The terrain I will be driving through — the staggering, lung-busting peaks of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau — is not just a mountain range; it is the result of a violent, ongoing geological event that began roughly 50 million years ago — “the collision”
This is the story of two continental plates — the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate — meeting head-on. Imagine two massive freight trains colliding at a slow, relentless speed. Neither plate wanted to give in and sink beneath the other. Instead, the force was forced upward, lifting the seabed of the ancient Tethys Sea to an average elevation of over 4,500 meters or 14,800 feet.
The mountains of the Sanjiangyuan are not just rock; they are tilted, folded, and twisted layers of limestone, sandstone, and shale — the very seabed that was lifted to the top of the world.
For a photographer, this geology promises to be amazing. The deep river gorges, like the ones that carved the Tea Horse Road, are the result of these massive rivers trying to cut through the rising plateau. The limestone karst spires I hope to explore in Haxiu are the result of millions of years of erosion on this uplifted rock, creating the perfect camouflaged fortress for the “Ghost of the Mountains.”
I don’t know how it will compare visually to some of the otherworldly places I have explored elsewhere, but I will be driving across a landscape that is still moving, still lifting. It is a sobering, beautiful reminder that on the Tibetan Plateau, the earth is not a static backdrop — it is a living, breathing force.
Learning a bit about the geology of the Tibetan Plateau is crucial to understanding the environment I will be working in. The “Rooftop of the World” should technically be better understood as an “Active Roof.” The ongoing collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates means the plateau is still rising, still changing even today. The people who call the plateau home are living on a geological fault line.
For the Nomad-Rangers I will be working with, this geology determines their way of life. The steep limestone valleys provide water and shelter, but they also create isolation. The geology is the reason this region remains one of the last true wildernesses on Earth — it is too high, too steep, and too rugged for large-scale development.
The terrain I will be driving through–the staggering, lung-busting peaks of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau–is not just a mountain range; it is the result of a violent, ongoing geological event …
The ultimate destination of our overland journey is Sanjiangyuan National Park. Meaning “Source of Three Rivers,” the name refers to the vast area of the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai province …
The journey will include retracing a segment of one of the world’s most arduous and historically significant trade routes: The Tea Horse Road…
This April we are venturing into China’s backcountry to track the elusive snow leopard and analyze how traditional nomadic herders are pioneering a new approach to environmental and wildlife management…
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