth’s history” [ABC Science]. However, some experts have expressed skepticism regarding the new theory.

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As the world warms, plants are seeking higher ground. A new study that examined botanical surveys of European mountain ranges over the past century found that plants are slowly moving to higher elevations in order to stay within their ideal temperature zones. More than two thirds of the plants in six western European mountain ranges have climbed an average of [95 feet] in altitude each decade since 1905 [CBC].

The study, published in the journal Science [subscription required], is the first to bring the positive news that many mountain plants are able to adapt to the rapid changes brought by global warming. But there are troubling ramifications. The team also discovered that different types of plants are moving at different rates. “Long-lived plants like trees or shrubs did not show a significant shift, whereas short-lived species like herbs showed a strong upward shift in elevation,” [lead researcher Jonathan] Lenoir said. “This may imply profound changes in the composition and the structure of plant communities and on the animal species they interact with,” he added. “It may disrupt ecosystems” [National Geographic News].

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According to conventional wisdom, the towering Andes were formed slowly and gradually over 40 million years, as two tectonic plates gradually collided and buckled the earth’s surface. Now a new study is revising that theory, and proposing that the mountain chain burst upwards in a growth spurt between 10 and 6 million years ago, a mere blink of an eye in geological terms.

The new research doesn’t dispute that the mountain range was formed in the collision of two tectonic plates — the dense Nazca Plate that underlies the Pacific Ocean and the lighter South American plate. But it adds a twist, saying that at one point during the long crash the mountains were suddenly freed of a heavy load and shot upwards towards the heavens.

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It’s official: California is in a state-wide drought, according to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Following the driest spring in 88 years, the state’s reservoirs are low, its farmers are complaining, and its forests are tinder-dry, which may lead to more forest fires like the one that scorched the Santa Cruz mountains two weeks ago.

In giving the current dry spell the official “drought” stamp for the first time since 1991, the governor cleared the way for water transfers to stricken areas and a possible infusion of federal aid to speed water conservation projects. But Schwarzenegger stopped short of declaring a water emergency, which would permit water rationing.

Some researchers have wondered whether the state is already suffering the early effects of global warming, which is predicted to alter California ecosystems by raising temperatures, and thus allowing less snow to build up in the mountains of Northern California.

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