Table of Contents

Preface
1: Oceans and continents
2: Continents in collision: Kashmir, Ladakh, Zanskar
3: The dreaming spires of the Karakoram
4: Pressure, temperature, time, and space
5: Frozen rivers and fault lines
6: Northwest Frontier: Kohistan, Hindu Kush, Pamirs
7: Faces of Everest
8: Mapping the geology of Everest and Makalu
9: Mountains and Maoists: Annapurna, Manaslu
10: Around the bend: Nanga Parbat, Namche Barwa
11: Roof of the World: Tibet, Pamirs
12: Extruding Indochina: Burma, Vietnam, Yunnan, Thailand
13: The day the Earth shook: Sumatra-Andaman earthquake 2004
14: The making of Himalaya, Karakoram, and Tibetan plateau
Postscript
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: Basics
Appendix 2: Glossary
Appendix 3: Local glossary
Appendix 4: Chronology
Notes
Index

About the Author

Mike Searle has worked for the last 30 years on the geology of the Himalaya, Karakoram, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. He combines geological field investigations with mountaineering expeditions to the greater ranges, and has published more than 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is the author of Geology and Tectonics of the Karakoram Mountains (1991) and has co-edited four books for the Geological Society of London. He has published a Geological Map of
the Mount Everest region, Nepal and South Tibet (2003, 2007) and has given numerous talks about the region.

Reviews

Entertaining and informative, Colliding Continents is an easy read which should appeal to anyone with even a little interest in geology.
*Danny Yee, dannyreviews.com*

All can learn from the master in this excellent book.
*Jonathan Wright, Geographical*

There's something here to please anyone on the geology spectrum: the student wanting to understand how the fundamentals are applied; the academic intrigued by the science; the climber dreaming of virgin territory. All can learn from the master in this excellent book.
*Simon Cook, Oman Daily Observer*

This is a wonderful record of Mike Searles 30 year geological explorations of the high mountains of Asia. He writes as clearly and concisely as he talks, always making huge geological dramas intelligible and interesting to the layman as well as to the expert. Whether you view the Himalaya and Karakoram as a giant exercise bar or a place for spiritual renewal, you will find this geological history of the high mountains of Asia absolutely fascinating.
*Doug Scott, Climber and Amateur Geologist*

An intimate anatomy of the greatest mountain range in the planet, revealed by a geologist who has walked, scrambled and climbed over virtually every inch of it.
*Iain Stewart, Geologist and Broadcaster*