Mt. Qomolangma moves 40 cm northeastward in 10 years

LHASA - Mount Qomolangma has moved 40 centimeters to the northeast over the past ten years, with its height increasing by three centimeters, the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation said Monday.

Monitoring data collected by the department from 2005 to 2015 shows that the mountain has been moving at a speed of four centimeters per year and has been growing by 0.3 centimeters annually.

The Mountain is located on the collision belt for the boundary between the Indian and the Eurasian Plates, where the crustal movements are active. Geographical changes in the area have great influence on the climate, environment and ecology of East and South Asia, experts said.

The administration set a satellite monitoring system on Qomolangma in 2005 and started to observe the movement of the mountain.

Observers with the department found that Mount Qomolangma shifted three centimeters southwestward after the devastating Nepal earthquake on April 25, while the height of the mountain was left unaffected.