BACKGROUND Myricaria consists of about twelve-thirteen species and occurs in Eurasian North Temperate zone, most species in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and adjacent areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Twelve species of Myricaria plus two other genera Tamarix and Reaumuria in Tamaricaceae, were sampled, and four markers, ITS, rps16, psbB-psbH, and trnL-trnF were sequenced. The relaxed Ba...

High levels of carbonaceous aerosol exist over South Asia, the area adjacent to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. Little is known about if they can be transported across the Himalayas, and as far inland as the Tibetan Plateau. As important constituents of aerosols, organic acids have been recognized as unique fingerprints to identify the atmospheric process. Here we measured dicarboxylic acids...

A common hypothesis for the rich biodiversity found in mountains is uplift-driven diversification-that orogeny creates conditions favoring rapid in situ speciation of resident lineages. We tested this hypothesis in the context of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and adjoining mountain ranges, using the phylogenetic and geographic histories of multiple groups of plants to infer the tempo (rate)...

Ongoing climate warming has been demonstrated to impact the cryosphere in the Indian Himalayas, with substantial consequences for the risk of disasters, human well-being, and terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we present evidence that the warming observed in recent decades has been accompanied by increased snow avalanche frequency in the Western Indian Himalayas. Using dendrogeomorphic techniques, w...

The Himalayas are well known for high diversity and ethnobotanical uses of the region's medicinal plants. However, not all areas of the Himalayan regions are well studied. Studies on ethnobotanical uses of plants from the Eastern Himalayas are still lacking for many tribes. Past studies have primarily focused on listing plants' vernacular names and their traditional medicinal uses. However, stu...

Inland glacier and lake dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and its surroundings over recent decades are good indicators of climate change and have a significant impact on the local water supply and ecosystem. The glacier and lake changes in Karakoram are quite different from those of the Himalayas. The mechanisms of the complex and regionally heterogeneous behavior of the glacier and lake cha...

Today the geoid can be conveniently determined by a set of high-degree spherical harmonics, such as EGM08 with a resolution of about 5'. However, such a series will be biased when applied to the continental geoid inside the topographic masses. This error we call the analytical downward continuation (DWC) error, which is closely related with the so-called topographic potential bias. However, whi...

A continuous measurement for black carbon (hereafter “BC”) in a 40 m shallow ice core retrieved from the East Rongbuk Glacier (hereafter “ERG”) in the northeast saddle of Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) provided the first historical record of BC deposition during the past ∼50 yrs in the high Himalyas. Apparent increasing trend (smooth average) of BC concentrations was revealed since the mid-1990s. Sea...

The Main Central Thrust shear zone is the dominant crustal thickening feature in the Himalayas, largely responsible for the extreme relief and mass wasting of the range. Along the Bhagirathi River in NW India, the Main Central Thrust is several kilometers thick and separates high-grade gneisses of the Greater Himalayan Crystallines from Lesser Himalayan metasedimentary rocks. Th-Pb ion micropro...

Tea (Camellia sp) is one of the most economically important plantation crops and second-largest non-alcoholic beverage in world next to water being consumed by people different forms. It cultivated mainly Assam, West Bengal covering regions such as Darjeeling, Dooars, Terai, Southern India about 6.36 lakh hectares with a production 1338 million Kg made teas. Darjeeling tea world-famous for its ...