Tibet is by far the planet’s largest mountain feature, and affects winds and seasons, deserts and rivers, people and metaphysics. The great rivers of Huang Ho, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Irrawaddy, Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, and Amu Dar’ya all rise from its slopes, and support well over half of the world’s population. Shrinking glaciers render the critical dry season flows less and less reliable as the dependent populations continue to expand. Ongoing collisions of India with Asia continue to push up the ranges, and to make wrinkle patterns and ridge splayings on the margins of the crush zone.

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