Colliding Continents

Still underway today, the collision of the Indian plate with Asia is the largest known in the history of geology. Its outcome is the Himalaya and Karakoram, among the greatest mountain systems on the planet. The Karakoram contains half of the world's tallest peaks and has long been seen as one of the most isolated and hostile ranges anywhere.

The book, which is illustrated throughout, explains the geological forces that produced these mountains. Mike Searle, a geologist at the University of Oxford who ranks among the most experienced field geologists working today, draws on his own high-altitude climbing and years of research in the region. Through these firsthand accounts, he reconstructs the processes that raised such dramatic peaks.