The Himalayas

Question 1

What are the Himalayas?

Answer 1

The Himalayas are a series of mountain ranges.

Question 2

How long does Himalayas curve?

Answer 2

They curve in a large arc for 25,000km across Asia, from Pakistan in the west to China in the east.

Question 3

How much area of land do the Himalayas cover?

Answer 3

They cover an area of nearly 600,000 square kilometers and include parts of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and China.

Question 4

What is the weather like in the lower slopes of the Himalayas?

Answer 4

The lower slopes of the Himalayas have a milder climate than the upper slopes.

Question 5

What is the soil like on the lower slopes of the Himalayas?

Answer 5

The soil is fertile and well drained.

Question 6

What technique do farmers use to grow fruit trees? What fruits do they grow?

Answer 6

Farmers cut terraces into the slopes and grow fruit trees, tea, potatoes, wheat, maize, rice and sugar cane on them.

Question 7

What kind of animals do farmers raise on the slopes?

Answer 7

Farmers raise sheep, goats and yaks on the slopes. Yaks are a kind of mountain cattle.

Question 8

How do the farmers feed the animals?

Answer 8

The farmers take the animals up to the high pastures to feed in summer. In the autumn they bring them back down to the shelter of the valleys.

Question 9

How do people transport? What are the difficulties?

Answer 9

The high mountains make it very difficult to build roads and railways and many settlements are very isolated. Yaks are used to carry people and heavy loads along rough tracks.

Question 10

What is the highest mountain in the world that is included in the Himalayas?

Answer 10

Mount Everest.

Question 11

What type of mountains are the Himalayas?

Answer 11

The Himalayas are relatively young fold mountains.

Question 12

When did the Himalayas start to form?

Answer 12

They began to form about 38 million years ago.

Question 13

What kind of peaks do the mountains of the Himalayas have?

Answer 13

Like all young mountain ranges, the Himalayas have jagged peaks.

Question 14

What are the upper parts of the mountains covered with?

Answer 14

The upper parts of the Himalayas are always covered with ice and snow.

Question 15

What is the condition that causes when someone goes higher and higher above the earth?

Answer 15

The higher you go above the earth, the less air there is and high in the Himalayas there is so little air that most climbers can only breathe with the help of bottles of oxygen.

Question 16

What kind of valuable minerals are contained in the Himalayas?

Answer 16

The mountains contain valuable minerals and gemstones, as well as iron ore and coal.

Question 17

Can people mine the materials?

Answer 17

It is difficult to mine these materials because of poor transport.

Question 18

How many rivers drain the Himalayas?

Answer 18

19 large rivers drain the Himalayas, include the Indus and Brahmaputra.

Question 19

What do the 19 large rivers provide people with?

Answer 19

The rivers provide water for people and water and fertile silt for crops in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Question 20

What do people do with the rivers to get electricity?

Answer 20

Most of the rivers have been dammed to provide hydroelectric power.

Question 21

How much area of the lower slopes of the Himalayas covered with forests?

Answer 21

About 1/3 of the lower slopes of the Himalayas are covered with forests.

Question 22

How are the Himalayas changing?

Answer 22

In Nepal, India and Bangladesh many trees on the lower slopes have been cut down to make new fields and to provide firewood.

Question 23

What are the trees used for?

Answer 23

The trees are used to make paper, matches and other products.

Question 24

How do the tree roots act like?

Answer 24

Normally the tree roots act like a sponge, soaking up rainwater and releasing it slowly. They also hold the soil in place.

Question 25

What happens when it rains in the Himalayas?

Answer 25

The rivers overflow and there is serious flooding in the valleys and plains below.

Question 26

Because of the flooding, what kind of slopes are washed away?

Answer 26

The thin soil on the steeper slopes is washed away and occasionally even the terraces and villages are swept away.

Question 27

How many of the mountains in the Himalayas are higher than 7300 meters above sea level?

Answer 27

Thirty of the mountains are higher than 7300 meters above sea level. Also, the Himalayas have the highest peaks and deepest valleys on earth.